ter into a deep dish, containing a quart of clear water; stir
it well up, and then pour it through a hair-sieve, and leave it ten
minutes to settle, till the water is quite clear: then pour off the
water, and put a quart of fresh water to it; stir it up, let it settle,
and repeat this till the water is quite clear; you will at last find a
fine white powder at the bottom of the vessel. (The criterion of this
process being completed, is the purity of the water that comes from it
after stirring it up.) Lay this on a sheet of paper in a hair-sieve to
dry, either in the sun or before the fire, and it is ready for use, and
in a well-stopped bottle will keep good for many months.

If this be well made, half an ounce (_i. e._ a table-spoonful) of it
mixed with two table-spoonfuls of cold water, and stirred into a soup or
sauce, just before you take it up, will thicken a pint of it to the
consistence of cream.

_Obs._--This preparation much resembles the "Indian arrow root," and is
a good substitute for it; it gives a fulness on the palate to gravies
and sauces at hardly any expense, and by some is used to thicken melted
butter instead of flour.

As it is perfectly tasteless, it will not alter the flavour of the most
delicate broth, &c.

_Of the Flour of Potatoes._

"A patent has been recently obtained at Paris, a gold medal bestowed,
and other honorary distinctions granted, for the discovery and practice,
on a large scale, of preparing from potatoes a fine flour; a sago, a
flour equal to ground rice; and a semolina or paste, of which 1_lb._ is
equal to 1-1/2_lbs._ of rice, 1-3/4_lbs._ of vermicelli, or, it is
asserted, 8_lbs._ of raw potatoes.

"These preparations are found valuable to mix with wheaten flour for
bread, to make biscuits, pastry, pie-crusts, and for all soups, gruels,
and panada.

"Large engagements have been made for these preparations with the French
marine, and military and other hospitals, with the approbation of the
faculty.

"An excellent bread, it is said, can be made of this flour, at half the
cost of wheaten bread.

"Heat having been applied in these preparations, the articles will keep
unchanged for years, and on board ship, to China and back; rats, mice,
worms, and insects do not infect or destroy this flour.

"Simply mixed with cold water, they are in ten minutes fit for food,
when fire and all other resource may be wanted; and twelve ounces are
sufficient for a day's sustenance, in cas