Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-20
Or BANKING sweet Potatoes.

On Banking Sweet Potatoes.
Please give through THE GAZETTE what
you consider a good aud safe method for
banking sweet potatoes. We can beat the
world raising sweet potatoes, but somehow or
other not few OF us fail to have them keep well
through the winter. | saw in the announce
ment of your arrival here that you from
Fobile Ala; and while there in April. some
years ago, noticed that almost every far mer =
place had sweet potato banks on il standing
out In the weather, and on investigation iound
them as sound AMI good az when first taken
from the ground. IL has occurred to me that
you might be able to give us, from your expert
ence in Alabama. some new wrinkles on keep
ing sweet potatoes. FARMER.
Tarrant County. Tex.
We eau tell you all about how they
"bank' sweet potatoes over there, hav-
ing ourself been an extensive and sue
cessful potato grower throughout our
twenty-one years of residence in the
gulf coast country OF Alabama. A few
potato raisars of that region construct
:potato houses for keeping their crop,
but we always preferred banking, and
since banking is what you ask after
banking il shall be. We have kept sweet
potatoes in bank perfectly good till Sep
TENDER of the year following that in
which they were grown.
PlOw up your potatoes and leave them
punched in the field or thrown together
after the plow until they are dry on the
outside; that is, until they do not ap-
pear damp. a few hours exposure to
the air is sufficient. They are now ready
for t.e bank. Select a spot of we'll
drained ground for your bank, and
scrape off the surf; ce, drawing the
scrapings around in q circle, thus form
ing kind of concave, cay eight feet in
diameter. Into this place dry straw of
some kind so that it will cover the con-
cave to the depth Of three or four inches
when pressed down. Upon this pile your
potatoes by pouring them down into the
middle of the circle or bed thus carrying
the heap up cone shaped as sharply as
possible. Give each ''bank' from tif-
teen to twenty busheis-neyer more than
twenty bushels.
After shaping the pile up neatly, place
some sticks around OIL it reaching from
the ground to the peak of the cone. They
should rest about eighteen inches apart
at the ground and come together at the
top. 1t don't matter what kind of sticks
they are-old boards split up, or bushes
cut and trimmed up like bean poles, or
stout corn stalks, either will answer.
The office of the sticks is TO give the COW
potatoes and prevent settling down more
at some points than at others.
Cover the pile, as now made, with dry
straw to the depth of six inches when
pressed down, and then put on dirt, be-
ginning ut the bottom and spadinS it on
round and round until the pile is covered
beyond the reach Of frost. In taking up
the soil around you will work out u ditch.
which is important. Cut drain off
from this so that water will not stand in
the encircliDg ditch when it rains. Put
upon the bank only as much dirt as will
safely protect the potatoes from freeze.
Pet the dirt down firmly with your spade.
In the pine country people GO to the
woods and peel bark from old fallen
trees to be used in shelteriug this bank.
This is set around on the patted DIRT,
convex out, until the pile is covered with
il aud joints broken. A broad bit OF
bark is then LAID, concaye down, on the
top of the pile and weighted into place
to guard against blowing off by wind,
by placing a chunk of grass sod atop OF
it, or small stone. The work is then
finished, and the potatoes safe for keep
ing in good condition till spring.
The straw most commonly used over
there is ''pine straw (pine needless,
gathered under the pine trees IN the
woods, but any kind of straw will an
swer the purpose equally as we'll. Dry
grass pulled up in the field Is first rate,
as we have demonstrated by often using
it. Here you could not get the pine
bark for shelter, of course, but a board
shelter would do in every way as we'll.
Four forks set into the ground and
sloping shed thus thrown over the bank
would be everything needed. In that
cs.e it might be well enough to put
light covering of grass, weeds or corn
stalks over the dirt covering to prevent
its being blown off by strong winds.
In case where We desired to keep our
potatoes late the next season we added
more dirt to the bank along as the
weather warmed up, to hold the pota-
toes at cool temperature, aud thus pre-
vent sprouting.
Some people set corn stalks or some
thing of the kind in the middle of the
pile to act as ventilator, but expert
ence has convinced US that there exists
no such necessity. The potatoes will
keep Just as well without a ventilator as
with it.
Many sweet potato growers make a
mistake in harvesting their crop too
early. 1t is best to leave them in the
ground just as long as possible. We'd
always prefer having the vines nipped
by light frost, and then to not pillow out
for week later, if we thought there was