POTATO. 



99 



tirely saved the tubers, and we still hope that this root, which 

 has been for many years a luxury to the rich and bread to 

 the poor, will yet continue to improve, as it has done during 

 the past hundred years. On the quality of the Potato, as 

 used for food, a few words will suffice. It is the most nutri- 

 tious of vegetables, where it agrees with the constitution, which 

 is almost invariably the case, excepting some few instances 

 where there is a spare or thin habit of body. To those 

 who take much exercise in the open air, it is excellent food, 

 and yields a very considerable amount of nourishment. 



Too little attention is generally paid to the dressing of it ; 

 for an indifferent potato becomes good when well cooked, and 

 a superior one gains every attraction that an appetite can de- 

 sire. 



An untinned iron saucepan is preferable to any other for 

 boiling potatoes. In preparing them, they should never be 

 peeled, or much of their nutritious quality is lost. They only 

 require to be washed clean, and at farthest to be slightly 

 scraped. After soaking in water for an hour, put them into the 

 saucepan, with cold water sufficient to cover them : when it 

 begins to boil, let a cupful of cold water be put in, which will 

 check the boiling, and allow time for the potatoes to be done 

 through, without their being in any danger of breaking. 

 When they are sufficiently soft, which may be known by try- 

 ing them with a fork, pour off the water, and let the pot with 

 the potatoes continue for a short time over a gentle fire, and 

 the heat will cause any remaining moisture to evaporate ; when, 

 after being peeled, they will be fit for the table. By this me- 

 thod of cooking, if strictly adhered to, they will be found 

 more palatable than under any other. 



Various States and places have their favorite sorts. To 

 enter into a general detail of their merits, would only produce 

 conflicting opinions, for we are certain that what may do well 

 in one State or country would fail in another. Mercer and 

 Foxite for Pennsylvania, Pink-eyes and Mercer for New-York, 



