POTATOES AND OTHEB STARCHY ROOTS AS FOOD. 15 
In choosing potatoes, weight and size should be taken into account. 
As a rule, the smaller the individual potatoes the greater the weight 
of a bushel. The legal weight of potatoes in most States is 60 
pounds * to the bushel, or 15 pounds to the peck, and three or four 
potatoes of average size weigh a pound. Hence, one may reckon 45 
to 60 medium-sized potatoes to the peck. The time required for 
cooking, of course, depends upon the size of the potatoes, smaller 
ones needing less heat than larger ones. For this reason those of 
uniform size are usually to be preferred to large and small ones 
mixed. If a lot is not uniform, it is often worth while to sort them 
and use the large ones with roast meats, or at other times when the 
oven need not be especially heated, and save the small ones for occa- 
sions when quick cooking is more convenient. When the potatoes are 
very large, or time is pressing, it is often desirable to increase the 
surface exposed to the heat by cutting them in pieces before cooking, 
in spite of the fact that this slightly increases the amount of nutrients 
lost. If the^y are pared and cut into small cubes or thin slices, they 
will cook very quickly and may then be creamed, mashed, or served 
in other ways. 
FOOD VALUE OF POTATOES. 
Potatoes are an important food in so many countries that much 
experimenting has been done to test their nutritive value by scientific 
methods, and the work fully bears out practical experience in prov- 
ing that they are wholesome and well digested. Many experiments 
show that almost all of the carbohydrates and about four-fifths of 
the protein which potatoes supply are actually utilized by the normal 
body. 
There is practically no reliable evidence as to the favorable effect 
of cooking on the digestibility of potatoes, but what little there is 
suggests that the different methods have less influence than is some- 
times supposed. It seems probable that well-cooked, mealy potatoes 
in which the starch grains are thoroughly broken open offer less re- 
sistance to the action of the digestive juices than ill-cooked, soggy 
ones in which the flesh is only partially broken down and which 
enter the alimentary tract in lumps. It is doubtful, however, if the 
differences are great enough to be of importance in the ordinary diet. 
When potatoes are selling at a dollar a bushel 10 cents spent for 
them will buy about 6 pounds of tubers. The same sum spent for 
wheat bread at 5 cents a pound loaf will purchase only 2 pounds of 
material. At first glance it might seem that potatoes are much 
cheaper than bread, but they contain so much more refuse and water 
1 In two States, namely, North Carolina and Virginia, the legal weight of a hushel of 
potatoes is 56 pounds. 
