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THE

POE LF Or AO:

TEE

MODEL POTATO:

AN EXPOSITION

OF THE

PROPER CULTIVATION OF THE POTATO; THE CAUSES OF ITS
DISEASES, OR “ROTTING;” THE REMEDY THEREFOR;
ITS RENEWAL, PRESERVATION, PRODUCTIVE-
NESS, AND COOKING.

FeRAM © 9

di
JOHN McLAURIN, M.D.

EDITED, WITH ANNOTATIONS,

By R. T. TRALL, M.D.,

AUTHOR OF ‘‘HYDROPATHIC ENCYCLOPDIA,”’ ‘‘ HYGIENIC HAND BOOK,”

‘“WATBE-CURE FOR THE MILLION,” “THE TRUE HEALING ART,”’
‘“ DIPHTHERIA,”’ ‘“* SEXUAL PHYSIOLOGY,” ‘‘ SEXUAL
PATHOLOGY,” ‘“‘THE TRUE TEMPERANCE

P PLATFORM,”’ ETC., ETC.

uy te oo
tA
| fo a
ee A

44 «
a * New YORK:

SAMUEL R. WELLS, PUBLISHER,
889 BROADWAY.

bby tr

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
SAMUEL R. WELLS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
EQPEODOETION, Sea sinc cies ss Gi elciets OW sia teins dwn ee 5
Geyerar: PROPOSITIONS -”. i). cic,o Caw sues evn ctecae tee ear 23
PERERA Ag yore fatale 4 tiaic's sa sia cers o Dek aul dma dots seta < 31
Bap Sane i( Continued) ici svc Seen’ occas cee neces as 35
DW RVR SEUIN oo as'eiarcs sini s'oie win 'alslarogie leita o: ereiein.a'd dieser 39
PR WOAIRe SEAM TENG. Ses acticitrs'« cinscln's wicks aib,c,c1mecigmacmie eek 50

AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL Manures... 53

CEOWBED POANTING «oc viciec cdi niccicecenecn's Serre A 68
A eeae PE EMOTE 05 ohare che als sylaia iaie'c vies s/acuieleju oni ctaene & siete 73
EXCESSIVE Covenme Rod vadgiise La cercies wave te mroerne sp 78
ES TIRES PEP ATION 5, 655 w drab nce salninla'e ain ec'cin were e'etereele ere 83
Cooma POratons 6.5508 Sets veces Sacstereiniere stare orale 92
HInG@Hinte COOKING s 0 i601. déscieian vsnees soe Le ae as 97
To THE PoTATO..........+. Pi ren! Peet dart ioe et tae Oe

be ek,
a} ee ie ik |
28 Ae werd 2 Wie -a
, aay

Weald yea sans tyes A

bay ee

OOF no imate san eenadamannanaa see Seu,

ewes Ae ih

: : UFY
Hareb PeVorseesoeeseroasesisSetoes aged a ofa

ee.

A tere oe ey eprcwant he

sepoiualt ec: ova, wise: ‘aatrorausison,..

a ay iS wil Rane hae Roe es we hoes

So ctanca seth yea toca: AROMAT aut

PE Shey

PP eee es 209 Ae} Romer en pee ae

fereis bikie sees sade aa es amma ourboxE

ret

i apa al ra , i ‘ . er
+ Dew aback hin o5k.a's. he CREM ORME Sno
ov A - ¢ ~ ¥

ve ME A Ree ates | ry , OX + ee AL ou
Seley 3'5 9 vfs oowale oc Sie 2p Rose by re
“

~ ae aa i a Pk Wane

“rere tla oniesSovesadevenenypoesuty Oma

Pe leoO Me ETro Nn.

BY Bir ¥; TRALL, M.D.

Since the year 1845, when the potato-rot first
appeared, causing a famine in Ireland, and in-
credible suffering in other European countries,
the subject of potato-culture has attracted much
of the attention of farmers throughout the civil-
ized world ; and as the author of this little work
has probably been the first to investigate the
subject in the light of the laws of nature, and has,
in my judgment, propounded the true theory
of the diseases of, and remedies for this invaluable
esculent, a few words in relation to his prepara-
tion and capacity for such a work, may not be un-
interesting to the reader.

Thirty years ago the principle of health reform

6 L[nutroduction.

was introduced to the world by that masterly
work of Sylvester Graham, entitled “The Science
of Human Life.” Soon after this event a plan or ©
system of medicating all diseases by means of
hygienic agencies (commonly but erroneously
termed ‘“Hydropathy” or ‘“ Water-Cure”), was
introduced by a German peasant— Vincent Priess-
nitz, of Graefenberg. Twenty-eight years ago the
editor of this work opened the first hygienic
institution in the United States. Twenty years
ago a health and medical reformation took per-
manent form and shape in the organization of the
Hygeio-Therapeutic College, which was a few
years thereafter chartered by the Legislature of
the State of New York.

Health reform and hygienic medication mean
nothing more nor less than the application of
the laws of organic life to the preservation of
health, and the treatment of disease. Their end
and aim, their maxim and philosophy, are “a
sound mind in a sound body.” . The cause is pre-

eminently religious, for it contemplates uncondi-

Lntroduction. V

tional obedience to all of God’s laws, as mani-
fested in the organic or the spiritual domain.

Hygienists are therefore obliged to investigate
the science of life in its broadest scope; to learn
the conditions of health in all their minutiz ; to
understand the causes of disease in all their com-
plications, and to search for natural remedies as
no other persons have ever done, whether sci-
entists or physicians. And it was for the purpose
of teaching and disseminating information on these
subjects among the people, as well as to educate
men and women as physicians who would cure
the sick without employing medicines that the
college aforesaid was established—which, by the
way, is still in operation, and the only one of the
kind in existence.

John McLaurin, the author of the following
work, came to me as a student, and attending the
course of lectures of the first college term, gradu-
ated at the “commencement,” He had, by
reading the “Hydropathic Enclycopedia,” the

“'Water-Cure Journal,” Graham’s Lectures, and

8 Introduction.

other works on hydropathy, hygiene, and die-
tetics, become a convert to the hygienic system,
and entered into the spirit of the health reform
with zeal and enthusiasm. He came to the col-
lege, not for the purpose of learning a trade or
acquiring a profitable business, for these he had
already, but for the purpose of procuring informa-
tion that would enable him to be more useful to
others—more successful in teaching, and, if need
be, in practicing the principles of the great health
reformation.

Soon after receiving his diploma, Dr. McLaurin
was employed as a missionary to seek a suitable
location for a proposed vegetarian colony. Kan-
sas was selected as the most promising territory
for exploration, and Dr. McLaurin spent several
months in travelling over the area now known as
a State. Kansas was then uninhabited, except in
few and distant places, by white people. Indians
and animals constituted the principal population,
and even these were only to be found in particular

“neighborhoods,” and were remote from each

Introduction. ° 9

other. Ofcourse our traveller had a rough time
of it. Stages were unknown. Hotels were not.
Houses had not invaded much of the territory,
and even “ shebangs ” were scarce.

After roaming over a good part of the territory,
camping out in all kinds of weather, exposed to
rains, winds, sultry heats, and chilling frosts, and
having accomplished the object of his mission,
Dr. McLaurin returned to New York. But he
was utterly demoralized physically. Apparently
his health was ruined forever. He was thin, pale,
haggard,. coughing severely, and expectorating
profusely. In short he had confirmed consump-
tion.

It did not seem to me possible that he could
recover, or even live many weeks. I treated him
for a few days, until he became rested and com-
paratively comfortable, when he returned to* his
home in Canada.

A few months after this the patient I had given
over to death astonished me by walking into my

office in the image of a well man!

10 . L[nutroduction.

It was impossible for health reformers long to
remain ignorant of the fact that the prevalent
system of agriculture was abnormal and vicious in
many respects ; that nearly all kinds of food were
more or less improper because of improper culture
or modes of preservation ; that many things grown
and sold as food for human beings were diseased,
and consequently unwholesome, and that the
same laws of organic life whose infraction occa-
sioned diseases and malorganization in animals
and in human beings, prevailed in the vegetable
kingdom : and, when disobeyed, occasioned pre-
cisely the same disorders and deformities in the
grains, fruits, roots, and other vegetable produc-
tions which constitute the proper food of man.
Hence hygienic agriculture was soon seen to be an
indispensable factor in the cause of health re-
form ; for without normal agriculture pure food
is impossible, and without pure food no one can
live hygienically, except in a degree.

At the time that Dr. McLaurin first gave his

attention to hygiene, the potato disease, or “rot,”

Introduction. AE

which occasioned the “great famine” in Ireland,
a few years before, was attracting considerable
attention. The potato-producers were apprehen-
sive that the crop was about to fail, and the
potato-consumers were alarmed lest an esculent,
which has become indispensable to comfort if not
to health, was about to be annihilated.

Although many of Dr. McLaurin’s co-reformers
had given this subject of the potato disease much
attention, none of them had entered upon an
investigation of the subject systematically and
experimentally, as he has done. No hygienist
ever doubted that the essential cause, and the
only cause, of the deterioration, decay, failure,
and rotting of the potato was attributable to an
erroneous method of culture, or preservation, or
both ; for all hygienists know that all diseases,
and all imperfections of all living organizations
are due wholly to unphysiological conditions—dis-
obedience to vital laws. The only things for them
to learn were the particulars—the precise ways in

which health conditions were disregarded, and

12 L[utroduction.

the exact means to be employed to restore those
conditions. |

After Dr. McLaurin recovered his health, he
had the good fortune to cure a number of chronic
invalids, whose cases had long been considered
desperate, some of whom had been abandoned as
hopeless by their physicians. These cures were
accomplished wholly by means of hygienic agen-
cies, no drugs or medicines of any kind being
administered in any case.

Dr. McLaurin, in the honest simplicity of his
heart, and with motives purely disinterested and
philanthropic, took pains to explain to the neigh-
boring physicians the advantages of “ Tygienic
vs. Drug Medication,” as illustrated 4n the cases
of the remarkable cures to which he referred,
expecting probably that he would be applauded
or at least tolerated for the good he had done.
But his reception was not so complimentary as -
he had rightfully hoped. Indeed it was, “on the
contrary, quite the reverse.” Instead of being

praised for well-doing, he was threatened with

Introduction. "3

a criminal prosecution for practicing the Healing
Art when he was only an irregular physician.

But the cures he performed, though they
brought him little fame and less money, rewarded
him with that which was better than either or
both ; with what this world can neither give nor
take away. And they enabled him to realize
more intensely the unspeakable importance of a
life in accordance with the laws of life, in main-
taining health as well as removing the causes of
disease, and of applying these considerations
more practically to the circumstances which de-
termined the healthy or diseased condition of
those productions which are employed as food
for human beings; and especially to the potato,
then a subject of much discussion. The result
had been, a patient, assiduous and elaborate
research into the causes of its normal growth and
abnormal conditions, until, finally, he has placed
in my hands, to be edited and annotated, the
manuscript which will constitute the substance of

the text of the following pages.

14 Introduction.

Within a few years many persons have pros
fessed to have discovered the nature and cause of
the potato disease and the remedy therefor ; but
a sufficient answer to all of those pretensions is
the fact that the disease still prevails where the
remedy has been tried. Like the consumption-
curers who swarm in the cities and infest every
village, they do not lessen the statistics of
disease nor diminish the bills of mortality.

It requires but a very superficial knowledge of
physiology, to enable a person to understand
that no drug or nostrum can ever remedy a
diseased organism which results from improper
culture or imperfect preservation.

It is true that no less than ten different kinds
of insects that prey on the potato vine, have been
clearly recognized and minutely described by
entomologists, and parasitic fungi innumerable
have been ascertained to infest the plant, yet
they are not the causes but the incidents of its
diseases. They are scavengers, and like all

creatures of that kind, are always present when

Introduction. 15

organic matter is in a state of impurity or of
decay. The only protection against insects and
parasites is health and vigor.

The potato is peculiar in many respects, and
this fact is doubtless the source of many errors
which are prevalent respecting the causes of its
decay, and the remedial agents or measures
which have been recommended. And to this
cause may be attributed the discrepancies among
authors and agricultural writers respecting the
proper method for cultivating and preserving it ;
to say nothing of the conflicting testimonies and
receipts relating to cooking and eating it.

No other production cultivated in this country,
if in any country, is subject to precisely the same
conditions and influences, nor requires precisely
the same management as the potato, in the details;
yet all are governed and controlled by the same
organic laws and vital principles. I find in
agricultural journals and books, and in the
catalogues of seedsmen, as much discordance of

theory and practice, as I find in the standard

16 Introduction.

text-books and journals of the medical profession
with regard to the nature, causes, and proper
treatment of consumption.

There is, indeed, an instructive similarity in
these diseases. The potato disease is exactly
analogous to that form of consumption in animals
and in human beings known as tuberculous. It
is as really a kind of scrofula, as is tuberculosis;
and the potato rot is caused by conditions pre-
cisely analogous to those which induce consump-
tion and scrofula in human beings, the rinderpest
in cattle, the pleuro-pneumonia in sheep, the
glanders in horses, the cholera in hogs, and the
fatty degeneration in fowls, ete.

And when the farmer, by applying the principles
explained by Dr. McLaurin, renovates his potato
crop, he may, if he pleases, apply the same prin-
ciples to the renovation and improvement of all
other crops; and if he chooses he may also extend
and apply them to the purification and invigora-
tion of his domestic animals. Nor is this all.

He may, if he so wills, apply them successfully to

Introduction. 17

the prevention of all contagious diseases among
human beings, and, to a great extent, of all other
maladies.

Perhaps a few words in relation to my personal
experience and observation may be a fitting con-
clusion to these introductory remarks.

For more than a quarter of a century I have
been in the constant practice of treating all classes
of invalids hygienically; that is, without medicines
of any kind, and by means of hygienic agencies,
as air, light, temperature, bathing, diet, exercise, rest,
clothing, sleep, electricity, magnetism, and in short,
all normal influences. As a large proportion of
the ills that flesh is heir to are caused by improper
and unwholesome articles of food, drink, and con-
diments, while all morbid conditions are agegra-
vated by them, the dietary constitutes an impor-
tant feature, and, in many cases, the leading and
most important feature of hygienic medication.

I have treated many hundreds of patients for
months, who were allowed a mixed dietary, reject-

ing only the more gross forms of animal food, all
2

18 Introduction.

complicated dishes, and the more pungent and
irritating of the articles usually employed as
seasonings. I have treated many other hundreds
on a vegetarian dietary, but permitting the
moderate employment of sugar, milk, and salt.
And for ten years past I have treated all classes
of invalids on a strict dietary, from which all
condiments were rejected, and even the use of
sugar and milk (except for infants), discontinued.

Although my table has been supplied with a
variety of breads, pies, cakes, “mushes, soups,
puddings, fruits and vegetables, nothing artificial
or inorganic has been put in any article of food.
Nor has any process of cooking been employed
except boiling, baking, or steaming. Nothing has
been mixed with or added to any dish or article
prepared for or supplied to the table, except soft
pure water and heat. No drink is allowed at
meals.

In adopting a diet so rigidly simple and
natural, my patients soon acquire an excellent

appetite ; their dyspeptic feelings and morbid

Introduction. 19

cravings ultimately disappear, and their instincts
acquire a keenness of perceptivity undreamed of
before, and only appreciated by the unperverted
child or the unsophisticated animal. With a
recovery, more or less complete, of the normal
perceptivities, comes also the power to discrimi-
nate the intrinsic properties and qualities of all
alimentary substances ; and the plainest food, as
unsalted beans, unbuttered rice, unfermented
breads, unsugared pies and cakes, unvinegared
cabbage and beets, and unpeppered turnips and
cucumbers, were eaten with a relish never known
to the epicure who uses one or several seasonings
with every kind of food he eats.

These patients become excellent judges of the
qualities of the articles set before them; hence
those who market for such a table must be very
discriminating in their purchases. They cannot
use the unripe and ill-flavored fruits, the imperfect
watery, and unsavory esculents, and the musty,
or imperfect flour and meal, nor the unsavory

vegetables, that will go down without difficulty |

20 Introduction.

when well disguised with butter, vinegar, pepper,
salt, mustard, radish, catsup, or Worcestershire
sauce.

For several years I have supplied my table with
berries, tomatoes, green peas, beans, green corn,
potatoes, and other roots, fresh from the garden
which I have cultivated for the purpose. And,
with the fresh and well-matured fruits and
vegetables, and the keen and discriminating
appetences of my boarders, I have had an unusually
favorable opportunity (added to my own personal
habits) to learn the difference between a good
and a bad, or a perfect and inferior article of food,
not only in pleasing the palate, but in satisfying
the stomach and improving the health. And Iam
satisfied that Dr. McLaurin does not lay any too
much stress on good or normal food as conducive
to human health.

I have also noticed another fact that Dr.
McLaurin calls attention to, viz., the difference
between potatoes taken from the ground as soon

as ripened, and cooked—say in September, and

Introduction. 21

those taken from the same field a month or two
later. The difference in gustatory properties is
very great, and the difference in nutritive value
must be correspondingly great; although tastes
rendered torpid by stimulating viands, or “seared
as with a hot iron,” by pungent condiments, may
not appreciate the difference.

I hope, therefore, that the hygienic culture of
the potato will prove the initiatory step of a
general improvement and reformation in all of
the culinary modes of cultivating the things which
are to be used for the sustenance of human beings ;
for health, happiness, and usefulness are intimately
connected with good digestion, and for this good
food is indispensable.

I have placed the notes I have added in
brackets, so that they may be distinguished from
the text.

HyGetan Home,
Florence Hights, N. J., March 1, 187. |

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THE POTATO BOOK.

GENERAL PROPOSITIONS,

(hee first problem to be solved, in relation to
the cultivation or propagation of any living
organism, vegetable or animal, is the conditions
of its normal development and growth ; in other
words, how can its health be best promoted and

maintained ?

2. This work is an attempt to explain the
proper method of cultivating the potato, increas-
ing its yield, improving its quality, preventing its
diseases, in language so plain and simple, that all
who are interested as producers or consumers
of this important esculent, may readily compre-
hend the theory taught and the practice or art

deduced from it.
(93)

24 The Potato Book.

3. The potato “rot” has for many years been a
source of serious apprehension, not only with the
farmers who raise the crop for market, but also
with millions of consumers; and its alarming
increase in many parts of the United States and
other countries, has caused well-founded fears
that the tuber would eventually run out, or cease
to be useful as food or profitable as an agricultu-
ral production. Such a calamity would indeed be
deplorable, for it is not easy to see where a substi-
tute is to be found. But it is confidently believed
that this work will afford the necessary informa-
tion, not only to enable the farmer to arrest the
process of deterioration, but greatly to augment
the productiveness of the potato, while he restores

its quality to its original perfection.

4. Until the potato is treated more rationally
than hitherto, and limited to latitudes more
natural to it, we shall never know its true value.
Its normal range of climate is from thirty-three to

fifty-five degrees north and south of the equator ;

The Potato Book. 25

or upon elevated tropical lands of the same tempe-
rature ; and no doubt the nearer forty-five de-
grees the better. There is no evidence whatever
that the exotic character of the plant is the cause

of its decay or deterioration in any locality.

5. The reader may hardly be able to credit at
first the statement that the disease of the potato
should result from causes seemingly so trivial,
and that the cure can be found in rules apparently
SO simple ; yet the changes proposed in its culture
almost reverse the present method, and place the
edible in normal relations to atmospheric and
electrical influences, and in harmony with vital
laws so that rapid growth, abundant yield, im-

proved quality are secured.

6. Vegetables and animals possess organs and
properties in common, and are subject to the
same laws of organization and reproduction. To
this statement the potato is no exception. True,

the potato is more simple in its structures, and

26 The Potato Book.

less complicated in its functions than an animal.
Vegetables have all the vital qualities and instincts
of animals. They lack sensibility and mentality.
In vital endowments there is no difference what-
ever. Both are dependent on the same normal
conditions and hygienic agencies for proper devel-
opment and growth. Nor do the farmer’s domes-
tic animals—his: horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, dogs,
and fowls—more surely degenerate and perish
than do his potatoes, when subjected to abnormal
influences. True, the conditions and modes of
propagation and growth vary, in both animals
and vegetables, with genera, species, and other
circumstances, but the essential and invariable

vital laws are the same in all cases.

7. A potato differs from an animal, and from
some vegetables, and from some other roots, in
the fact that by death it transmits life, the entire
tuber being the source of life ; and unless this life
be transmitted integrally, the progeny will be

devitalized, ultimating, in connection with causes

The Potato Book. 27

in debility, disease, and decay. The plan of
culture herein recommended prescribes nofhos-
trums and involves no experiments, but removes
the causes of deterioration, surely though slowly ;
and, the causes being removed, the effects of

course cease—the potato disease disappears.

8. Under no circumstances will the method of
culture I have explained, fail in arresting decay
and promoting vigorous and healthy growth,
except through imperfect management, or a partial
adoption of it. Those who would have the full
benefits of the instruction conveyed in this work
should divest themselves of all prejudices and
-prepossessions, for it is only upon a full observance
of all the rules in their entirety, adding nothing
and abating nothing, that any important or con-
siderable beneficial results can be predicated.
The success of the plan is demonstrable, and the

plan itself incapable of deception.

9. Probably the mere reading of the theory

ot ite The Potato Book.

advanced will convince the intelligent physiologist
that the improvements suggested in the cultivation
of the potato (which nearly reverse the common
method), are vast, and that the results, both as
respects the quality and quantity of the crop, must
be correspondingly important. Actual practice,
however, can only determine the remedial value
of the new method to the satisfaction of the
farmer. Nature cannot be improved. Her laws
cannot be created nor ignored. All that we
can do in any department of human action, and
all that we need do in raising potatoes, is to
remove the causes which conduce to the perver-

sions of her laws.

10. When the present prevalent and erroneous
method of planting potatoes is corrected in
accordance with the rules herein given, it will
then be much better understood than it possibly
can be now, how unnatural and injurious this
mode has been. Properly cultivated (the effects

of existing errors being removed), the potato can

The Potato Book. 29

no more be diseased, than it can be cured under

the present abnormal treatment.

11. Though fragmentary parts of the rules
herein inculcated are or may have been practiced
in different places, the method and system as a
whole is claimed to be entirely original, and the
result of faithful observation, close study, and
careful experimentation. Those who adopt the
new method cannot properly impute any fault or
failure to it unless they plant the same renewed

seed for three successive years.

12. The restoration of the potato to health ; its
augmented size and increased yield, its better
method of preservation, and its proper mode of
cooking, increasing, solidifying, and improving it
as food, will greatly enchance the profitable re-
sults of its cultivation. And as it will be years
before the system herein advocated will be gene-
rally adopted, those who first take hold of it may

realize fortunes.

30 The Potato Book.

13. The author hopes to see this plan adopted
soon by all farmers, not only for the sake of hav-
ing good potatoes for the table, but also for the
purpose of arresting a process in one of our
most important food-crops analogous to contagion
in animals—an achievement of vast moment to

the welfare of the human race.

14. There are no less than seven prevalent
errors in the common method of potato culture,
which tend to the deterioration and destruction of
the crop. These will be considered in order, and

the remedy for each indicated.

_ [The author purposes, as soon as compliance
in his plan of potato culture is established, in the
recognition of its scientific truthfulness and im-
mense value, to publish a preventive of the
rinderpest, or cattle-plague, as the principle in-
volved applies to all contagious diseases alike,
whether of vegetables, animals, or human
beings.—R. T. T.]

The Potato Book. 31

ERROR 1.

BAD SHED.

Although the potato disease is perfectly curable,
yet no kind of potatoes will attain large size, or
continue productive, if unrenewed from the plum or
seed-ball for more than twenty years; and some
sorts will not thrive without such renewal for more
than half that length of time. The plum is what
nature has designed for the reproduction of fresh
varieties, and for rejuvenation.

If reproduction is longer neglected, the potato
becomes exhausted from old age, and this will
ultimate in decay ; and if in addition to this the
potato is maltreated, the result will be disease.
Conscious of such decay, yet ignorant of its cause,
planters exchange seed potatoes from distant
places. This may improve the quality so far as
change of soil and climate may be beneficial ; but
no remedy short of a full compliance with the law
of timely renewal, can restore the plant to its

pristine vigor. Without some miracle to dissever

22 The Potato Book.

consequences from their causes, some disease or
deterioration might perhaps have been anticipated,
when the ages of some kind of potatoes now
planted are considered. A persistent neglect of
the indispensable physiological law of renewal, not
only results in decay, but aggravates other mor-
bific conditions which tend to the production of
disease.

Undoubtedly certain localities, soils, seasons,
and atmospheric conditions, powerfully tend to
develop the disease, which, from: other causes,
becomes hereditary.

Of the old worn-out potatoes no complete reno-
vation can be expected, either in size, productive-
ness, or fiavor. They should be superceded by
new varieties. Nor can younger kinds generally
be improved to the utmost without regard to the
law of renewal.

Of the various kinds of potatoes under twenty
years of age, few are so badly affected that they
will not speedily yield to the power of renewal, so

far as the disease is concerned, when due attention

The Potato Book. 24

is paid to the rules of normal culture. The
potato, as is the case with other vegetables, and
with animals, is more easily cured before than

after vitality is in a state of decline from old age.

[I have before me a Prize Essay on the Culti-
vation of the Potato, by D. A. Compton, of
Hawley, Pa., to which a premium of $100, offered
by W. T. Wylie, of Bellefonte, Pa., was awarded.
In this Essay there is no allusion to the subject of
renewing the crop from the plum; nor can I
find any mention of it in any of the works on
potato-culture, reports of Farmers’ Clubs, nor
Agricultural Journals which I have been able to
‘obtain. I have, however, heard incidentally that
some amateur farmers have tried this experiment
with excellent results. If the idea of reproducing
the potato in this way, and thus renovating or
renewing its vitality, is not original with Dr.
McLaurin, I think he is justly entitled to the
credit of discovering and promulgating its neces-
sity.—R. T. T.]

34 The Potato Book.

REMEDY 1.

When ripe, pick from the best specimens or
kinds of potato vines the largest plums, or
berries ; dry and preserve them from dampness
and frost. In the spring sow them in the
nursery. Treat them afterwards as you do your
other potatoes, a la regime; and from the product,
in two or three years, you may select the best
kinds for field planting.

This is all that is necessary to say on this
subject. But, in the details of the process of
renewal there is an ample, and, to most persons,
a novel field for experiment. One may be more
skilful than another, and, perhaps, more so than
I have been ; hence I purposely avoid details,
preferring to leave the matter open for every
one’s unbiased experience and investigation ; as
any person may, by attentive observation and
careful study, originate or perfect some useful
feature, or make some valuable discovery. If you

are obliged to select from the stock of seedsmen,

The Potato Book. 35

be sure and obtain the best specimens. One
method, however, of preserving the plums, I will
mention, which is in sand or sawdust. They
may be sowed in rows, like turnips, thinning them
when too thick, but never replanting those which
are pulled off.

»[The seeds of the plums, like those of melons
and cucumbers, may be squeezed out, dried, and
preserved in paper. In the spring they may be
sowed in drills, like onions or turnips. They
should be kept thoroughly weeded, and have
room enough to prevent them from coming in

contact in the process of growth.—R. T. T.]

ERROR 2.
BAD SEED.

THE omniginous and promiscuous method of
planting the potato is another cause of deteriora-.
tion and disease. Mixing together for seed pota-

toes any and every kind, good, bad, old, young,

36 The Potato Book.

indiscriminately, affects the crop as deleteriously
as a similar process would the breeding of animals.
No good crop can ever permanently come of ‘such
planting, however favorable the season may be,

or however rich the soil, or skilful the tillage.

[I am not aware that any other seed, whether
of grains, fruits, or roots, is treated in this way
by farmers ; and there is no reason in the nature
of things, certainly none in the laws of reproduc-
tion, why potatoes should be. They are surely
no exception to vital or organic laws. Our
farmers seem to understand very well that, if they
would have the best crops of wheat, or corn, they
must have seed in its most perfect condition. The
rule in relation to corn, to select the best
kernels from the best rows of the best ears of the
best hills, is not exaggerated in the least. And
it applies to seed potatoes as well as to seed corn.
Indeed it applies to every living organism that it
is desirable to have in its best possible condition.
The great truth that the plant, the tree, the

The Potato Book. 37

animal, and the man, is but the unfolding of the
seed or egg, and that its conditions, or constitu-
tional qualities must inevitably attach to the
individual organism developed from it through
life, may some day be realized, and then agricul-
ture may be placed on the hygienic basis. The
more progressive physiologists are beginning to
learn that ante-natal conditions are of prime
importance in the rearing of normal offspring—a
law which applies to the seeds and eggs as well
ag the embryotic life, of the future beings. Who-
ever saw a farmer select the seed of an apple, a
pear, a peach, a plum, a cherry, a gooseberry, a
currant, a pumpkin, a squash, a watermelon, or a
cucumber, except from the largest, best-flavored
and most smooth and solid specimens he could
find? Probably such a thing was never heard of,
and yet he jumbles big and little, sound and
rotten, smooth and rough, sprouted and blighted
potatoes together for planting, and expects a.
good crop, but gets the fruits of what he sows !—
Ee 2]

38 The Potato Book.

REMEDY 2.

In choosing the proper kinds of potatoes for
planting, it should be remembered that the most
profitable, if not the sweetest, grow large in size ;
in shape they are round like apples, pears, peaches,
or eggs, or a combination of them all; in color
they are red, pink, or white, or all three colors
intermingled ; the eyes are few and not sunken,
but protuberant. The potato should be hard,
heavy, dry, and sweet, and of course, wholesome ;
and when perfectly healthy, it will have all these
qualities.

While the selections are made in conformity to
the above rules, no injury results from planting
different varieties in the same field, unless the
disparities in age and quality are extreme; size
being always attainable by a close adherence to
the rules.

It is not denied that some sorts of potatoes
which vary from those above described in shape

and color may be good ; but it is maintained that

The Potato Book. } 39

those answering this description, upon the whole,
are the best.

ee

ERROR 38.

VEIViISHC TION.

Cutting the seed is one of the chief causes of
the potato disease. The method of gouging out -
the germinal part, or eye, or slicing the potato into
pieces for planting, has long been practiced by
nearly all planters, but with what result let the
present deplorable prevalence of the potato rot
testify.

The sundering of the bud from the body of the
tuber, under the impression that such mutilated
fragments will produce healthy and vigorous fruit,
is most fallacious and absurd, and has no parallel
among the many blunders of agriculturists. This
unnatural severance by division dissipates the vital
forces of the seed, and debility of the offspring is
the inevitable consequence. In proportion as the

unity of the tuber is destroyed by multiplied sec-

40 The Potato Book.

tions, so the progeny derived therefrom is en-
feebled and rendered liable to disease. To suppose
that this process of mutilation economizes seed,
and produces more bushels than the sound potatoes
would if planted whole, is a delusion that has
probably no parallel in false physiology. Instinct
never suggested so absurd a notion ; reason never
conceived it ; science never taught it; nor did
experience ever confirm it. It is said that the
New Zealander first learned it from immigrants.

Nothing in the anatomical structure of the
potato, nor in the physiology of its functions, gives
the least countenance to the notion. Its analogy
is not found in nature. The miserable and bar-
barous device neither saves material nor increases
production, but, on the contrary, wastes the one
and diminishes the other. It blights the vital
stamina and transmits imperfect organization and
abnormal conditions, ultimating in deformity, dis-
ease, and premature decay.

Potato-cutting for seed is really seed-mutilating.

In effect it is the rot inoculation. To dissever the

The Potato Book. 4I

head from the body of the potato, hermaphrodite
though it may seemingly be, is separating the
procreative or reproductive organs from the body,
or from the greater part of it, so that the source
of sustenance is reduced to one-half, or even one-
fourth, of what is required, and what nature
intended and provided. To plant such gelded nips
dissevered from the bodily attachment not only
debilitates the product, but hazards its very exist-

ence.
Did the germ-cut method of planting increase

the yield of the potato economically, it would do
so with ‘grain and other seeds, fruits and roots.
Each single potato, and each single grain of wheat
or corn, is a perfect organism ; and just in the
ratio that either is mutilated, its generative powers
are weakened and its progeny deteriorated.
“What we sow we shall reap.” The planted
seed should not only be whole, but it should be
sound in body and skin. Some superstitious
persons believe that the potato-rot is God-sent,

and would find a remedy in prayer! But here,

42 The Potato Book.

as everywhere, prayer without works will prove
unavailing. Science has dispelled many libels on
God and nature, and the plan of culture here
recommended will prove that man, not God, is the
author of the potato-rot.

Vivisection outrages both parents and progeny ;
and when continued not only from year to year
but from generation to generation, cannot fail to
deteriorate and in time exhaust the crops.

By renewing the germinative members of
organic life from their main body, in dividing the
potato into several fragments, or slices, each
obtains but a moiety of its natural and necessary
parental support and nutrient elements; the
young shoot is starved ; hence the potato blight,
or atrophy, which precedes the rot.

Through no channel other than the life-sub-
stance of the parent, can the young shoot derive
its indispensable food, to nourish the stem until
its roots spread and its top or lung expands.
Through this channel alone the parent potato

imparts its whole life to its offspring ; and upon

The Potato Book. 43

its quantity and vigor the health and productive-
ness of the offspring depend.

When we inquire of the viyisecting farmers why
they cut through the structures analogous to the
skin, muscle, blood-vessels, and connective tissue
in animals, thus utterly dismembering the individ-
uality of the seed, the answer is, it saves seed and
causes a more prolific yield.

The fallacy of this opinion will be further ex-
posed under Error 5—its proper place. That the
practice of seed-cutting (seed-killing ), so contrary
to common sense, so tedious and unnatural, so
unphysiological and anti-anatomical, should have
prevailed so long in enlightened communities, and
should, moreover, be so generally practiced with-
out being questioned, is a striking commentary on
the nature of inherited prejudice and transmitted
error. Is it not time that this proceeding, which
threatens the total annihilation of the plum, and

the ruin of the plant, should terminate ?

(I am satisfied that Dr. McLaurin does not “ put

44 The Potato Book.

the case” any too strongly on the subject of muti-
lating seed-potatoes. But I find the practice
almost universal in this vicinity. Indeed, so far as
I have been enabied to observe personally, there are
no exceptions. I find, too, that many farmers in
this truck-farming region, who raise potatoes prin-
cipaily for the Philadelphia market, plant the
smallest sizes instead of the largest, probably
because they are not saleable, and on inquiry I
learn that the general tendency of the potato crop
has been for several years to smaller and still
smaller sizes. The sizes of the different varieties
raised hereabouts do not average more than one-
fourth the sizes that my father raised in western
New York, on new land, between forty and fifty
years ago, nor is the quality of these comparable
to those. |
I can recollect when two large potatoes (in these
degenerate potato days they would be considered
huge), baked in hot ashes, were a full and lnxu-
rious meal, and that too without salt or butter.

To think of them is, in the language of Ossian,

The Potato Book. 45

“Like the memory of joys that are past ; pleasant
yet mournful to the soul.” The best potatoes I
can find now are flat and insipid compared with
those I once feasted on, and desired nothing
better. And the same is true of such apples as I
can purchase now, and such as I ate from my
father’s orchard, when a child. Both crops are
sadly degenerated, and nothing but hygienic agri-
culture will ever renovate them.

In looking over the latest publications of the
seedsmen and agricultural journals, I do not find
any one objecting to the seed-cutting of potatoes,
but most of them recommend it. One of the
largest dealers in Philadelphia, Robert Buist, jr.,
in his “Almanac and Garden Manual” for 1872,
recommends the selection of large and good po-
tatoes for seed, but recommends cutting them into
four or six pieces. He says, “ Many cultivators in
this vicinity select good formed tubers and plant
them whole ; this may be an advantage should the
season prove to be very dry, but we look upon

it as a great waste of seed, as the product

46 The Potato Book.

from such a crop is no better than that grown
from well-formed tubers cut into sets.”

The difference may not be appreciable to a
careless observer in a single season ; but if there
is any virtue in the laws of organic life, the practice
cannot be otherwise than most pernicious. Is not
the admission that whole tubers will do better
than mutilated ones, presumptive evidence that
there are vital relations between all parts of the
seed that cannot be interrupted without injury?
‘If the whole parent-body of the potato is ne-
cessary in a dry season, it may be useful in any

season. Vitality itself is the best possible pro-
tection against drought or wet, heat or cold.—

RTT]

REMEDY 3.

“Cease to do evil.” Never touch the seed-
potato with a knife. Do not mar, mangle, bruise,
nor mutilate it in any manner. Drop it into the

ground whole and sound.

The Potato Book. 47

Although the magnitude of the evil resulting
from imperfect seed is very well seen at its pre-
sent stage, yet until the maximum health of the
potato is attained by the adoption of the plan
herein recommended, the full advantages of a
good article of food, such as the potato in its
highest perfection is capable of affording, cannot
be fully realized or adequately appreciated.

When potatoes cultivated in both the wrong
and the right ways are seen growing side by side
in different fields, the time, labor, and product of
each method can be calculated and compared, and
then the extent of the present evil can be better
understood. /

I must here caution the reader against a possi-
ble source of miscalculation. Should his neighbor
continue to plant and cultivate in the ordinary
manner while he is trying the new method, the
diseased potatoes of his neighbor may infect his
more or less in the bloom — when the pollen
blows.

Iixperimental tests, however, without due

48 The Potato Book.

regard to all the influencing circumstances, may
only lead to self-deception. If any one particular,
however unimportant it may seem, is disregarded
or overlooked, the whole experiment fails.

To test the matter in the best possible manner,
after plowing the ground, take the requisite num-
ber of laborers, and plant one day on the new plan
and then one day on the old plan, in both cases
carefully measuring the potatoes planted and the
time expended. In the case of seed-cutting, time
should of course be reckoned from the commence-
ment of the cutting process; and the potatoes
should be measured before cutting, as a bushel of
cuts and a bushel uncut differ very materially.
Therefore measure a given number of bushels ;
cut one half of them and plant the pieces, reckon-
ing the time spent in cutting as a pait of the day’s
work. Plant the other half whole; and then the
product of both, when dug, will show the value of
each method, so far as the labor of planting is
concerned, and their respective values by contrast.

The extent of ground occupied by each should

The Potato Book. 49

be taken into the account. The time at which the
blight appears in either ; its extent and virulence ;
the quality of the potato — its size, solidity, dry-
ness, and flavor, are also factors to go into the
general estimate.

In all the processes and stages of cultivation, in
order to have a fair and conclusive experiment,
the common method and the one now proposed
must be strictly followed; and if the respective
products are kept separately, and the two pro-
cesses repeated yearly, the value of each, or the
demerits of the one and the merits of the other,
will in due time be conclusively demonstrated ;
for the new and natural method will gradually
and constantly gain on the other, both in the pro-
ductiveness of the crop in proportion to the

labor expended, and in its quality.

50 The Potato Book.

ERROR 4.
DWARF PLANTING.

Another most pernicious error is that of selling
or eating the largest and best potatoes and select-
ing the smaller, poorer, bruised, and scabious
ones for seed. If a farmer should apply such a
principle to the raising of domestic animals, he
would most certainly be suspected of idiocy or
madness. Yet the principle is precisely the same
in both cases. Nor does the farmer ever think of
abusing any seed or root in this manner except
that of the unfortunate potato.

The author has never maimed nor cut potatoes
for planting; nor has he during the past ten
years planted them otherwise than according to
the plan herein recommended. He has never had
any appearance of disease among them.

The attempt to raise the greatest possible
quantity of potatoes per acre by means of strong
manuring, engenders and perpetuates disease,

and unless abandoned, will prevent all attempts at

The Potato Book. 51

cure. One might as well undertake to raise the
greatest possible number of calves from one cow’s

milk or one acre of grass.

[The subject of manures or fertilizers is one of
immense importance, and, in my opinion, before
agriculture can become hygienic and placed on a
truely scientific basis, the current methods of fer-
tilizing all plants which produce food for human
beings must be not only reformed but revolution-
ized. As water, ammonia, carbonic acid and a few
earthy and saline matters constitute the food of
plants, and as those are all constituents of the
mineral kingdom, it is certainly a roundabout
and expensive as well as a filthy and trouble-
Some business to keep animals. for the sake
of manuring the soil. It is a common remark
that cattle, horses, sheep and hogs, are necessary,
if not to work or to be eaten, to supply fertilizers
by converting the products of the vegetable king-
dom into manure. There is no science and little

intelligence manifested in this notion, in view of

52 The Potato Book.

the fact that the whole vegetable kingdom feeds
on inorganic or chemical elements, while no
animal can produce a particle of food of any kind,
but merely subsists on what is formed in the
processes of vegetable growth.

Abundant experience has shown that the most
effectual method for renovating old worn out or
badly-tilled soils is to grow clover or any similar
crop, and plow it in. Any vegetable matter of
any kind, allowed to decay and decompose,
becomes a natural and wholesome fertilizer. But
fertilizers can be obtained directly from the
mineral kingdom, whenever necessary, more eco-
nomically and of better quality than animal
excretions can furnish.

This subject is well presented in the Scientific
American of February 24th, 1872, and as the facts
are exceedingly interesting and instructive, I copy

the article entire :

The Potato Book. 53

AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND CHEM-
ICAL MANURES.

The researches of that veteran chemist, Baron
Liebig, and others, in the analysis of soils and the
use of artificial manures, did not result in such
extensive progress in agriculture as was antici-
pated. As the effort to apply the knowledge
gained by these researches was made throughout.
the world by intelligent agriculturists, it became
evident that there was still some lack in agri-
cultural chemistry, some mysterious circumstance,
relation or element, that defeated this endeavor.
As a consequence, the idea of chemical farming
became a thing to be ridiculed, and fell into an
ill repute which still attends it. The prejudice
thus created will for a long time impede progress ;
but there cannot be a doubt that the missing
link, which, if found in Liebig’s researches, would
have resulted in success instead of failure, has at
last been discovered.

In the light of this revelation, the cause of the

54 The Potato Book.

failure to apply chemical principles to agriculture
is plain. We find it fully explained in the lectures
of M. Ville, a translation of which, as delivered at
the experimental farm of Vincennes, France, now
lies before us.* These lectures are, we believe,
the most important contribution to agricultural
science that has appeared during the last half
century. In our review of them, which we shall
not attempt to make exhaustiye, we shall ex-
tract some passages which will give a glimpse of
their character to such as have not read them.
In the third lecture, M. Ville remarks :

A priori, one would think that a chemical
analysis which has been pushed so far in our day,
and whose methods have acquired at the same
time so much delicacy and certainty, ought at
least to give us a means of estimating with
certainty the richness of the soil, and so guiding

* Chemical Manures. Agricultural Lectures, delivered
at the experimental farm at Vincennes, by George Ville.

Translated by Miss E. L. Howard. Third Edition. At-
lanta, Ga. : Plantation Publishing Co.

The Potato Book. 55

us in the choice of the manure best suited to its
nature. There is none, however, and I defy the
most skilful chemist to say in advance what will
be the return from earth submitted to him, and
what manures are most appropriate.

A few words will explain the reason why chem-
istry is powerless to furnish us with these indica-
tions : you must recall the distinctions we have
drawn between the different elements of which
the soil is composed.

Let us suppose a soil containing both quartz,
sand and felspar sand among its mechanical
elements. For vegetation these two sands are
equivalent, although the first is from silica and
nothing but silica, while the second is a silicate
. based upon lime, potash and soda, besides con-
taining phosphate of lime in very feeble but
appreciable quantities.

Here, then, are two bodies whose composition,
in spite of similitude of exterior, have no analogy ;
and which, however, are equivalent in an agri-_

cultural point of view, because, the felspar being

56 The Potato Book.

insoluble in water, its réle in regard to vegetation
descends to that of the quartz sand, that is to
say, to a simple mechanical element. But for
the chemist, there are no insoluble bodies, so he
confounds in one whole the potash, lime and
phosphate of lime that the felspar sand contains,
though they are of no use in vegetation, with the
products of the same nature which we have
ranged under the class of active assimilable
elements. Thus is explained the insufficiency of

the signs with which chemistry can furnish us.

In order to understand fully the meaning of
this quotation, it is necessary to say that M. Ville
includes all the essential constituents of soil in
which plants can grow, in the category of fertil-
izers; but he divides them into two classes, the
first of which is azotic or nitrogenous matter, and
the second of which includes ten mineral sub-
stances, only three of which, phosphate of lime,
potash, and lime, are so directly connected with

_ the growth of plants that they need occupy the

The Potato Book. 57

attention of the agriculturist in his attempt to
restore to soils what has been drawn from them
by the growth of crops. The other minerals act
mechanically and are hence called mechanical
fertilizers ; but M. Ville maintains that they exist
naturally in sufficient quantities, and that it is not
necessary to provide them. So far as the mere
growth of plants is concerned, this is probably
correct, but there are doubtless many cases in
which it is desirable to add some material not
directly concerned in plant growth, for the pur-
pose of modifying stiff soils, or tempering light
ones.

The most favorable conditions of soil for plant
growth being the presence of azotic matter, phos-
phate of lime, potash, and lime, M. Ville calls a
mixture of these substances “ the complete fertil-
izer.’ The non-assimilable elements are consid-
ered as purely mechanical in their effects.

The following experiments are given to illustrate
these facts :

In burnt sand, free from all additions, but

58 The Potato Book.

moistened with distilled water, wheat acquires
but a rudimentary development—the straw hardly
attains the dimensions of a knitting needle. In
this condition, however, vegetation follows its
usual course ; the plant blooms, bears grain, but
in each head there are but one or two dwarfed,
badly formed grains. Thus, without soil, the
wheat finds in the water it receives and the
carbonic acid of air, aided by the substance of its
grain, resources sufficient—sorrowfully, it is true,
but at last—to run through the entire cycle of its
evolution.

From 22 grains of seed, weighing nearly 18
grains, we obtain 108 grains of harvest. Add the
ten minerals (phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, silici-
um, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron
and manganese) to the sand, excluding the azotie
matter, and the result is but little more.

Under these new conditions, the wheat is a
little more developed than in the preceding case,
but the harvest is still more feeble ; it reaches

144 grains. Suppress the minerals and add only

The Potato Book. 59

azotic matter to the sand ; the-growth will still be
mean and stunted, but the harvest will slightly
increase, as it reaches 162 grains. Let us follow
the changes. In pure burnt sand, 108 erains ;
with minerals without azotic matter, 144 grains ;
with azotic matter alone, 162 grains.

In this last case, a new system is shown. As
long as we operate only with minerals, the plants
are diseased, the leaves show a yellowish-green
color. As soon as we add azotic matter to the
sand the leaves change their color, becoming
a dark green. It seems as if vegetation would
take its usual course, but the appearances are
deceitful ; the harvest is still feeble.

Let us attempt a third experiment, which will, in
a measure, be a synthesis of the three preceding.
Unite azotic matter and the minerals in the burnt
sand. This time you will be tempted to believe
in the intervention of a magician, the phenomenon
so far surpasses those preceding it. Just now the
growth was languishing, doubtful, diseased ; now

the plants shoot up as soon as they break the

60 The Potato Bret.

ground ; the leaves are a beautiful green; the
straight, firm stalk ends in a head filled with
good grain ; the harvest reaches from 396 to 450
grains.

You see, gentlemen, relying on experience,
which is our guide by choice, we have succeeded
in artificially producing vegetation to the exclu-
sion of manures and all unknown substances.

You will acknowledge that this is an important
and fundamental point. No more mystery, no
undetermined power ; some chemical products of a
known purity, distilled water perfectly pure in
itself, one seéd as a starting point, and the result,
a harvest comparable in all points to the best
obtained in good earth.

We are, therefore, justified in saying that the
problem of vegetation here receives its solution,
for we have not only defined the conditions
necessary to the production of vegetation, but
the degree of importance of each of the concurring
agents,

Azotic matter in its decomposition furnishes

The Potato Book. 61

ammonia, and nitrates ; and the clay constitutes a
receptable which holds and gives out eradually as
may be required these important ingredients.
M. Ville divides plants into two classes, according
“as they draw their nitrogen from the air or the
soil. Thus wheat is a type of plants which pre-
fer their nitrogen in the form of salts of ammonia,
and take it from the soil. Beets prefer it in the
form of nitrate, and take it from the soil. Peas
and the other leguminous plants prefer to take it
as a gas from the air. The consequence of this
distinction is that plants which take nitrogen
from the air will flourish in a soil containing only
the other elements of the complete fertilizer,
namely, phosphate of lime, potash, and lime.
Therefore, by planting in a soil one of each of the
two classes of plants, it is possible to tell whether
the soil contains the azotic and mineral matters or
not. Thus, if peas and wheat be planted in the
same soil, and the peas yield well while wheat
yields little, the land has the mineral elements but

lacks the azotie or nitrogenous matters.

62 The Potato Book.

At Vincennes, previous to the fertilization of
the soil, land produced nothing, and hence was
proved deficient in all the elements of the com-
plete fertilizer, by the addition of which it has been
made extremely productive. :

As chemical analysis of soils fails for reasons
above stated, the richness of the soil is determined
as follows :

Suppose you institute seven cultures of the same
plant—it may be of the beet, or wheat, as you will.

To the first give the complete fertilizer ; to the
second, the same fertilizer, excluding azotic matter;
to the third, the complete fertilizer deprived of
phosphate of lime; to the fourth, the complete
fertilizer less the potash; to the fifth, less the
lime ; to the sixth, less all the minerals—that is
to say, reduced to the azotic matter; the seventh
not having received any manure.

It is very evident thatif, in the complete fertili-
zer, the effect proper to each component is mani-
fest but as it is associated with three others, the

comparison of the returns obtained from the seven

The Potato Book. 63

strips of the little field ought to indicate what the
soil contains and in what it is wanting.

In this system of investigation, the culture with
the complete fertilizer becomes, in a measure, the
invariable standard of comparison to which are
referred the returns of the other strips of ground;
and, according as they approach or recede, we
conclude that the earth contains or does not con-
tain the element which has been voluntarily ex-
cluded from the fertilizer.

To put the value of this method beyond doubt,
M. Ville reports the results given under three dif-
ferent conditions.

At the experimental farm at Vincennes were
obtained, in 1864, the following proportional re-

turns from wheat :

With the complete fertilizer........ Lae oie 5644
‘ é “OC without Times... ...44..) 4000
cc “ “ “ah ObERs ES ta, 4 a 4044.
73 ‘c 6e ae phosphate »..« 6465
cc ‘c cc *“ azotic matter. 1888

Without any fertilizer . 2.20.02... 2 wis esse 1588

The conclusion is evident. At Vincennes, the

64 The Potato Book.

complete fertilizer was necessary : the azotic mat-
ter was most deficient.

An eminent agriculturist of the department of
the Somme furnished a second example, which is

upon the beet ;

With the complete fertilizer.............. 4504
“ “6 re without lime...... 4103
‘ ‘ sc potash ..... 3703
6c T3 6c phosphate .. 0208
‘ ‘ 6 azotic matter 3200
Without‘any fertilizer: 282203 2202

You see here, also, the earth is wanting in azotic
matter, and, to put it under high culture, we
must have recourse to the complete fertilizer.

The third example is from a culture of sugar
cane, instituted by the Hon. M. de Zebrun, of

Guadaloupe, a former delegate from that colony :

With the complete fertilizer............. 50666
“ “ se without lime .... 44444
“ cc “ potash... 32111
“ ‘ “ phosphate 13333
‘c ce 6¢ azote. ehatere 49777

The Potato Book. 65

If I add that sugar cane particularly draws its
azote from the air, you will conclude that the soil
is particularly wanting in potash and phosphate
of lime. !

Here are, then, two methods of knowing the
richness in the land. The first is founded on the
culture of two different plants without any fertil-
izer, and the second, on the culture of the same
plant with five different fertilizers. These two
applications of the same principle lead to the
same results, and verify and complete each other.

I need not add, that for each of these trials to
have its full signification, the earth must not be
used until the effect of each fertilizer has been
spent.

By the aid of our experiments in burnt sand,
and with only chemical products, we have realized
a theoretic scale of culture whose progressive
returns have shown us the laws which regulate
vegetable productions. By the light of the col-
lection of ideas, we were enabled to conceive and

to realize practical processes of analysis accessible

66 The Potato Book.

to all, whose testimony is of almost absolute cer-
tainty, and by means of which we can always say
what a land contains, what it needs, and can con- ,
sequently determine the nature of the agents to

which we must have recourse to fertilize it.

In subsequent lectures, M. Ville gives tabulated
statements of results from the use of what are or-
dinarily called chemical fertilizers, that is, such as
are not directly of organic origin. These state-
ments indicate that the chemistry of plant-growth
is destined to pass from under the odium of pre-
vious failures, and take its place in the sciences as
a splendid collection of established facts, which
will inaugurate a new era in agriculture.

We cannot extend our remarks and quotations
further, but we will say that we have rarely ex-
amined a work more replete with interest, or pe-
rused a record of experiments in which the true
scientific method has been more closely followed.
ef. La

The Potato Book. 67

REMEDY 4.

Reserve your best and largest potatoes for seed,
just as you would act in the business of raising
animals; or as you would do were the seed any-
thing else but that of the potato ; for that which
is not fit for eating or selling is certainly not fit
for planting.

Potatoes will produce more abundantly by
weight, in an equal ground or air space, if the
number is smaller and the size larger, than if the
reverse be the case. Dividing half a dozen large
potatoes into two or three times as many small
ones, adds nothing to the quantity, while it im-
pairs the quality. A potato of one pound
weight will produce a greater yield of potatoes
than it will if it is divided into fragments, or cut
into what are called “Seed sets,” in an equal area
of land, provided the proper conditions of culture
are observed ; hence the labor expended in cut-
ting is worse than wasted, for it both damages

the quality and diminishes the quantity.

68 The Potato Book.

It is no exaggeration of the truth to say that
a bushel of large potatoes can be planted sooner
than half a peck of cuttings. The labor of plant-
ing, therefore, is greatly lessened when the plant-
ing is done normally. By this method the potato
will increase in size from year to year, while by
dwarf-planting the constant tendency is to dimi-
nution in size, imperfection in quality, disease,

and decay.

ERROR 5.
CROWDED PLANTING.

Insufficient allowance of space for potatoes to
grow in, as well as stinted size of seed, is the rule
with farmers, the exceptions being very few. But
the error is a very grave one, and the injurious
consequences are second only to seed-cutting.

Although there is a continued circulation and
admixture of properties derived from the earth

and from the air, and a constant reciprocal opera-

The Potato Book. 69

tion or interchange of elements through and _ be-
tween the stem and the roots, yet in the growth of
a potato it receives much the larger proportion of
its nutritive material from the atmosphere ; conse-
quently it is not so much for want of earth-room
as for want of air-space that the potato suffers
when planted after the ordinary fashion.

The potato, as well as an animal, or a human
being, must have sufficient breathing room, or it
cannot maintain its normal condition, nor produce
sound structures. Its foliage constitutes its lungs,
and with its stem or stalk, its respiratory appa-
ratus ; hence a given space, so that it can have
the exclusive use of sufficient atmosphere, is
absclutely necessary to vigorous growth. There
must, therefore, be proper distances between the
plants.

In vain will potatoes of ample size and un-
blemished quality be planted, unless they are
placed far enough apart to afford the indispensa-
ble room for healthful respiration. The space

between the planted potatoes should always

7° The Potato Book.

correspond with their size—the larger the
potatoes the further apart.

Much deception, in judging of the propriety of
planting whole potatoes, is attributable to the
miserly allowance of room. So long as whole
potatoes, however large and sound they may be,
are crowded together in planting, the farmer will
never be able to discover the intrinsic difference
between whole and fragmentary seed ; for size of
seed without sufficient room for it to grow in,
and ample space without the proper size of the
seed, are Gqpually detrimental ; and either may be
as bad as cut-seed.

It is just because sufficient space between the
seed is not allowed, when whole potatoes are
planted, that many persons suppose that the
planting of cuttings will be economical and save a
part of the seed in the production of a given
crop in bushels. Indeed, some persons think
that they have proved the cuttings to be more
prolific than whole potatoes. It may be true that
cuttings with ample space will produce a larger

The Potato Book. 71

crop than whole potatoes can with less than half
the space required ; for it is possible so to crowd
them as to render any considerable yield impos-

sible.

REMEDY 5.

Plant the potatoes at uniform distances apart,
according to size. From three and a-half to four
feet is the general rule. Three feet may suffice
for the first year ; three and a-half will be needed
the second year, and possibly four feet the third
year, according to the increase of size from year
to year. Itis quite possible, and, indeed, proba-
ble, that the discovery or production of new and
larger kinds of potatoes, with unusual expansion
of stem, would render a space of more than four
feet beneficial.

The seed potatoes (the largest size, and per-
fectly sound) should be carefully dropped. They
should be unsprouted ; and if properly preserved
for the purpose of planting, there will be no

ae The Potato Book.

sprouting until they are placed in the ground.
If permitted to germinate before being planted,
they will be more or less damaged ; nor will the
progeny be so vital or prolific. If the sprouts
are long, or have been broken off, the potatoes
should never be planted.

No potato of less than half a pound in weight

should be planted ; if it is, the loss to the planter
is much greater than the gain can possibly be—
especially if results beyond a single season are
calculated. The larger the potato, if not exces-
sive, the better, provided that sufficient space is
allowed for it to grow in.
_ The law of propagating size from size holds
good alike for vegetables and animals. Size and
space should always be carefully adapted to each
other, for, as already remarked, one is compara-
tively useless without the other. He who sows
bountifully in relation to both size and space, will
reap bountifully.

The Potato Book. yin?

ERROR 6._
DEY PLANTING.

Burying the seed potatoes as though they were
dead matter, into the cold bottom of a deep
furrow, where the undrained moisture settles, and
the vivifying heat of the sun never penetrates
efficiently, is another egregious blunder. They
should, on the contrary, be placed on the surface
of the ground, the sod being turned over them.

The ordinary deep planting retards growth,
delays maturity, and enfeebles the whole plant.
Potatoes so treated cannot have the dryness,
firmness, sweetness, nor the size nor yield of
those that are properly managed. Such planting

also predisposes them to disease.

[I am inclined to the opinion that surface
planting may be a very important matter for
other crops as well as potatoes. The soil in this
vicinity is dry and sandy ; corn does well, except

in unusually dry seasons, and melons do splen-

74 The Potato Book.

didly except in wet seasons. Last season iL
planted water-melons between the rows of grape
vines which had been planted two years before.
They grew well until July, and promised an
abundant yield. But the month of July was
unusually rainy, and when the melons were
nearly grown the vines began to perish, and soon

after every melon rotted. One of my neighbors

- had several acres, of as thrifty and promising a

crop as I ever saw. In ten days more they should
have been ready for market. They had all at-
tained the full average size. But several rainy
days spread a blight over the whole field. The
melons seemed pervaded with gangrene. They
became discolored, rapidly softened and rotted,
and the vines turned dark, and soon withered.
Not one melon ripened. Perhaps if the seeds had
been planted on the surface after the manner that
Dr. McLaurin recommends for potato planting,
or on ridges a little elevated above the general
level, the rains would not have destroyed them.—
BK... 3]

The Potato Book. 75

REMEDY 6.

Run a furrow with a double-moulded plow,
alongside of the edge of the upturned sod ; not in
the furrow, but on the surface, drop your large
potatoes, three and a half to four feet apart, as
already explained. Your return trip will cover
the seed, and, at the same time, turn over a new
sod ready for another row of potatoes to be
dropped, and so on until the whole field is planted.
The quantity that can be planted in one day by
this new method is double or triple that which can
be planted in the old way, thus accomplishing
another great saving of labor. |

The calibre of the plow should be such, if
possible, as to be capable of opening a furrow
twenty-one inches or two feet wide : that is, ten
and a half or twelve inches on each side, so as to
equalize the distance of the sets apart, crosswise
as well as lengthwise.

This method of planting is aed adapted

to prairie or fallow land ; for the tougher and

76 The Potato Book.

more grassy the sod the better ; when overspread
with a thin coat of some fertilizer (mineral is best)
and the sod turned over, it resembles a sandwich,
or two pieces of buttered bread turned butter to
butter. The surface of one sod overlapping the
surface of the other, brings grass to grass, which,
decaying makes a covering of rich manure in
which the seed potatoes are embedded.

When the potatoes are dug, this sod, if tough,
and only partly decomposed, turns back into its
original portion, exposing the potatoes to view,
huddled together like turkey’s eggs in a nest, and
almost as clean.

If, on the same field, potatoes are planted two
successive years, this plan will allow the alter-
nate two feet of land left unplowed the first
year, to be plowed the second year, and so
alternating. The drill or ridge one year may be
where the furrow was the preceding year.

Should subsoiling be deemed necessary at
weeding time, run through all the drills or ridges a
double-mould plow, capable of turning up a furrow

The Potato Book. 77

of about one foot in width only; thatis, six or
seven inches on either side ; and in two successive
years the field will be sufficiently subsoiled. In
this manner the whole farm may be subsoiled by
planting potatoes two years in succession in one
field, and then changing to another. And nothing
could better vitalize the soil, so to speak, than by
exposing it to solar, atmospheric and electrical
influences in this manner ; and no better method
could be devised to renovate and render productive
old worn out lands—rendered so by the unhygi-
enic, unnatural and destructive method of farming
im yogue.

Other crops may be managed in a similar manner.
Indian corn, where this cereal is indigenous, may
be plowed and planted in all respects the same as
potatoes, except that the drills or ridges may not
be so wide. The seed corn may also, if preferred,
be dropped after the plow instead of before it.
But it should not be thrown together in groups, as
is customary ; but the kernels should be planted

singly, at distances of about twelve inches

78 The Potato Book.

apart. Corn can be sown in this manner by
machinery.
Potatoes may also be planted after the plow,

and sometimes it may be the better way.

ERROR. 7.
EXCESSIVE COVERING.

Smothering the potato by over-covering it is also
one of the evils of the common method of planting
it. Heaping too much earth on the seed, even
when planted on the surface of the ground, instead
of in the furrow, hinders a speedy development of
the shoot, prevents a rapid growth, retards ma-
turity, impairs the quality, and diminishes the
yield. It is also among the predisposing causes

of disease.

The Potato Book. 79

REMEDY “7.

Two or three inches of earth, and sometimes
even less, according to the moisture or dryness of
the soil, are quite sufficient. The more moist the
ground is, the less covering the potatoes should
have : the danger is ever on the side of excess in
lands so constituted as to retain a large amount of
moisture.

The principal objects of covering the potatoes
with earth are, to obtain and maintain both heat
and moisture in due proportion, without exposing
the seed to light and air. If buried too deep, the
moisture and cold will prevail ; while, if too near
the surface, the moisture may be deficient and the
heat excessive.

Freedom from grass and weeds is ever an indis-
pensable requisite to a perfect crop. Potatoes
should never be planted under the shade of trees
or high fences. Nothing should obstruct the free
play, upon the growing plant, of air and light, of

Winds, sun, moon, and stars.

a -.*

80 The Potato Book.

To the cultivation of the sweet-potato this
method is equally applicable in all respects, both
in producing the best possible crop, and in prevent-

ing and curing its diseases.

[The remarks of an eminent scientist on the
subject of the influence of the sun and light in
the process of germination, are pertinent here,
and confirmatory of Dr. McLaurin’s views. I
cannot, however, regard the influence of the sun
as “chemical” action. Chemical action and vital
action are antagonistic ideas. There is no che-
mistry in living structures. Chemical action
means the combination and separation of elements
—nothing more, nothing less. Vital action is
transformation and disintegration—very different
processes. Chemical action arranges primary
atoms or elements into combinations which are
capable of decomposition, by which the primary
atoms or simple elements are restored. Nothing
like this occurs in the domain of organic life.

Living organism, by the various nutritive processes,

The Potato Book. 8I

transforms food into tissues, structures, and
organs. These cannot be separated or decomposed
chemically, nor can chemical analysis ever tell us
what their composition is, for the reason that
vitality ends before chemistry begins. They are
only retro-transformed (disintegrated) into the
various excretions. Chemistry will never solve
the problems of life, although it may aid us in
understanding the substances which living organ-
isms use in the construction and replenishment
of their bodies, and help us to provide the requisite
conditions for the proper performance of all
vital functions. Our author, however, expresses
the current opinion on this subject. He says :
“Upon the chemical influence of the sun’s rays
depends the germination of seeds as well as the
growth of the plants. .We bury the seed in the
ground and shut it out from the influence of light,
but we do not place it beyond the reach of the
sun’s actinic influence, for that penetrates like
heat to the little earthy couch were the embryo

plant lies hid, and arouses it into life. Light, or
g :

82 | The Potato Book.

the luminiferous rays of the sun, so important to
the well being of the plant, is actually inimical to
the excitation of vitality m the seed. How
singular is this fact! A series of carefully con-
ducted experiments has proved that seeds will not
germinate in light, although supplied with heat
and moisture, when the actinic rays are cut off.
Deprived of the luminous rays with the actinic
in full force, they spring into life with great
rapidity. Seeds sown upon the surface of the
earth will scarcely germinate, as soil cultivators
very well know, and, on the other hand, seeds
buried so deep that the actinic rays cannot reach
them willcertainly perish. The planting of seeds,
so as to secure the proper distance below the
surface, is a most important point in husbandry,
as it has much to do with the early starting of the
plant and the success of the ¢rops.”—R. T. T.]

The Potato Book. | 83

DIGGING POTATOES.

The manner of digging potatoes must be left to
the machinery of inventive genius : but the time
for digging must be determined by physiological
laws, demonstrated by actual experiment.

[Twenty or thirty potato-diggers have been
invented and patented, some of which are more or
less useful. Most of them, however, only throw
the tubers out of the ground, leaving them to be
picked up by hand, as usual. One or two have
been constructed and used to some extent, which
gather as well as dig them. But they are too
heavy and expensive for general use, if indeed they
are profitable at all. But I believe the desiderata
in machinery is at last attained, in a new “ Potato
Digger and Gatherer,” invented principally by Mr.
G. N. Kilbourne. A model was on exhibition at
the late fair of the American Institute, in New

84 The Potato Book.

York, and elicited universal approbation. A
working model has also been tested satisfactorily.
This machine is about the size and weight of an
ordinary one horse cart, and can be easily operated
with a span of horses and driver. It takes the
potatoes from the ground, raises and sifts them
on a revolving elevator, and deposits them in a
box under the rear partof the machine. It is
provided with an adjustable plow, which can be
elevated or depressed at will, according to the
depth of the hills, anda lever, by which the rider
and driver can empty the box when filled. It
has also a circular rake or harrow in front, which
removes the vines. It will operate equally well
with Irish or sweet potatoes. The machine will
be in market in time for the next potato-digging
season, and will not cost to exceed one hundred
dollars ; and as one machine will do the digging
for a dozen farmers (unless their potato fields
are immense), the expense can be no objection.
—R. T. T.]

From planting to cooking, and in all processes

The Potato Book. 85

between and inclusive, potatoes are unquestionably
the most abused things ever cultivated for human
use ; and in the long catalogue of errors peculiar to
this excellent esculent, one of the most outrageous
is, neglecting to harvest them as soon as they are
ripe. No other crop was ever maltreated in this
way. When any other crop is fully matured, the
farmer secures it at once, lest 1t wastes and decays.
But potatoes, being out of sight, are out of mind
until a convenient season. When the farmer can
find nothing else todo he digs them, and then
perhaps complains of them for being of bad
character. Any other crop would be as bad or
worse if treated in a similar manner.

Potatoes are not unfrequently left in the ground
several weeks after being ripe, as though they
were dead stones and undamageable, instead of
living, perishable organisms, subject to all the
conditions, changes, transformations, and diseases
that pertain to all vital structures.

It is seldom that potatoes are not more or less

damaged by neglect to harvest at the proper

86 The Potato Book.

time, or by improper management in harvesting,
however well they may have been raised and
matured.

When the tops of potato plants wither, the tubers
are ripe, and, like other crops, will be injured if
not at once gathered and taken care of. If
allowed to be once soaked in the ground by a
severe or prolonged rain, after ripening, they Jose
irreparably some degree of their sweet flavor, and
some portion of their nutrient properties. Nor
are they so sound and vital for seed-potatoes ;
and every rain augments the damage, rendering
them both less palatable and less wholesome.

What farmer can be ignorant of the fact that
the potatoes he digs in November and December
are less dry and sweet than those he ate from the
same field in September and October previously ?

Potatoes should not be exposed to the air, sun,
or wind to dry them, as is customary, after being
dug. If moist or dirty when taken from the
ground, cleaning and drying does not protect

them, but the reverse. Every potato that becomes

a es

es The Potato Book. 87

uncovered before it is ripe, or which protrudes
above its earthy covering, soon becomes blighted
in the exposed part—a fact which proves that it
is defenceless against aerial elements, and its need,
when dug, of immediate protection.

[Dr. McLaurin’s remarks on this subject are
corroborated by Mr. Compton in his Prize Essay,
previously alluded to, in the following strong
language: “Potatoes should be picked up as
soon and as fast as dug ; and immediately covered
with straw or other material to protect them
from the light. A few hours’ strong sunshine will
ruin the best potato ever grown. Light changes
the natural color to green, and renders the potato
so bitter and unpalatable as to be wholly unfit
to eat.” Those who will take pains to observe
the truck farmers for the New York and Phila-
delphia markets, in the potato-digging season,
will learn that a practice obtains the very opposite
of that insisted on by Dr. McLaurin and Mr.
Compton. As a rule, the potatoes, after being

dug, are exposed several hours to the sun, and in

88 The Potato Book.

some cases they are left on the ground during the
night. After being dried, and more or less in-
juriously heated, and to some extent blighted,
they are gathered into baskets. The next day, or
possibly several days thereafter, they are sent to
the cities. They are constantly exposed in
transitu to light, and often to sunshine. Some-
times they are piled up in huge heaps near the
boiler of the steamer which carries them to town,
where the blighting, if not rotting process already
engendered, is further aggravated. In the mar-
- kets, and at the groceries, they are continually
“exposed to light, and not unfrequently they
remain for hours in barrels, baskets, or smaller
measures, exposed to the hot rays of a midsum-
mer’s sun. When those potatoes reach the
consumer they are very far from being potatoes as
they should be. They have lost more than one
half of their nutritive value, and more than that
proportion of natural flavor. No wonder potatoes
have come to be so generally regarded as a desi-

rable accompaniment of other food, rather than

The Potato Book. 89

as food themselves. No wonder that such im-
mense quantities of grease, butter, and salt, are
required to render them palatable. I doubt if
one person in a hundred knows what the natural

taste of a potato really is.—R. T. T.]

To secure and preserve potatoes sound, fresh,
and unsprouted, the one great principle of thorough
protection from atmospheric influences must be
rigidly maintained. This principle applies alike
to sun, light, heat, air, rain, and frost. They must
also be kept by themselves in closed cellars or bins,
or in an underground pit or root-house, with a
top-hatch to receive them, and a small side door
underneath to admit of their being taken out.
This door must be kept constantly closed except
when the potatoes are being put in or taken out.

A thermometer placed within the bin for ten
minutes will show the temperature, which should
not be allowed to fall below thirty-three degrees
Fahrenheit, nor to rise above fifty degrees. The

more constantly the temperature is maintained at

90 The Potato Book.

about forty degrees the better. In this manner
they may be kept sound and unsprouted through
the whole summer season.

Cabbages, carrots, turnips, beets, onions, and
parsnips grow with their bodies partially exposed
to air and light, and when ripe, cannot bear
entire seclusion from air without rotting. Potato
tops grows similarly, and no vine is more tender,
nor more easily affected by frost and mildew.
Equally is the tuber affected through its medium,
the top, until it ceases growing, when the entire
exclusion of all atmospheric elements becomes
essential to its proper preservation. Like the
habitation of the blind mole whose normal state is
total darkness, the cellar, bin-pit, or earth-covered
and airless cave, is the natural home of the potato.
Those who expose their potatoes unnecessarily to
air, light, and sunshine, know little of the injuri-
ous consequences. No food can long be exposed
to oxygen without more or less injury ; but the

potato, both because of its constitutional nature

The Potato Book. gI

and its underground habitat, is remarkably sus-
ceptible to its deleterious influence.

Some retail dealers, with the best intentions,
wash their potatoes, besides exposing them con-
stantly to the air, a practice damaging to their
quality and conducive to decay. But as potatoes
so treated and exposed, are usually soon disposed
of, the dealer does not notice the difference in
quality between them and those which have been
properly kept and protected.

If some one would try the experiment of cooking
some potatoes which have been exposed to air and
light for a month or two in a huckster’s shop, and
compare them with others taken immediately from
the cellar to the cook, he would then be prepared
to appreciate the difference between a good and a
bad article of food.

But, bad as is the influence of atmospheric air
on the quality of the potato, that of the sun is still
worse. Potatoes which have been long exposed 7
to sunshine are actually dangerous to health, and

should never be planted, eaten, bought, nor sold.

92 The Potato Book.

Nor should long, scraggy, broken or sprouted
potatoes be eaten or planted.

Hucksters may bin a barrel of potatoes for a
short time, except where they are liable to freeze,
for transportation or temporary convenience ; but
even then they should cover them, or place them
in the cellar during the night. In transporting
them long distances the same rules for protecting
them should be applied, so far as possible under

the circumstances.

COOKING POTATOES.

With the majority, perhaps nine-tenths of
‘mankind, who “live to eat ” instead of ‘‘ eating to
live,” the question is not how to cook potatoes in
order to obtain from them the best nutrition—the
best material for blood-making, bone-making,
muscle-making, nerve-making, and brain-making—
but how to cook them so as to gratify perverted

instincts and depraved appetences, or how to

The Potato Book. 93

follow most slavishly the prevailing fashion.
Only the true and practical hygienist, who culti-
vates the potato and preserves it in accordance
with the laws of its organization, and then cooks
it according to hygienic rules, can know its
real value as an article of food.

Of the woman who steeped her first pound of
imported tea, it is said that she rejected the juice,
and to make up for the lost strength and flavor,
served up the sapless and insipid leaves with butter,
pepper and salt. With equal wonder will it some
time in the future be told that, ever since the
importation of the potato into Europe, it has been
treated by most people in a similar manner.

Although tea and potatoes differ very greatly in
kind—one being innutritious if not poisonous, and
the other nutritive and wholesome—they are alike
in organic conditions and elementary arrange-
ments. Boiling out the juice of potatoes, and its
contained elements—nutritive matters held in
solution — and throwing away one-third part

(more or less) of their alimentary principle, is as

94 The Potato Book.

absurd as to steep the tea, throw away the water,
and eat the leaves. The materials which are
soluble in hot water, and which are removed by
the process of boiling, are as essential to perfect
nutrition as are the more solid portions ; and no |
condiments nor seasoning can substitute that
which has been thus lost.

When apples are boiled for sauce, the juice is
never rejected. Why then throw away the juice
of boiled or mashed potatoes? The one being a
fruit and the other a root does not alter the prin-
ciple in the least. The juice of all things that
grow, and are proper articles for animal or human
sustenance, is as much food as are the solid
constituents. It is the product as a whole that
constitutes pure and perfect food, no one element,
whether organized into structure, “or floating in
solution (a constituent of its vital fluid) can be
abstracted without lessening the nutritive value of
the remaining portion. Indeed, the remainder is
not food at all in the physiological sense.

During the great famines which have occurred in

The Potato Book. “gs
Ireland no less than four times in consequence of
the failure of the potato crop, the deaths of
starvation were more numerous because the
potatoes, which constituted sometimes the whole
dietary material, had their nourishing properties
impaired by boiling. Paul warned Timothy
against old wives’ fables. That potato-juice is
poisonous, is among the fables that may excuse
its rejection, without rendering the practice of
rejecting it any the less injurious.

The excellence of Irish and Scotch potato-soups
is attributable to the fact that none of the natural
ingredients, solid or liquid, are wasted in cooking.
No more wholesome food exists than potatoes
baked, steamed, or boiled, provided that when
boiled the juice be all saved (and not too much

condensed) and mashed with them.

[The laudation bestowed upon the potato as
food, and the superior merit claimed for this
method of cooking it, may seem extravagant to

those who do not appreciate the principle involved.

96 . The Potato Book.

But they have only to try the experiment fairly to
be convinced that Dr. McLaurin does not exag-
gerate in this matter. I have myself many times
cooked potatoes in their own fluid, and I know
they are always sweeter, dryer, richer, and more
satisfactory to the stomach, than when cooked by
any other method. I have made many a whole
meal of them and nothing else; and if I were to
judge from personal experience and observation, I
should say their nutritive value was more than
doubled. And this, in a country consuming
150,000,000 of bushels as food annually, is no
small item on the score of economy alone. But,
on the score of health, its importance is still
greater. This one recipe alone is of more value
to the human race than all the lectures and books
Professor Blot has ever spoken or written.—
RE

The Potato Book. 97

ELYGiIEENIC COOKING.

Potatoes may be cooked:in many ways health-
fully, in accordance with the one principle above
indicated. Whether boiled, baked, or steamed,
no constituent originally contained in them
should be extracted and wasted : nor should it be
destroyed, dissipated, changed, or lost by over-
cooking.

One example of proper cooking may serve as a
rule for all processes: Wash the potatoes
thoroughly, but quickly. The shorter time they
are in the water the better. They should be
cooked in a tight-lidded, untinned, metal sauce-
pan; and it is better to have the lid of the
sauce-pan of the same metal as the vessel. Place
nae over the fire without water, as for boiling, the
fire being an ordinary one.

To ascertain whether they are done, take the
vessel off the fire, and quickly raise the lid. If

not sufficiently cooked, return the vessel quickly

98 The Potato Book.

to the fire. When done, remove them at once
from the vessel.

It is better to have the vessel about two-thirds
filled with potatoes ; hence the vessel employed
should be of a size adapted to the quantity. to be
cooked. About three-fourths of the bulk and
weight of potatoes are water. This quantity of
fluid is ample for producing all the steam required
to cook them. Steam is hotter than boiling water,
cooks the potatoes quickly, and renders them dry,
rich, and luscious. Good cooks will neither burn

the food nor injure the vessel.

[Potato-soup, made in the manner proposed by
Dr. McLaurin, is one of the favorite dishes in my
institution for invalids. I never knew a person, .
sick or well, to dislike it ; and the majority are
extremely fond of it the first time they taste of
it, even when coming from an ordinary hotel or
boarding-house dietary, where almost everything
is highly seasoned, to simple fare without any

seasoning at all.—R. T. T.]

The Potato Book. 99

Steaming vegetables with pealed potatoes
mingles the strength and flavor of all, and affords
a palatable meal for sound stomachs and normal
appetites. But as potatoes are the soonest
cooked, they should be removed before the vege-
tables are done, or else not added until the vege-
tables have been cooking for a time.

If potatoes are steamed to be mashed, milk may
be added to soften them, for those who use milk ;
but to persons to whom milk is objectionable,
gruel, or some juicy liquid, is preferable, as well as
more hygienic.

When potatoes are boiled to be mashed, it is
important to have the proper quantity of water,
as excess or deficiency injures both quality and
flavor.

A meal of potatoes may be prepared in a few
minutes by peeling them, slicing them very fine,
putting them in a frying-pan, covered so as to
retain the steam, and placing them over a fire hot
enough to cook without burning them. They

should be cooked in about ten minutes.

100 The Potato Book.

Steaming potatoes over water, or by the vapor
of water, prevents the due abstraction of the water
contained in them, which abstraction is absolutely
necessary in order to render them rich and savory,
as they should be. Each potato has sufficient
water to generate the steam necessary for cooking
it, and needs no extraneous supply.

Baking potatoes is not excelled by any other
method of cooking, when it is properly performed.
But the common mode overcooks some parts of
them, and burns other parts to cinders, even when
they are not further damaged by being greased.
To these objections steam-cooking is not liable.,

The common practice of frying sliced potatoes
in butter or lard, or in grease of any kind, is one
of the dietetic abominations that needs only to be
mentioned to be condemned. It is among the
many causes of dyspeptic stomachs and disordered

livers.
A large proportion—indeed, much the greater

portion—of nearly all kinds of food are spoiled by

the fashionable processes of cooking and modes of

The Potato Book. 10!

seasoning, intended to please depraved tastes,
pander to morbid stomachs, and imitate fashion-
able ways. And food which is intrinsically whole-
some, palatable, and even delicious to unperverted
tastes, may be distasteful and even repulsive to
those whose organic instincts and perceptivities
‘ have become diseased and abnormal. Such
persons will never know the pleasures afforded by
pure food and good digestion, until by a perse-
vering use of natural food naturally cooked, and
eaten without unnatural admixtures or additions,
their appetences are restored to a state of nature.

In conclusion, the author adds the beautiful
little poem on the next page, lately published, of
which Robert Burns is the reputed author.

102

The Potato Book.

TO THE POTATO.

Guid e’en, my auld acquintance cronie !
I’m glad to see thee bloom sae bonie ;
Of fruits and flowers there is nae monie,
Can match wi thee ;
I question much if there be onie,
At least to me.

It’s now twa months since ye’ve been wi us,
As soon’s ye can, come in and see us ;
Ye’ll banish poverty quite frae us,

The time ye stay ;
And trowth, I hope ye winna lea us,

Till Whitsunday.

Pll mak my braw young bouncing wencher
Place thee upon a bowl or trencher,
Wi floods of milk as deep as stincher,
In case I had it ;
Dll show thee fairly I’m no fincher,
When once I said it.

Ye’re now the poor folks’ bread and scon,
And hungry meals ye gar stun yon,
Frae me, to him wha fills the throne
O happy Britain ;
Baith young and auld, man, wife, and wean,
Ye had them eatin.

WOVE te S36 Qiat

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‘“‘Goop Books FoR ALL.’”’—Here are the best Works on these subjects.

Each covers ground not covered by others.
sent by return post, on receipt of price.

American Phrenolosical Joure
NAL AND LIFE Jllustrated. Devoted to
Ethnology, Physiology, Phrenology
Physiognomy, Psychology, Biography,
Education, Art, Literature, with Meas-
ures to Reform, Elevate and Improve
Mankind Physically, Mentally and &pir-
itually. Edited by S. R. Weis. Pub-
fanied. monthly, in octavo form, at $3 a
year in advance, or 30 cents a number.

Annuals of Phrenology and

PuHysiogxomy. One yearly 12mo vol-
ume. Price 25 cents for the current
year. For 1865, ’60, ’6T, °68, °69, "70, "T1.

The seven containing over four hundred
pages, many portraits and biographies of
distinguished personages, together with
articles on ‘‘ How to Study Phrenology,”
‘* Bashfulness, Diffidence, Stammering,”’
‘“*The Marriage of Cousins,’ ‘: Jealousy,
Its Cause and Cure,” etc. The seven
bound in one volume, muslin, $1.50.

Constitution of WRan. Considered
in relation to External Objects. By
GEORGE ComBE. The only authorized
American Edition. With Twenty En-
ravings, and a Portrait of the Author.
Iuslin, $1.75.

Chart of Physiogcnomy [llus-
TRATED. Designed for Framing and for
Lecturers. Map form. 25 cents.

Defence of Phrenology; Contain-
ing an Essay on the Nature and Value
of Phrenological Evidence. A Vindica-
tion of Phrenology against the Attacks
of its opponents, and a View of the Facts
relied on by Phrenologists as proof that
the Cerebellum is the seat of the repro-
ductive instinct. By BoARDMAN. $1.50.

Domestic Life, Thoughts on;
or, eee Vindicated and Free Love
Exposed. By N. SIZER. 25 cents.

Education: Its elementary Principles
founded on the Nature ot Man. By J. G.
SPURZHEIM, M.D. With an Appendix,
containing the Temperaments, and a
Brief Analysis of the Faculties. An ex-
cellent work. Illustrated. $1.50.

Education and Self-{mprove-
MENT COMPLETE. Comprising Physiol-
ogy—Animal and Mental; Self-Culture
and Perfection of Character; including
the Management of Youth; Memory and
Intellectual Improvement. Complete in
one large 12mo vol. Muslin, $4.00.

Copies of one or all will be
Please address as above.

Hiow to Read Character. A New
Illustrated Hand-Book of Phrenology and
Physiognomy, for Students and Examin-
ers, with a Chart for recording the sizes
of the different Organs of the Brain, in
the Delineation of Character, with up-
wards of 170 Engravings. Latest and
best. Paper, $1. Muslin, $1.25.

Memory and Intellectual Im-
PROVEMENT, applied to Cultivation of

Memory. Very useful. $1.50.
Lectures on Phrenology. By
GEORGE ComBE. With Notes. An Es-

say on the Phrenolngical Mode of Inves-
tigation, and a Historical Sketch. By
BoaARDMAN, M.D. ivol.12mo. $1.75.

fKental Science. Lectures on, ac-
cording to the Philosophy of Phrenology.
Delivered before the Anthropological
Society. By G.S. WEAVER. $1.50.

Moral Philosophy. By Grorat
ComBE. Or, the Duties of Man consid-
ered in his Individual, Domestic and
Social Capacities. From the Edinburgh
Edition. With the Author’s latest cor-
rections. $1.75.

Natural Laws of Man. Questions
with Answers. A Capital Work. By J.
G. Spurazheim, M.D. Muslin, %5 cents.

New Physiognomy; or, Signs of
Character, as manifested through Tem-
perament and External Forms, and es-
pecially in the ‘‘ Human Face Divine.”’

ith more than One Thousand Jilustra-
tions. By S. R. WELLS.
of binding. Price, in one 12mo volume,
768 pp., handsomely bound in muslin,
$5; in heavy calf, marbled edges, $8;
turkey morocco, full gilt, $10.

Phrenology and the Scriptures.
Harmony between Phrenology and Bible.
By JoHN PIERPONT. 25 cents.

Phrenological Busts, Showing the
latest classification, and exact locations
of the Organs of the Brain, fully develop-
ed, designed for Learners. In this Bust,
all the newly-uiscovered Organs are
evens It is divided so as to show each

ndividual Organ on one side; and all
the groups—Social, Executive, Intellec-
tual, and Moral—properly classified, on
the other side. There are two sizes, the
largest is sold in box, at $2.00. The
smaller, at $1.00. Sent by express.

In three styles

Phrenology Proved, Ulnstra-
TED AND APPLIeD. Embracing an An-
alys's of the Primary Mental Powers in
their Various Degrees of Development,
and Location of the Phrenological Or-
gms, Illustrated. $1.%5.

Self-Culture and Perfection of
CHARACTER; Including the Training and
Management of Children. 1.50.

Self-instructor in, Phrenology
AND PHysioLocy. With over One Hun-
dred Engravings and a Chart for Phren-
ologists, for the Recording of Phrepvolog-
ical Developments Paper, 50 cents.
Muslin, 75 cents.

Symbolical Head and Phreno=-
LOGICAL Map, on fine tinted paper, for
Framing. 25 cents.

Wells? New Bescriptive Chart
for Use of Examiners, giving a Delinea-
tion of Character. 25 cents.

All Works pertaining to the ‘‘ScrENCE or MAN,” including Phren-
ology, Physicgnomy, Ethnology, Psychology, Physiology, Anatomy,
Hygiene, Dietetics, etc., supplicd. Enclose stamp for Wholesale Terms
Address 8S. R. WELLS, 889 Broadway, New York.

to Agents.

Works on Physiology and Hygiene.

[Tt has been said that, a man at Forty Yearso Age, is either a ‘* Physician or a Fool.”
‘hat at this Age, he ought to know how to treat, and take care of himself. These
Works are intended to give instruction on *‘ How to Live.”” How to avoid Diseases
and of Premature Decay. They are practical, adapted to both People and Profession. ]

Anatomical and Physiological
Puiates Arranged exprenelir for Lectures
on Health, Physiology, etc. By R. T.
Trall, M.D. They are six in number,
representing the normal position and
life-size of all the internal viscera. mag-
nified illustrations of the organs of the
special senses, and a view of the nerves,
arteries, veins, muscles, etc. Fully col-
ored, backed, and mounted on rollers.
Price for the set, net $20.

Avoidable Causes of Disease,
INSANITY, AND DEFORMITY, including
Marriage and its Violations. By Dr.
John Ellis. $2.

Children, their Management in Health
and Disease. A Descriptive and Practi-
cal Work. By Dr. Shew. $2.75.

Diseases of the ‘Throat and
Lunes. With Treatment. 25 cents.

Lomestie Practice of Hydro-
PATHY, with a form ofa Report for the
assistance of Patients in consulting their
Physicians. By E. Johnson, M. D. $2.

HWamily Gymnasium. Containing
the most improved methods of applying
Gymnastic, Calisthenic, Kinesipathic,
and Vocal Exercises, to the Develop-
ment of the Bodily Organs. By. Dr.

Trall. Many Jilustrations. $1.75.

Your Character from You)
Likeness. For particulars, how to hav
pictures taken, inclose stamp fcr a copy
of ‘* Mirror of the Mind.”

To Physicians, Lecturess, and
EXAMINERS. We have a Cabinet of 40
Casts of Heads. selected from Our Mu.
seum, which are sold at $35.00. Also a
set of Phrenological Drawi:gs, on can-
vas, size of life, 40 in number. price
$40.00. A set of six Anatomical and
Physiological plates, colored and mount-
ed, $20. Another set of twenty, in sheets.
pe, $35. Colored and mounted. +60.
Skeletons, from $40 to $60. Manikins,
$250 to 41000. Portraits in oil from 45
upwards. Woodcuts, $3.50 to $5. Sym-
bolical Heads, Electrotypes, $3 to $5,
and $7.50, according to size.

Food and Diet. With observaticns
on the Dietical tegimen suited for Dis-
ordered States of the Digestive Organs,
Dietaries of the Principal Metropolitan
Establishments for Lunatics, Criminals,
Children, the Sick, Paupers, etc. A
thorough scientific Work. By Jonathan
Pereira, M.D., F.R.S. and L.S. Edited
by Charles A. Lee, M. D. $1.75.

Wruits and Farinacea, the
PROPER Foop oF Man. Vegetarian. By
John Smith. With Notes and J/ustra-
tions. By R. T. Trall, M.D. Muslin, $1.75.

Hydropathic Cook Book. With
Recipes for Cooking on Hygienic Princi-
ples. By Dr. Trall. $1.50.

Hydropathic Encyclopedia. A
System of Hydropathy and Hygiene.
Embracing Outlines of Anatomy; Phy-
siology of the Human Body ; Hygienic
Agencies, and the Preservation of
Health; Theory and Practice; Special
Pathology, including the Nature, Causes,
Symptoms, and Treatment of all known
Diseases. Designed as a Guide to Faini
lies and Students, and a Text-Book for
Physicians. By hk. T. Trall, M.D. $4.50,
The most complete Work on the subject.

Family Physician. <A Ready Pres-
criber and Hygien.c Adviser. With Ref-
erence to the Nature, Causes, Preven-
tion, and Treatment of Diseases, Acci-
dents, aud casualties of every kind.
With a Glossary, and Copious Inuex.
By Joel Sh: v. M.D. Muslin, #4.

Wanagement of Infancy, Physio-
logical and Moral Treatment.” By An-
drew Combe, M.D. With Notes and a
Supplementary Chapter. Muslin, $1.50.

Widwifery and the Diseases of
WomEN. A Descriptive and Practical
Work. With the general management
of Child Birth, Nursery, etc. $1.75.

Movement-Cure. An Exposition of
the Swedish Movement-Cure. Embrac-
ing the History aud Philosophy of this
System of Medical Treatment. vith Ex-
amples of Movements. and Diret ions for
their Use in Various Forms of Chronic
Diseases. Illustrated. By George H.
Taylor, M.D. Muslin, $1.75.

Notes on Beauty, Vigor and De-
VELOPMENT; or, How to Acquire Plump-
ness of Form, Strength of Limb, and
Beauty of Complexion. 12 cents.

Physiology of Digestion. Con-
sidered with relation to the Principles
of Dietetics. Hy Andrew Combe, D.M.
Illustrated, 50 cents.

Philosophy of the Water-Cure.
A Development of the true Principles of
Health and Longevity. By John Balbir-
nic, M.D. 50 cents.

Practice of the Water-Cure. Con-
taining a Detailed account of the various
Baiting processes. 50 cents.

Physiology, Animal and Mental:
Applied te the Preservation and Restor-
ation of Health of Body and Power of
Mind. Jllustrated. Muslin, $1.50.

Principles of Physiology applied to
the Preservation of Healih and to the
Improvement of Physical and Mental
Education. By Andrew Combe. $1.75.

Science of Human Life, Lectures on
THE. By Sylvester Graham. With a
copious Index and Biographical Sketch.
of the Author. JIJliustrated. $3.50.

Sober and Temperate Life. The Dis
courses and Letters of Louis Cornaro.
With a Biography of the Author, who
died at 150 years ofage. 50 cents.

Tea and Coffee, their Physical, Intel-
lectual, and Moral Effects on the System.
By Dr. Alcott, 25 cents.

The Alcoholic Controversy. A Re-
view of the Westminster Review on the
Physiological Errors of Teetotalism. By
Dr. Trall. 50 cents.

‘The Story of a Stomach. By a Re-
formed Dyspeptic. Paper, 50 cents;
muslin, 75 cents.

Three Hours’ School a Day. A Seri-
ous Talk with Parents. By William L.
Crandal. Muslin, $1.50.

Water-Cure in Chronic Diseases.
An Exposition of the Causes, Progress
and Terminations of Various Chronic
Diseases of the Digestive Organs, Lungs,
Nerves, and Skin, and of their Treat-
ment. With engraved View of the Lungs,
Heart, Stomach, and Bowels. By J. M.
Gully, M.D. $2.

‘* A Special List ” of 70 or more Private
Medical, Surgical and Anatomical Works,
invaluable to those who need them, sent
on receipt of stamp. Address 8. R. Wells,
889 Broadway, New York.

The READER will greatly oblige by exhibiting this CATALOGUE to a
neighbor, who would, perhaps, be glad to procure some of the Works;
or, would like to become a subscriber to the ILLUSTRATED PHRENOLOGI-
CAL JOURNAL, or engage in the sale of these publications.

Works for Home Improvement.

This List embraces just such Works as are suited’to every member of the family—

old and young.

These Works will serve as guides in Self-Improvement, and are almost

indispensable to those who have not the advantages of a liberal education.

Aims and Aids for Girls and Young
WomMEN, on the various Duties of Life,
Physical, Intellectual, and Moral, Self-
Cuiture, Improvement. Dress, Beauty,
Employment, the Home Relations, Du-
ties to Youvg Men, Marriage, Woman-
hood, aud Happiness. By Rev. G. S.
Weaver. Muslin, $1.50.

ZEsop’s Fables. The People’s Pictorial
Edition. Beautifully illustrated with
nearly Sixty Engravings. Cloth, gilt,
beveled boards. Only $1.

Benny. An Illustrated Poem. By Anna
Chambers Ketchum. Published in the
elegant style of Enoch Arden. A beauti-
fu. Christmas present. $1.5).

HYGEIAN HOME,
FLORENCE HIGHTS, N. J,

Consulting Piysicians. Associate Physicians
Re Lol RALE, MD. } JAMES FORAN, M.D.
MARY A. BUTTS, M.D., M. E. BALL, M.D. }

MRS. HARRiET M. FORAN, M.D.,
MISS SARAH FULLER, M.D. } Assistants.

This model Health Institution is beautifully situated on the east
‘bank of the Delaware River, between Trenton ang Philadelphia. The
main building is two hundred and fifty feet in length, four stories
high ; its rooms are large and pleasant, and it is Msundantly supplied

with -
PURE SOFT WATER FROM LIVING SFa\Ncs.

A broad verandah, the entire length of the building, wth ample
fields, and a grove extending a mile along the river, afford-.j) the
facilities for promenading that can be desired.

All curalsle diseases are successfully treated without drug-medicine,.
Send stamp for circular.

Hygienic Fanily Sebool.
A department of Hygeian Home is devoted to a Boarding School,
where children can be taught all of the primary branches, music, Xc.,

and have their health properly cared for.
TreRMs.—320 per morth,,or $200 per year.

Abiladelphia Hygrente Institute.
NO. 1516 CHESTNUT STREET.

R. T. TRALL, M.D.,
MRS. E. 8. CHOATE, M.D., Physicians.
JOSEPH WILLIAMS, M.D.,

Patients visited, and, when practicable, treated at their residences.
The Physicians will respond to calls to lecture in city or country.

Hygeio-Cherapeutie College.
74 DA s) ~

The regular lecture terms commence in the middle of
November in each year, and continue twenty weeks. This school is
chartered by the Legislature, and legally authorized to confer the
degree of M.D. Ladies and gentlemen are admitted on precisely
equal terms.

Trmus.—Lecture Fees, $100; Graduation Fee, $30. After the first
term, students or physicians may attend any subsequent term on the
payment of $10.

The Honorary Degree of the College will be conferred on properly
qualified persons who casnot attend the lectures, on the payment of
the diploma fee of $30.

College Faculty and Teachers.
R. T. TRALL, M.D., Institutes of Medicine, Pathology and Therapeutics.
O. T. LINES, M.D., Anatomy and Surgery.

SUSANNAH W. DODDS, M.D., Piysiology and Obstetrics.
JAMES FORAN, M.D., Phrenology and Mental Science.

R. T. TRALL, JR., M.D., Music and Gymnastics.

M. BE. BALL, M.D., Natural Philosophy.

JOHN A. RYDER, M.D., Chemistry and Hygienic Agriculture.

For further information address,

RK... TRALL, M.D., PRINCIPAL,

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