The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1871-02-23
AGRICULTURAL.
Sweet Potatoes.

Mr.. Cause in the December No. OF
the Cultivator, asks 'do potatoes
need any manure and what sort?'
While Imaynot be able satisiac>
torily to solve the question, | pro-
pose to submit a few remarks upon
the subject. l may promise by
= saying in agriculture, as i'll morals
and religion we need line upoa line
and precept upon precept-here
little and there a little, if the
files ofyour Journal for a fewyears
past, were accessible to your ell
quirer, he would no doubt find
many of his questions, satisfactorl>
ly answered. Land upon which
potatoes are attempted to be grown
may be either tooloose or too close,
too rich or too poor, to produce
them to advantage. 1 believe it
is generally conceded that light
land with q good measure Of vege-
table matter, either naturally pres
ent Or furnished, is best for pota>
toes. Stimulating fertilizers, be-
yond certain point, will deve!ope
rank vines on the surface, and
strings, instead of roots below
Cow dung, in combination with
Estraw and leaves, makes good pota
toes. Grass the enemy ofmost crops,
is especially the bane of this one.
In one corner Of my potato patch
this year, there is a strip of land
just taken in, after having recclv.
ed, the droppings of stock, and
then pressed BY constant tramp
ing for years. After breaking it
up two ways as well as | could,
with a scooter drawn by single
mule, l laid it of four feet with
same plow, filled the trenches with
half rotted straw, and bedded with
four coulter furrows. | did not
consider the ground sufficiently
pulverizcd, and was the more con-
firmed in that opinion, when |
heard the roaring sound Of the
plow in gathering them. But to
my surprise the two, three, and
four pound potatoes rolled out in
quick succession, and the yield on
that strip was decidedly better
than on the better pulveriZed, and
as | considered the better manured
field adjoining. Perhaps the Sc
cret of the difference lies in the
fact, that there was no crab grass
seed to interfere with the first,
and it was consequently "laid by"
clean while the other was suffered
to make crop Of potatoes and
Jointly. Break the ground thor
ougLly and deeply, and cultivate
so as not to allow Il spear OF grass
to run to seed. Don't stop cultiva-
ting because the vines lap across
the rows, but turn them by hand
into every alternate row until those
rows are plowed, then turn them
into the freshed plowed row, and
plow the other. Never pick out
the small potatoes, as some do,
from the general crop for planting,
or you will surely make small po-
tatoes, and they will grow beauti'
fully less till you have something
like hames-strings instead of po-
ta.oes. Either bed your BEST po.
tatoes toobtain draws" for plant
ing or plant vines in simmer
to make slips Some recon-
mend the cheaper plan of
stripping the beds just before frost,
and banking the vines as you would
potatoes, for planting. Some peo-
pie think they can't raise potatoes
without making high beds with
the hoe this is a mistake. A bed is
no more needed for potatoes than
for corn or cotton. The vines must
not be allowed to take root except
in the bed. Gather before frost,
and put in. banks of twent-fve or
thirty bushels, on a thick bed Of
pine, wheat or oat straw, and cover
heavily, with the. same, and add a
GOOD coat of earth from IA circular
ditch one or two feot around the
bank. Then shelter from rain or
snow if you please-if not, be sure
to pile on straw and earth enough
to keep them dry. L. 7. l..