St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-04-21
agricultural.
CULTURE OF THE SWEET POTATO,

SPROuTING.-Between the first and
10th Of April, according as the season
indicates, prepare your hotbcd
Choose a warm exposure ; hillside
is preferable. Mark the size You in
tend making the bed. Dig out one
foot of the soil. Board up the sides
and ends-the lower side 2 feet from
the bottom, and the upper high enough
to give sufficient pitch to the covering
when placed across. Fill in fifteen
inches coarse, unrotted horse manure,
we'll mixed, well packed and moisten-
cd so as to fermcnt. Make of uniform
depth. Cover with four to five inches
good loan. Now lay on the dirt old
boards or something to retain the
heat, about "A hours, or until the dirt
is warm, then remove them and lay on
the potatoes. One bushel evenly dis
tributcd on 80 square feet, will give
them sufficient room. Cover them
with boards or stout shceting drawn
tight. Examine night and morning.
If too cold, cover the bed with leaves
or cold litter, but remove before it
gets to hot. If too hot, apply water
in quantity, but guard against these
extremes. When the plants appear,
expose to the sun and air as much as
possible, but guard against too much
cold and wet. Water when needed
Do not pull for planting until the
stems are well supplied with fibrous
roots. If you leave the potatoes un-
disturbed in pulling, you will get a
second crop of plants.
| use fire heat for my beds, and am
satisfied that harder and better plants
can be raised thus than by manure,
because we can expose them more to
the weather without disturbing the
heating power; thus giving them
less change of condition when remov-
ed to the field. But this method
would be impracticabie on small
scale. In fact, when good plants can
be bought at reasonable prices, it is
cheaper, all things considered, to buy
than to raise them, as you are uncer-
tain of success in sproutng, without
much experience and observation.
PLANrISc.-Select rolling ground,
mellow and warm. Cold or wet soils
will not do. Good second years "
upland is what we generally prefer for
field crops. Dry, but not too barren
knolls, well manured are good. Now
lands, if dry, produce beautiful crops
of fine quality. Manuring in the hills
or ridge is best where the land is not
first rate tilth. Plow a shallow fur
row, put the manure in, and throw up
a ridge over it. The soil in all cases
must be well worked and finely pull
verized. Throw two heavy furr0ws
together. forming high ridges. Three
and half feet apart from center to
center is the proper distance. Ridg-
ing should be done when the ground
is moist, but never when heavy or
muddy-just before planting if posi-,
bic. If the ground is quite moist, you
can plant all day with safety if the
soil next the roots is properly pressed,
and the plants not wilted before plant
ing. Keep the plants moist If the
ground is getting dry defer planting
till toward evening, and if very dry,
water them. Water is unnecessary
otherwise, but will do no harm. The
best instrument for planting with is a
mason's trowel. Thrust it in the top
of the ridge, a little obliquely, so that
in bringing it out and toward you, il
will form cavity that will admit the
plant with roots well spread. With
draw the trowel and press the sol
compactly at the roots. Plant so tina,
the stems of the lower leaves will be