436 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



[June 29, 



quality of laud, and the analyses are by Payen, 

 eminent French Agricultural chemist. 



the 



1 cwt. seed 



Tarieties. 



produced 



Rohan • 



68 cwt. 



Large Yellow . 



37 M 



Scotch . 



3J ,. 



Slow Inland 



C6 M 



Legonzae . 



31 ,» 



Siberian 



40 „ 



Duvillers . 



40 „ 



1 statute 



acre 

 produced. 



100 parts contained 



Water 





Starch. 



1*4 tons. 

 9* n 



14 



8 



10 



10 



tt 

 »• 



M 

 f 



75 2 

 68.7 

 69.8 



7y.4 

 71.2 

 77.8 



78.3 





16.6 



23.3 

 32 

 12.3 

 20.6 

 14.0 

 13.6 



Gluten 

 & ribre. 



8.2 



8.0 



8.2 

 8.3 

 8 3 

 8.2 

 8.1 



These results show that the quantity of starch is not 

 largest necessarily in those varieties which yield the 

 greatest weight of tubers. Thus an acre of large yellow 

 Potatoes, which gives but 9£ tons of tubers, produces 2 

 tons 3 cwt. of starch, whilst the acre of Slow Island Po- 

 tatoes, which produce 14 tons of tubers, gives only 1 ton 

 15 cwt. of starch. In cultivating the plant lor the pur- 

 pose of extracting this material, it is therefore of the 

 greatest importance to attend to the existence of these 



rarieties. 



The preparation of starch from the Potato is an opera- 

 tion of a very simple kind, and well adapted for the indus- 

 try of the smaller towns, where Potatoes would be 

 usually cheap. It requires only the most ordinary skill, 

 and involves little machinery, the greatest nicety in it 

 being perfect cleanliness, and care that the washings be 

 well finished, and with pure water. The operations of 

 the manufacture are — 1st. Washing the tubers ; 2d. 

 Rasping them to a pulp , 3d. Pressing the pulp ; 4th. 

 Washing the rough starch ; 5th. Draining and drying 

 the produce. 6th. Bolting and storing. 



Of these operations it is only necessary to notice one 

 or two in detail. 



The breaking up of the tubers into a pulp is accom- 

 plished by means of cutting cylinders, to which the 

 Potatoes are supplied from a hopper, nearly as grain is 

 to a mill. The more rapidly the cutters move, the finer 

 if the pulp produced, and the more perfect the subsequent 

 extraction of the starch, and hence they generally make 

 600 to 900 turns in the minute, and as these cylinders 

 are usually about 20 inches in diameter, their periphery 

 moves with a velocity of from 1000 to 1500 yards in a 

 minute. A single cylinder of the above dimensions and 

 of 16 inches long, making 800 revolutions in a minute, 

 will reduce to pulp about 50 bushels of Potatoes per hour. 

 This for the 12 working hours is about 10 tons. 



The object of pressing or sifting the pulp is to sepa- 

 rate the fecula from all foreign substances, especially 

 from the cellular tissue, which, being coarser, rests on 

 the sieve through which the fine starch passes. A great 

 Tariety of mechanical arrangements have been constructed | 

 for this purpose, which fulfil their object, but there re- 

 mains always with the residual pulp two or three per 

 cent, of the fecula which it is impossible to obtain. 



The starch, diffused in the current of water by which 

 it has been washed out from the pulp, is run into vats 

 where it gradually settles. When the water has become 

 quite clear, it is poured off, and fresh water put on : 

 finally, the starch is taken out and dried on floors. As 

 it consolidates into very firm masses, it requires finally 

 to be broken down by a kind of bolting machine, before 

 being put up for sale. 



It is necessary to add some valuation of the money 

 circumstances of this manufacture. An acre of Potatoes, 

 very well manured, and on good land, may be con- 

 sidered to produce nine tons of Potatoes, which may be 

 taken as worth 15/. From such Potatoes, it may be 

 expected that, with proper care, 15 per cent, of pure 

 •tarch may be extracted, and hence, from the 9 tons, 

 27 cwt. The market price of the Potato starch is variable ; 

 it has been 30*. per cwt., but it only on rare occasions 

 falls below 20$. Taking it at 20s. the value of the pro- 

 duce of the acre becomes 27/., leaving for cost of manu- 

 facture and profit 12/. and of this certainly a large pro- 

 portion should be profit. 1 do not think I value the 

 Potatoes too low, as, of course, the manufacturer, if not 

 himself the grower, would purchase N>r store at proper 

 seasons, and avail himself of the lowest terms. 



But this calculation of advantage supposes the starch 

 to be the only valuable matter extracted from the Potato 

 which is far from being the case. The residual pulp] 

 which, when perfectly dry, amounts to about five per 

 cent, of the entire weight of the tubers, has been found 

 a -most nourishing food ; in fact, it contains most of the 

 nutritious part of the root, the mere starch which was 

 removed being comparatively much less important in 

 nutrition. This pulp, if moist, putrefies rapidlv, it is rich 

 m nitrogen, and in fact analogous to animal substances in 

 composition, and consequently, if not required for food, 

 would form, by being made with lime and clay intoa com- 



^!LUT U £ °L great Value ' and specially suitable for 

 crnn n L ^ lT° ^^ the Stance, which the 



th^n „ln g U fi m f ha VrT ed ' Tbe «a.ers,with which 



the pulp , 8 first washed, dissolve a quantity of the solube 



constituents of the Potato. They rapidly putrefy, and 



exhale an odour so rotten as to have rendered the starch 



factories near Pans a nuisance to rhe neighbourhood 



until it was suggested to employ this water as a manure 



which has been perfectly successful, and at once removed 



an important draw-back to this branch of industrv and 



materially increased the fertility of the surrounding 



farms. 6 



If these residues be properly economised, it is evident 

 that the cost of growing the Potatoes may be materially 

 diminished. The atmosphere, in itself, furnishes in tact 

 the carbonic acid and water from which the starch is 

 formed, and if the matters taken from the soil in each 



crop, be returned to it in the residues of the manufacture, 

 the cost of manure, so heavy for this particular plant, 

 may be almost entirely obviated. 



In th-s country, where the extensive use and culture of 

 the Potato have become almost a national characteristic; 

 where labour not requiring considerable skill is to be had 

 •o cheap ; where Potatoes are at their minimum price; it 

 is not merely to be regretted but absolutely disgraceful 

 to ourselves, that we import from Scotland and from 

 France, a large quantity 0/ the Potato starch to be con- 

 sumed in Ireland. 



The starch is not the only material extracted from Po- 

 tatoes, and extensively available in the arts. The Potato 

 itself reduced to flour, is at present extensively employed 

 upon the Continent in the preparation of a very whole- 

 some quality of bread, and the starch itself is consumed 

 in making confectionary, jellies, sago, tapioca, in thick- 

 ening paper, and in a variety of uses, by which such 

 quantities of it are employed as to render its manufacture 

 a really important and extensive department of industry. 

 The most remarkable of all the applications of Potato 

 starch is, however, one to which the excise laws of this 

 country would probably present invincible impediments. 

 It is the preparation of sugar and of spirits. Under the 

 influence of certain chemical agents, simple, yet peculiar 

 in their action, and to which it would not be my province 

 here to refer in detail, starch is converted into sugar, and 

 this sugar, by fermentation, yields spirits. On the Con- 

 tinent the manufacture of sugar from corn is almost 

 abandoned. Potato spirit is almost universally used; and 

 in flavour it so resembles brandy that it is well known 

 that a large quantity of the French brandy brought into 

 London, is Potato spirit from Hamburgh coloured with 

 burned sugar — [From Professor Kane's lately published 

 work, The Industrial Resources of Ireland.] 



Home Correspondence. 



Spilsby Union Workhouse.— Account of Pigs, &c. 

 &c, purchased and sold by the guardians of the above 

 Union, from 5th Dec, 1842, to the 14th Dec, 1843. 



55" 



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tj 2 s 2? a g & * % 2 = « 5 3 s 5 « B33 



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For the information of the Board of Guardians, I beg to 

 state that the description of Potatoes on which the Pigs 

 were fed the preceding three years of this account, were 

 sold for the sum of 2/. 7*. Sd. annually, and that the swill 

 brought in the sum of 1/. per annum : M. M'Intosh 

 Master.— Wm. B. Wingate, Guardian, Hareby. 



Steeping Seeds. — As a reader of the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle t I have perused Mr. Campbell's account of 

 his •« Corn-producing Liquids." If Mr. Campbell will 

 refer to "Ellis's Practical Farmer, or Hertfordshire 

 Husbandman, ' 4th edition, published 1742, at page 25, 

 he will find the following, which I copy verbatim :— « A 

 prepared Liquor to steep Barley, &c for sowing.— Take 

 a quantity of the grain you are to sow, a bushel, more or 

 less, and bo,i ,t ,„ a copper (.0 a bushel put five pails-full 

 of water) till the grain bursts, and the water thereby be- 

 comes impregnated with the essential salt of such grain • 

 strain your liquor, and give the corn to the poultry ; thus 



or urine of any sort. And in this prepared liquor steep 

 the gram about 24 hours. Let the liquor be four inches 

 above the corn in the fat (vat?), because the corn will 

 swell and imbibe it. Then take the grain and let it dry 

 in the shade, or sift lime over it, which will dry it sooner, 

 and sow one-third le*s than usual, and you will assuredly 

 find the benefit by twenty fold ; I have actually tried it 

 with Earley, and had commonly thirty ears from one 

 root. The liquor that is left will serve again with fresh 

 addition, or is admirable to water a garden. About three 

 pounds of nitre, as above, is sufficient for as much as 

 will sow an acre or more ; and what is left is still the 

 stronger by being the groundwork of the next addition 

 of nitre. You must pour your prepared liquor warm 

 upon the corn, and stop all as close as you can, for this 

 causes the salts to be put in motion. Imbibe the corn 

 one evening and take it out to dry the next, and by 



morning it will be fit to sow ; at the same time vou *»»• 

 prepare more corn for the next day, and so on till til 

 season is over. The excellency of this receipt is obvion! 

 in several cases. 1 . It saves seed. 2. It in some m, 

 sure supplies the defect of full dressing the land bv th 

 seed being full of riches when sown. 3. It produce! 

 greater quantity than ordinary. Lastly, by thus steeping 

 the grain will make its way out of the ground if drought 

 should succeed; whereas that sown dry, and especial! 

 that which lies nearest ibe surface, will continue fcome* 

 times till Midsummer, in a dry summer, before it grows! 

 and thereby often occasions the loss of great part of tha 

 crop, for when one part is ripe the other is green at harvest 

 which was the very case almost all over the nation this 

 last summer, 1731 ; when I was so fortunate as to sow 

 for the first time, the Barley after this receipt, which 

 brought my crop up more even than my neighbours to 

 the admiration of the beholders, and had more on' an 

 acre than ever I had; I believe I may say as much 

 again." — A Welsh Farmer. 



^ Potatoes. — I have grown Potatoes with many different 

 kinds of manure, both fresh and decayed ; I have planted 

 them in deep drills and shallow ; I have tried earthior 

 them up, and I have tried them without earthing up • f 

 have used freshly-cut Grass in planting them, and J once 

 had an excellent crop, by merely putting chopped or 

 bruised Cabbage-leaves in the drills with the sets ; this 

 last plan I believe to be very beneficial to the crops 

 more especially in a dry season. But the system I now' 

 pursue is one which I have employed many years and 

 always with a good result. The main point to be 

 attended to for insuring a good crop, must of necessity 

 be the having good and properly- saved seed. My 

 method is this : — At the usual season for raising the Pota- 

 toes, I cause them to be ploughed or dug up, and the 

 quantity I reserve for seed is strewed thinly on the sur- 

 face of the ground, in any shady place ; secure, of course, 

 from the invasion of cattle, &c. Here I suffer them 

 to remain exposed to the varied influences of the atmo- 

 sphere, until they become quite green, and the texturd 

 of the Potato perfectly firm, which will commonly be in 

 about three weeks ; during this time they require turning 

 occasionally. I pay no regard as to whether the tubers 

 be ripe or unripe when they are taken up, as I consider 

 that the above treatment is an efficient method of ripen- 

 ing or harvesting the seed. When they are perfectly fit 

 to store, I put them in a cool, dry place, covering them 

 with plenty of clean straw ; and here they remain till the 

 time for planting arrives. I always, if possible, pre- 

 serve the first-started shoots, as they grow stronger, and 

 will always produce better crops of large tubers, with 

 fewer small or refuse Potatoes : if the first shoots are 

 destroyed, the succeeding ones are weaker ; and conse- 

 quently can only produce Potatoes in proportion to their 

 strength. As regards planting, I have tried them whole, 

 as well as cut ; the former plan I practise in part, but I 

 believe the best plan is, to cut a small piece about the 

 size of a shilling off each seed Potatoe just before plant- 

 ing, (!) I believe this renders them much nore pro- 

 lific ; the reason for which I imagine to be, that the old 

 set, by being cut gradually decays, as the plants grow and 

 the young tubers advance in size ; whereas the whole 

 sets are much longer in decaying. " J. M«I." prepares his 

 ground well, but I do not agree with his not using the 

 hoe, as I think the use of that implement to be of benefit 

 to every crop. I always use manure when I can pro- 

 cure it, and pay little regard as to quality, but always 

 prefer it when not too much decayed.—./. L. Snow, 



Swinton f Be dale. 



Potatoes. — In my communication to you of the 12th 

 inst., I forgot to mention that, agreeably to your wish in 

 a previous Number, I tried the experiment with part of a 

 ridge of early (Fox) Potatoes. I nipped off three joints 

 from the top of the plants, and selected six yards from 

 out of the middle; the result was, that those which were 

 untouched were larger and heavier by nearly one-third, 

 from the same measurement of ground. — F. 2v. 



Diseases of Wheat.— Not having as yet seen m your 

 paper any account satisfactory to myself as to the causes 

 of the bunt in Wheat, I beg to offer a few observations 

 which I have noticed for the last two years on my own 

 Wheat, as well as on that of my neighbours it being : no w 

 the time of year that your numerous Correspondents 

 have an opportunity of making like observations, ana 

 of communicating their experience. If I mistake nor. 

 Wheat is an hermaphrodite plant, and of the genus 

 Triticum, class Triandria, order Monogynia. Conse- 

 quently each kernel of Wheat has three male and one 

 female parts of fructification necessary to the setting 01 

 the seed. A few days after a field of Wheat is out 01 

 flower you will soon perceive the bunty ears, t 

 kernels of which appear to stand thinner on the ste 

 than the others. Some plants have all bunts, and som 

 partly sound ears and partly bunts ; and some ears nav 

 good kernels and bunts on the same stem. Ou exarnin - 

 tion of the bunty kernel, I find that the stamens ana 

 anthers never break through the chaff, but bur . 8t fl in8 '% 

 the chaff, and thus the flowers never receive the intlu ^ n 

 of the sun and air necessary to the setting of the s efl, .0 

 necessary to the process of fructification, and thus 

 seed becomes abortive. Now, if this be the cause _ w 

 bunts, I am at a loss to understand what effect the ore 

 ing of Wheat before sowing, with brine, mercury. "^ ^ 

 &c. can have to prevent this disease. I once kne 

 field all dressed alike and all sown one day ; the n 

 was clear from bunts, with the exception of a strip ano 

 six yards through the middle, and that "**f aTlJ /Ld 

 gether bunty ; this strip was where an old roaa 

 once been. I have sometimes attributed this disease 

 frost or blight, which might have been the cause here, 





