The potato has entered so intimately into our domestic life as to be regarded as indispensable to the human dietary. Whether its food value be exaggerated or otherwise, the fact remains that, speaking generally, it now ranks second to wheat in the estimation of the bread-eating nations. A potato-less dinner-table would create more dismay than one from which the familiar roll is missing, while some of us may even recall the widespread misery which was provoked in Ireland during the black years of 1845 and 1846 from the failure of the potato crop. The succulent tuber has achieved such a high estate among the community as to be deemed capable of taking the place of the cereal associated with the staff of life should exigencies so demand.

In view of such extreme popularity it is not surprising to find the potato cultivated extensively in the British Islands to serve essentially as a foodstuff for both man and beast. No allotment-holder would consider his endeavours to be complete without the inclusion of this vegetable in his gardening programme. As illuminative of the grip which the cult of the potato has secured upon the amateur son of Adam it may be mentioned that the allotment-holders of England and Wales raised a round 1,000,000 tons of this tuber, for the most part upon 10-rod plots, during the year 1918. Many farmers now regard it as the backbone to their agricultural endeavours, especially in those parts of the country where the soil conditions are particularly favourable to its easy and prolific cultivation.

Yet, in our use of the potato, we are extremely wasteful. We lose or discard at least one-third of what we grow. It is estimated that 25 per cent. of the value of a crop is lost to the farmer in cartage, carriage, clamping, bagging, marketing, and grading. This figure does not take into account the circumstance that only the cream of the crop—the ware potato—is set aside for human consumption, for which, of course, the maximum price is demanded. Neither does it refer to the losses incurred from the ravages of diseases, which, while varying according to the soil and weather conditions, are always material. An appreciable proportion of this loss and waste might be avoided were the practice of storage by clamping superseded by a method more in accordance with contemporary thought.

A further loss, even in connection with those set aside for the table, is incurred in the preparation of the vegetable. Peeling, as a rule, is clumsily and perfunctorily performed, “spud drill” being considered as one of the drudgeries of domestic life, because a pronounced portion of the edible flesh is removed with the skin, eyes and other unsightly or inedible parts. The extent of this loss varies with the size of the tuber and the carelessness or skill of the peeler. Consequently it may vary from 10 to 30 per cent. or even more.

What is done with the peelings? For the most part, notably in towns and cities, they suffer cremation, either at the destructor, via the dust-bin, or in the kitchen stove. But potato-peelings constitute an expensive fuel. The rural resident is generally more thrifty. He throws the peelings into the swill-tub for pig-food, or husbands them to boil and to blend with grain offal to sustain his poultry-run, but the quantity thus turned to economic account is really an insignificant proportion of the whole. Quite 600,000 tons of potato offal are destroyed in ignorance during the year—a deliberate wastage of valuable raw material.

The growers’ losses are equally startling, more particularly in clamping. The tubers afflicted with disease meet with instant rejection and destruction. Even the balance of good and sound tubers, remaining after the selection of the ware and seed grades, is utilized along the most wasteful lines, being regarded as fit for cattle only.

The farmer is not to be blamed for such extravagant use of the proportion of his crop which fails to rise to the high standard set for the table. He has not been enlightened either in regard to the constitution of the potato or its potential industrial uses. Even if he be cognizant of these factors he cannot more profitably exploit his surplus owing to the absence of all facilities to such an end.

Of what is the potato composed? Here is the result of an average analysis:—

Per cent.
Fat 0.3
Cellulose 1
Mineral matter 1
Dextrine and pectose 2
Fibrin and albumen 2.3
Starch 17
Water 75
Waste 1.4

The term “waste” included in the above table in reality is somewhat misplaced, as I explain later. The starch content is also a variable factor. While one analysis may show a percentage of only 15, another will yield a figure exceeding 18 per cent. Consequently that quoted may be accepted as representative.