The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1885-10-14

suggested ABOUT methods OF curing
it is doubtful if any plan is
superior to the old fashioned one of
curing in rail pens. Instead of boards
laid on without mailing and kept down
by weights, plank an iucli and a quar-
tcr thick, OF proper length, will found
more convenient and more effective as
a covering. A good supply of such
planks should be kept on every farm
for temporary shelter purposes. a
loaded wagon, q pile CT hay or other
stuff could be rooted III few minutes
against threatening rain. When not
in use they could be stored under
shelter and would last for years. The
next best plan is to cut and stack TIE
viues at once, without drying, around
a sccoad growth pine with low branch
ing limbs, the ends of the limbs being
cut oil so Us to make the outlines of
the tree after ii is trimmed cohc shap>
ed. The limbs prevent the vines from
settling down too closely and the
shrinkage in driving gives 4 plenty Of
ventilation. OF course brush or rails
raised above the surface, are placed
around the bottom of the tree to keep
vines off the ground. It's well also to
cap with hay or straw, as pea-vlnes do
not she'd water very well. After thev
are well cured, put up in barns, as
such stacks will not bear long exposure
to weather.
Much crab-grass hay can be saved
on every farm; cut when il bloom, fer
little after, the. quality is excellent.
Most Of that which is usually saved is
cut too late, the seeds having already
formed and drawn from the stalks and
leaves their most valuable contents.
The seed usually drop off, and add
nothing Of value 10 the hay. A train.
ed hand, with good rcap-hook, can
cut great deal of this grass in places
where the moving blade cannot reach
it. Swamp grasses, if cut early just
in bloom, make good medium hay for
crttle and mules, but as in the case of
crab-graSs they are generally cut too
late. Never let grass, attel it is partly
dried, take dew; all that is cut before
two or three O'Clock should be put up
in cocks just before night, and as fast
as it curcS, several small cocks should
be brobght together and put into one
large cock. The rule is to expose us
possible to dew, rain or sun, and a
large cock has less surface in propor>
ton to its contents than small one.
We have have often tried to cure
potato vines bur without success. a
week or so, however, before the usual
time for digging potatoes the vines
may be graZed off without apprcciable
injury to the crop. Most persons pre-
fer to dig after the vines are singed by
frost, and the work is usually duNc
from the 25th Of October to the 10th Of
November. If the ground is dry, 50
that there is no danger of injury from
freezes, it is well to defer the digging
as late as possible, as it is desirable
that the potatoes should be cool after
they are dug-coolneSS, drvness and as
little variation Of temperature as pos
sible are the conditions requisite for
keeping potatoes. The temperature Of
the interior of the bank or hill should
neuer fall below forty degrees, and if
practicable not raise above sixty. In
warm weather it would be difficult 10
keep tie temperature down 10 sixty;
we say it is best to put up
potatoes after the weather has become
settled cold. The sinking below forty
degrees is to be guarded against by a
liberal covering Of pine straw, corn
stalks, etc finished off with layer of
earth. After the straw is compressed,
it ought to be six inches thick and the
LAYER of dirt on outside from six inches
to foot, according to the severity of
the climate. The thicker the coating
of straw and dirt, the slower the
changes of temperature in the interior
of the bank; this, therefore, is avery
good means Of preventing sudden
yariatiotion from warm 10 cold or the
reverse. Another is to protect the
baak from direct sunshine. A ther-
being in the shade will show
less variatins of temperature during
the twenty-four hours of night and day
than one hung in the sunshine. For
like reason shaded potato bank will
have more uniform temperature than
one exposed to the sun during the
day and to free radiation at night.
Potatoes 90 through 4 sweating process
soon after they are banked; it is well,
to have yentilator through
the the centre of the bank and All
opening at the top during the first
three or four weeks after they are put
up. Subsequently the opening should
be thoroughly closed, not only with
straw, but with dirt likewise. Exclude
air, exclude moisture, and exclude
light; keep the temperature uniform
hot or cold-thcse are the requisites
for preservation. The potato is a
tropical plant; in the tropics there are
two seasons, the wet and the dry. In
its relations to vegetation, the former
takes the place of our summer, and the
latter Of our winter. Vegetation is
more or less dependent during the dry
season. The sweet potato bridges it
over by its tuberS. which remain un-
changed in the dry hot soil. The tenn
perature of the soil, though high, is
uniform, and this uniformity, together
with absence Of moisture, keeps the
tubers dormant. A cool soil would be
better if above freezing point, because
heat is one of the stirnulants to germi-
nation, or sprouting, which is similar
TO termination, and to rotting, which
is always an accompaniment of germi-
nation. The swectening of the yam
during winter is evidence of slow
chemical change in its contcnts-its
starch being gradually converted into
sngar and thus made soluble and fit to