Star.
London, England, 1822-06-29 00:00:00

3'RESEI2FATION OF POT AI6FIS.

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TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR.
DEAR SIR—In Addressing one who has so long
amd so zealously laboured for the public good, no
alMlogy befils to be offered for an endeavour to guard
our 'brethren of Ireland against the recurrence of the
greatest of all human calamities.
Lord LIVERPOOL, in his reply to the Earl of..
DARNLEY, respecting the sufferings in Ireland, states,
that " the Noble Marquis at the head of the Irish
Government was not many days in office until he
considered it his duty to have an inquiry made into
the state of the late harvest in Ireland ; the result of
which was, that -there was no scarcity of provisions
to be apprehended in any part of the country, not
even in the article of potatoes : the scarcity in that
article since had been caused by what could not have
been anticipated—rains, which got into the pits they
were put into for safe keeping."
That the Irish population are the best and most
experienced cultivators of the potatoes I am satisfie
from personal observation, but it appears evident
from the Noble Earl's statement, that they are dan-
gerously deficient in the mode of preserving them.
The destruction of potatoes in pits ma for their
preservation and safe keeping may seldom take place
in dry seasons or peculiarly favourable situations ;
but in wet seasons, or the sudden melting of snows,
3 pit DUG in the earth becomes the common drain of
the surrounding superstratum, and, unless on a sub-
stratum of land or gravel, must become the common
receptacle of all waters that fall within the range of
that drainage, then the destruction of all the potatoes
in that pit must be the natural result. Damps are
unfavourable to the safe keeping of potatoes in any
situation wet earth, or water in the pits, certain
destruction.

Nothing tends so much to the wholesome preserva-
tion of that most necessary article,of food, as lifting
them from the ground in dry weather, and -either
earthing them up or housing them, and afterwards
keeping them as dry and free from damps as possible.
Many a good crop has been lost by inattention to

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this particular. In the season of taking them from
the ground, if so much rain has fallen as to make the
earth adhere to the skin of the potatoe, the digging
should be left off till the land dry so far as to admit
of the potatoes rising clean and free from wet earth.
This precaution is doubly necessary in late seasons,
when the cultivator is forced to lift his crop in a
greenish and barely ripe state; the potatoes in that
state are very apt to ferment and spoil, if not kept
in particularly dry situations.—But to the point.:
The model would recommend to °or **Oren of
Ireland, for their future protection againit a icor-
rence of the existing distress, and which should be
seen done and properly-executed by.the Overseers of
the different parishes and .ilissiiCts, is, when the po-
tatoes ate- to be taken froth' the ground, and pre-
served from winter frost, for future consumption, in-
stead of digging a pit, let the surface of a
_piece of
dry ground be only levelled, not dug wiih the lade
or shovel, of a breadth and length proportionate to
the quantity to be deposited, then let thepotatoes be
gathered into a long heap, broad at bottom, and
gathering to a point at top. When this is done.
cover the potatoes with dried grass or straw, or what
is infinitely better than either, and easily come at in
most parts of Ireland, the very tefuse scutchings of
flax, or the dry surface turf of the peat bog. to pre
vent the earth mixing with the potatoes in the heap.
Then let as many spades be employed, as necessary,
to dig as much earth from around the potatoe heap
as to cover the whole to the thickness of not less than
six inches (six), clapping and smoothing the covering
earth with the back of a clean spade, as they go
along, to give it consistency and firmness sufficient
to resist the effects of wind when it dries. • When this
is done, let a new made turf be laid along the ridge
for the same purpose, to prevent the winds from
baring the potatoes.
Water is the prime conductor of frost; as the earth
covering the potatoes must necessarily be compara-
tively dry, it must be a very severe winter, such as
is seldom known in Ireland, that will even penetrate
this covering. Should such be apprehended, flax
scutchings, or the stems of the potatoes may be ga-
thered off the ground and thrown loosely over the
heaps. But the stems, or withered shaws of the
potatoes, should never in any case, however dry, be
applied as a substitute for the first covering of the
potatoes, for the stems, as well as the potatoes, con-
tain so much of the elementary principles of pot-
assium, that they of themselves copiously attract
moisture, corrupt, and would prove the destruction
of the whole heap. I need not point out to you the
obvious difference between putting the potatoes into
a pit, to draw moisture, as if for the very purpose
of destroying them, and placing them dry, by draw-
ing a pit, a ditch, or trench round them, to drain
the principle of destruction from them. When this
mode of preservation is judiciously executed, the
rains may fall and the winds blow—nothing short of
a deluge could ever affect or reach the potatoes.
Was this mode of preservation and safe keeping of
potatoes generally adopted and put us practice in
Ireland, no such calamity could ever befal the coun-
try : no recurrence of the preseat alarming and
deplorable distress, that has called forth so much
corresponding sympathy from all ranks of their fel-
low-subjects, could ever be dreaded.
There is no doubt accidents may happen, and par-
tial distress may be occasioned; but it is evident that
there must be some radical error in their mode of
preserving the potatoes, otherwise so general a misery
could never have come upon a whole district of
country. But to make the most of a bad thing, and.
turn even an evil to some account, when it shall so,
happen that a parcel of potatoes are so far•de)troyed
as to be unfit for food of either man or beast, even
after they are reduced to the consistence of soft soap
by frost or wet, there are two ways by which they
can be rendered useful—either in the manufacture of
nitre, or converted into a rich manure.
To make nitre, beat up the spoiled potatoes with
dry quicklime, mixed with the ashes from the common
hearth, where either wood or cow-dung, or both, are
used as fuel, or the fuel used in drying corn. Let
the mixture be turned over, sprinkled with stater,
and exposed to the atmospheric air, for the further
absorption of azote. The formation of nitre may be
ascertained by washing a little of the mixture in
water, and moistening therewith a slip of brown pa-
per, which will become match-paper when dry, and
burn with a force proportionate to the strength of