Preparation of Dried Potatoes. 



97 



be divided into cakes of five rations each, at the rate of I oz. 

 per ration, easily separated for convenience of issue. These 

 slabs are then wrapped in paper and packed by machinery 

 into square tins, which are hermetically soldered. Before the 

 lid is soldered down a punch stamps it automatically from 

 the inside with the season of manufacture. When two years 

 appear on this stamp, as ' 1888-89,' the first is the year of 

 the crop, and the second the year of compression. The tins 

 are now made of bright ' coke 5 tin-plate of the best quality, it 

 having been found by experience that the vegetables keep 

 much better in this material than in the dull terne-plate formerly 

 used." 



The various operations involved in the desiccation of vege- 

 tables are nearly all performed by mechanical means. A large 

 number of ingenious machines have been designed for peeling 

 potatoes, apples, &c, and for cutting them into slices, chips or 

 shreds. These are chiefly of American origin, but are now 

 largely manufactured in Germany also. With reference to 

 drying machines, there are a considerable number upon the 

 market at the present time. For use upon a small scale 

 the " Ryder," an American machine, and the " Geisenheim 

 evaporator," which in its latest form is known as the "Gnom 

 (Waas patent) evaporator," appear to have met with general 

 approval. The problem of devising a suitable machine for the 

 desiccation of potatoes has not been entirely solved, however, 

 and quite recently a competition has been opened in Germany, 

 under the auspices of the Agricultural Department, the Alcohol 

 Verein and various Agricultural Societies, in which a series of 

 prizes, amounting to 30,000 marks, are offered for the best potato- 

 drying apparatus. The one condition imposed is that the 

 machine or system shall be capable of desiccating potatoes so 

 that they can be stored in a form suitable for stock feeding until 

 the next year's crop is ready, and at a cost not exceeding 2^d. 

 per centner (no lb.). Twenty-two competitors have entered 

 the competition, which should result in the production of a 

 thoroughly suitable system for desiccating potatoes. As an 

 indication of the scale upon which some of the different drying 

 processes are worked in Germany, it may be mentioned that the 

 " original Rassmus dryer " is guaranteed to dry 20 tons of 



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