558 
On the Treatment of Decaijed Potatoes, 6, c. 
admit of their being carried into execution : but I apprehend that 
the}- are not sufficient to meet the exigencies of the case, as far as 
regards the peasant. Every person knows how easily a boiled 
potato becomes bad and suffers decay. The housewife is so 
sensible of its liability to do so, that she often uses it as a kind of 
yeast. It is this tendency to decay which renders it necessary to 
preserve them in air-tight casks, and not only to pour melted faf 
on the top, but also over all the joints. If we had to deal with 
bushels of potatoes this might be effected, but when we have to 
treat a considerable fraction of the produce of a whole country, 
such processes assume an aspect altogether different. At all 
events I know that the Irish peasant will not purchase casks 
and fat even if he had the money to do so. Parmentier's process 
also requires good casks, and is still more unsuited for the cir- 
cumstances of the case, because in addition to the extraction of 
the diseased parts and removing the skin of the potato, additional 
labour and expense is employed in the two fuels and apparatus 
necessary for boiling and for drving — the latter of which opera- 
tions is no easy task, from the glutinous nature of the material. 
Another plan, attended with perhaps as little trouble as any, 
consists in cutting the potato into thin slices and drying them 
upon corn or malt kilns. In doing this, several precautions must 
be followed to secure success. The heat must be applied very 
slowly indeed, and should not be raised much above 100^ until 
the end of the operation, because a hard skin is apt to form on the 
exposed parts of the slices and prevent the escape of water. It 
has been proposed, and the proposal seems to me to be a good 
one, that the slices should be allowed to dry in the air for some 
time, by being hung up like onions and afterwards kiln-dried. 
However, the latter must be carried to the point of thorough 
dryness, for partial drvness only increases the evil, because the 
beat destroys the vitality of the tuber and renders it more liable 
to decay. If the whole potatoes be partiallj' dried by artificial 
heat so as not to raise the temperature suflRciently to injure the 
vitality of the tuber, I am assured by Mr. Warrington that they 
are capable of preservation. His experiments, however, have 
not been made on a large scale. Of course in all operations for 
economising decayed potatoes, that method is to be preferred 
Avhich yields the greatest return with the least labour and expense. 
It is for this reason that I have coincided in the recommendation 
of the Irish Commissioners, that simple washing of the grated 
mass is the process best adapted for the cottage. After the three 
washings described, the water may be poured off, and the mass 
c()llected in a coarse canvass cloth or towel, which is then put on 
a box or stool and the water removed bv pressure. Very con- 
siderable pressure may be given by placing the end of a spade in 
