r and
modelling of the common fruits, he will find his interest gradually
extending to other products. Some time ago I visited Hood River Valley
in company with a rugged potato-grower from the Rocky Mountains. We were
amazed at the wonderful scenery, and captivated by the beauty of the
fruits. In one orchard the owner showed us with much satisfaction a
brace of apples of perfect form and glowing colors. When the grower had
properly expounded the marvels of Hood River apples, which he said were
the finest in the world, my friend thrust his hand into his pocket and
pulled out a potato, and said to the man: "Why is not that just as
handsome as a Hood River apple?" And sure enough it was. For twenty-five
years this grower had been raising and selecting the old Peachblow
potato, until he had a form much more perfect than the old Peachblow
ever was, with a uniform delicate pink skin, smooth surface, comely
shape, and medium size, and with eyes very small and scarcely sunken;
and my Hood River friend admitted that a potato as well as an apple may
be handsome and satisfying to the hand and to the eye, and well worth
carrying in one's pocket. But this was a high-bred potato, and not one
of the common lot.

This episode of the potato allows me another opportunity to enforce my
contention that we lose the fruit or the vegetable in the processes of
cookery. The customary practice of "mashing" potatoes takes all the
individuality out of the product, and the result is mostly so much
starch. There is an important dietary side to this. Cut a thin slice
across a potato and hold it to the light. Note the interior
undifferentiated mass, and then the thick band of rind surrounding it.
The potato flavor and a large part of the nutriment lie in this
exterior. We slice this part away and fry, boil, or otherwise fuss up
the remainder. When we mash it, we go still farther and break down the
potato texture; and in the modern method we squeeze and strain it till
we eliminate every part of the potato, leaving only a pasty mass, which,
in my estimation, is not fit to eat. The potato should be cooked with
the rind on, if it is a good potato, and if it is necessary to remove
the outer skin the process should be performed after the cooking. The
most toothsome part of the potato is in these outer portions, if the
tuber is well grown and handled. We have so sophisticated the potato in
the modern disguised cookery that we often practically ruin it as an