362 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



that immense quantities could not be 

 moved to the markets. Orders for de- 

 hydrated potatoes for the U. S. Army 

 amounting to many thousands of tons 

 and the hotel demands for potato flour 

 have brought into existence large fac- 

 tories which are saving millions of 

 bushels. Had these been started earlier, 

 any considerable wastage would have 

 been prevented. 



Some of the best hotels in the country 

 have tried the dried sliced potatoes, some 

 of the best restaurants, some of the 

 most fastidious people, some of the best 

 cooks, and the general verdict is that 

 when properly processed and properly 

 cooked they are almost indistinguishable 

 from the fresh product, either as mashed 

 potato or when French-fried. 



After most careful trials the army has 

 learned how to use them successfully, 

 and one of the largest navy cooking 

 schools has reported most favorably on 

 them. In food value, in appearance, and 

 in flavor they are the equal of any but 

 the potato fresh from the hill. But how 

 many of us get them fresh from the hill? 



Under these circumstances and in the 

 face of hundreds of analyses and dietetic 

 tests which have been made, is it the pa- 

 triotic thing to wonder and hold back 

 and hesitate as to whether we can learn 

 to use dried potatoes? 



the; potato's great nutritive: value: 



If we let the crop rot, the moral effect 

 on the grower will be serious. Already 

 there is much grumbling, and the farmer 

 is not likely to plant as large an area to 

 potatoes again next year. Inasmuch as 

 the regular fluctuations of the potato 

 yields in normal years is 25 per cent, the 

 chances of a serious shortage in 1919 

 ought to worry us into activity and start 

 the erection of drying plants which would 

 act as reservoirs, so to speak, into which 

 would go, as has been the case in Ger- 

 many, that part of the potato crop which 

 was not immediately salable. 



Because of its great nutritive value, the 

 potato, in some form, should never get 

 beyond the reach of the poorer classes in 

 our cities, and the acceptance of the dried 

 potato is the way to insure this. By its 

 adoption the perfectly logical practice 



would be inaugurated of reducing the 

 bulk, so that six cars of the fresh product 

 will make one car of the dried, before be- 

 ing hauled across the country to the East- 

 ern cities. 



One hundred pounds of fresh tubers 

 yield about 16 pounds of dried slices, 

 containing 10 per cent of water, and 

 these, if ground into flour, take up about 

 one-fifth as much space as the potatoes in 

 their original state. 



Germany's use: of the: white-potato 



It would be difficult to overestimate the 

 gigantic role which the dehydrated potato 

 has played for many years in Germany. 

 Before the war, even, it is reported that 

 more than 800,000,000 bushels were be- 

 ing dried each year for human and stock 

 food. This is more than twice the aver- 

 age potato crop of this country. 



Great stocks of dried potatoes are be- 

 lieved to have been stored away by Ger- 

 many before the war in preparation for 

 it, and one of the first things that was 

 done when the conflict began was to in- 

 crease these factories for the making of 

 potato flakes and potato flour. Now there 

 are 1,350 factories devoted to potato dry- 

 ing alone, and practically all of the war 

 bread used in Germany has a high pro- 

 portion of potato flour in it. 



Not only have the factories in Germany 

 been increased, but the demand for po- 

 tato flour has been so great that Holland 

 has erected gigantic factories for its pro- 

 duction. 



Of course, there is no gluten in potato 

 flour to stick it together, but the calories 

 are there which furnish the body energy 

 so much needed for war work. And it 

 is important to remember that, so far as 

 calories are concerned, an acre of pota- 

 toes will produce on the average nearly 

 twice as much nutriment as an acre of 

 wheat. 



TWO KINDS OF POTATO Fl,OUR 



The public should understand that there 

 are two kinds of substances called potato 

 flour. One is the natural potato flour, 

 which is made by washing and slicing 

 and cooking and then drying the potatoes 

 and later grinding them and bolting the 

 flour, much as wheat is bolted. This 

 process retains all of the mineral salts. 



