286 Dr. Hare on the Sugar of the Sweet Potato. 



sequently rose, which was removed by a spoon. By refrige- 

 ration a further quantity of yest precipitutcd, from which 

 the hquor being decanted became tolerably tine, for new 

 beer, and, in flavour, exactly like ale made tiom malt. 



1 have computed that five bushels of potatoes would pro- 

 duce as much wort as three bushels of malt ; but I suppose 

 that the residue would, as food for cattle, be worth halt as 

 much as the potatoes employed. 



I believe it possible to make as good liquor from malt in 

 this country, as in England, but that in our climate much 

 more vigilance is required to have it invariably good, prmci- 

 pally because the great and sudden changes of temperature, 

 render malting much more precarious. Should the saccha- 

 rum of the sweet potato prove to be a conipetent substitute 

 for that of .germinated gram, the quality will probably be less 

 variable, since its development requires but little skill and 

 vigilance. 



Besides, as it exists naturally in the plant, it may be had 

 whfre it wom':! be alni(>st irnpossibit; to make, or procure 

 malt. Hops, the other material for beer, require only pick- 

 ing and drying to perfect them for use. 



They are indigenous in the United States, and no doubt 

 may be raised in any part of our territory. 



I have dried, m my evaporating oven, some of the sweet 

 potatoes in slices. It seems to me that in this state they will 

 keep a long while, and may be useful in making leaven tor 

 bread. They may take the place of the malt necessary in a 

 certain proportion, to render distillers' wash fermentable. 

 The yest yielded by the potato beer appeared in odour and 

 flavour to resemble that from malt beer surprisingly, and the 

 quantity, in proportion, was as great. In raising bread, it 

 was found equnlly etficacious. 



I propose the word suavin, from the Latin suavis, sweet, 

 to distinguish the syrup of the sweet potato. The same word 

 might, perhaps, be advantageously applied as a generic ap- 

 pellation to molasses, and the uncrystalirznble sugar of 

 grapes, of honey, and of m-Ai. 



Crystaliizable sugar n/'ght be termed saccharin, since the 

 terminasing syllable of saccharum is appropriated in chemis- 

 try to melals. 



