262 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCKLAND. 
[CH. X. 
came, the real importance of the potato crop had not 
been recognised. Buckland met the difficulty in his usual 
practical way. In his own household he set the example 
of using maize as a substitute for flour, which he only used 
for bread. He encouraged the villagers to make loaves of 
barley grown on their allotments, but could not over¬ 
come their prejudice to black bread. Personally Buckland 
enjoyed the reminiscence of his travels in Germany, when 
for months he subsisted on little else but barley bread 
and eggs. He supplied the village shops with sacks of 
hominy and Indian meal, which were sold for a penny 
or twopence a pound, and any of the “ townsfolk ” who 
liked might come to the Rectory to be taught the various 
ways of cooking it. Experiments were made in the 
manufacture of arrowroot from those tubers which were 
only partially affected with the disease. The whole family 
was set to work to grate the potatoes into pans of water ; 
the pulp gradually settled to the bottom, where it remained 
till the next day. The water was then poured off, the 
brown scum removed from the settlement, fresh water 
poured on, and, after three washings, the starch would be 
found snow white at the bottom of the pan. Excellent 
food was thus obtained, which was stored in tin boxes for 
the use of the poor people who had lost their winter supply 
of potatoes. “No waste in Nature,” Dean Buckland 
would say. 
Among other good services rendered by the Dean to 
I slip was the building of a cottage at the end of the large 
old tithe barn, one room in which was fitted up as a 
recreation room for the village lads. There also a night 
