POTATOES AND OTHER STARCHY ROOTS AS FOOD. 21 
sold to some extent. 1 Sweet potatoes cut into small cubes and roasted 
or parched until brown are used like parched corn as a homemade 
substitute for coffee. 
Within recent years the practice of canning sweet potatoes has been 
developed with so much success that it is now an important indus- 
try. Medium- sized roots are preferred for canning and are usually 
put up in 3-pound tins. They are used like other canned vegetables 
when it is not convenient to depend upon a fresh supply. Canned 
sweet potatoes have been used in the Army ration in the Philippines 
and are said to be in demand for lumber and mining camps. 
Very rarely a flour is made from sweet potatoes. Like that from 
white potatoes, it is prepared by "slicing, drying, and grinding the 
root. 
DIGESTIBILITY AND PLACE !n THE DIET. 
Not many special experiments have been made to test the degesti- 
bilit}^ of sweet potatoes, but what little work has been done indi- 
cates a degree of digestibility equal to that of white potatoes. The 
protein may be sligthly less digestible, but the difference is too slight 
to be of practical importance. 
It is a matter of common experience that sweet potatoes are whole- 
some, and they are ordinarily digested without distress. Many per- 
sons find the starclry varieties so dry that they do not relish them 
without large quantities of butter. This makes a rather rich mix- 
ture and is perhaps accountable for the digestive disturbances oc- 
casionally experienced. 
Considering both composition and digestibility, it may be said that 
the nutritive value of sweet potatoes is much the same as that of 
white potatoes and that they are well fitted to occupy the same 
place in the diet and furnish a palatable substitute for white pota- 
toes. Their characteristic and pleasing flavor has the advantage 
of giving variety to the diet. In the North they frequently cost 
somewhat more than white potatoes, but are still among the cheaper 
vegetables. In the South they are usually cheaper than white pota- 
toes and merit their extensive use. 
THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 
The Jerusalem artichoke (Jerusalem being a corruption of girasole, 
the Italian name for sunflower) is a tuber-bearing member of the 
sunflower family and is entirely distinct from the French or true 
artichoke, sometimes called globe artichoke. Like the sunflower, the 
Jerusalem artichoke is of American origin and was an important 
1 South Carolina Sta. Bui. 71 (1903), p. 6 ; U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bui. 169 (1903), 
p. 25. 
