I well remember the terrible time of the first appearance
of the potato blight in 1845, aQd the great change wrought
by it in this favourite vegetable. Previously great fields of
potatoes grew and flourished abundantly, producing their
white or purple blossom, according to their kind, followed
by green or purplish seed-pods, the haulm, when withered,
being pulled up and burnt, or left to rot as manure, whilst
the tubers were dug and pitted for winter use, the great aim
being to preserve them from frost. The consternation which
took possession of people when they saw the haulm getting
black and dying away, long before it was time for the
blossom, may be imagined, and when it was found that the
tuber was rotting in the ground, a wail went up from one
ROOTS 217
end of the country to the other — and no wonder, for it
meant to many in England, and to all in Ireland, a grievous
famine. At first the pigs were fed on the diseased roots,
but they soon got too bad even for pigs to eat ; then it was
found out that, if taken in time, the roots might be grated,
and starch made from them, and so, at every cottage door
sat women and children grating the fast-rotting roots into
pans of water; but little could be gained by that, although
potato starch is still used, and called English arrowroot.
People, however, could not live on that, and soon got tired
of trying, and the potatoes were left to rot in the ground.
Year after year this went on, and no one seemed to know
how to remedy the evil ; but at last the natural history of
the disease came to be known, and now by careful cultiva-
tion of sorts less liable to be attacked by the fungus which
causes the disease, the potato again begins to hold up its
head, and may be seen blossoming and bearing seed as
before. But many of the sorts most prized prior to 1845
have entirely disappeared, and among them one which was
the delight of our childhood, known as the China orange,
which came to table in its skin, just bursting, and showing
a beautiful red under coat, covering a great floury ball of
most delicious flavour. The Irish, who may be supposed
to know the best mode of cooking their favourite vegetable,
always boil them in their skins, and in so doing retain the
full flavour, but they also like them slightly hard in the
middle — * with the bones in,' as they say — which is not so
much to English taste.
The latest method of preventing the potato blight is that
recommended by Mr. Jensen, namely to disinfect the seed
tubers by storing them for four or five days in a dry-air
218 OUR VIANDS
chamber, at a temperature of 100 to 105 clegs. Fahrenheit;
but others recommend syringing the leaves with a solution
of sulphate of copper and quicklime, which is also said to
increase the growth of the tubers.
Our viands
1893Page 108
Presented as published in 1893. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
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I well remember the terrible time of the first appearance
of the potato blight in 1845, aQd the great change wrought
by it in this favourite vegetable. Previously great fields of
potatoes grew and flourished abundantly, producing their
white or purple blossom, according to their kind, followed
by green or purplish seed-pods, the haulm, when withered,
being pulled up and burnt, or left to rot as manure, whilst
the tubers were dug and pitted for winter use, the great aim
being to preserve them from frost. The consternation which
took possession of people when they saw the haulm getting
black and dying away, long before it was time for the
blossom, may be imagined, and when it was found that the
tuber was rotting in the ground, a wail went up from one
ROOTS 217
end of the country to the other — and no wonder, for it
meant to many in England, and to all in Ireland, a grievous
famine. At first the pigs were fed on the diseased roots,
but they soon got too bad even for pigs to eat ; then it was
found out that, if taken in time, the roots might be grated,
and starch made from them, and so, at every cottage door
sat women and children grating the fast-rotting roots into
pans of water; but little could be gained by that, although
potato starch is still used, and called English arrowroot.
People, however, could not live on that, and soon got tired
of trying, and the potatoes were left to rot in the ground.
Year after year this went on, and no one seemed to know
how to remedy the evil ; but at last the natural history of
the disease came to be known, and now by careful cultiva-
tion of sorts less liable to be attacked by the fungus which
causes the disease, the potato again begins to hold up its
head, and may be seen blossoming and bearing seed as
before. But many of the sorts most prized prior to 1845
have entirely disappeared, and among them one which was
the delight of our childhood, known as the China orange,
which came to table in its skin, just bursting, and showing
a beautiful red under coat, covering a great floury ball of
most delicious flavour. The Irish, who may be supposed
to know the best mode of cooking their favourite vegetable,
always boil them in their skins, and in so doing retain the
full flavour, but they also like them slightly hard in the
middle — * with the bones in,' as they say — which is not so
much to English taste.
The latest method of preventing the potato blight is that
recommended by Mr. Jensen, namely to disinfect the seed
tubers by storing them for four or five days in a dry-air
218 OUR VIANDS
chamber, at a temperature of 100 to 105 clegs. Fahrenheit;
but others recommend syringing the leaves with a solution
of sulphate of copper and quicklime, which is also said to
increase the growth of the tubers.