Uses of the Potatoe. 41 
starch can be readily converted into grape sugar, and that 
the syrup obtained from it is largely employed for the manu- 
facture of brandy in the north of Europe, and even of the 
best brandy which comes from France. In the more north- 
ern of the French wine-growing provinces it is also mixed 
with the less sweet varieties of grape juice, so as to give an 
additional strength and richness to the wine. One of the 
methods by which the potatoe starch is converted into grape 
sugar, is to mix it with one tenth of its weight of ground malt 
diffused in water, and to keep the mixture for some hours at 
a moderate temperature. ‘The starch dissolves, and the liquid 
becomes sweet from its conversion into grape sugar. This 
is the method which M. Boggild, of Copenhagen, proposes 
to apply to the whole potatoe, in order to bring it into 
a soluble state, to make it more easy of digestion, and thus to 
increase its feeding properties. He washes his potatoes well, 
steams them thoroughly, and then, without allowing them to 
cool, he cuts them in a cylinder furnished internally with 
revolving knives, or crushes them in a mill, and mixes them 
with a small quantity of water and three pounds of ground 
malt to every one hundred pounds of the raw potatoes. ‘This 
mixture is kept in motion, and at a temperature of one hun- 
dred and forty degrees to one hundred and eighty degrees 
Fahrenheit, for from one to five hours, when the thick gruel 
has acquired a sweet taste and is ready for use. Given in 
this state, the results of experimental trials are said to be — 
“1. That it is a richer and better food for milk cows than 
twice the quantity of potatoes in a raw state. 
“9. That it is excellent for fattening cattle and sheep, and 
for winter food: that it goes much farther than potatoes when 
merely steamed; and that it may be economically mixed up 
with chopped hay and straw. 
“T have before me a pamphlet, published at Christiania, by 
the Royal Society for Promoting the Improvement of Nor- 
4* 
