Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-16
On Banking swee, Potatoes.

you consider a good and safe method for
banking sweet potatoes. We beat the
| world raising sweet potatoes but somehow or
other not a few of us fail to have them keep well
| through the winter. l saw in the announce
| ment OF your arrival here that you were from
| Mobile, Ala; and while there in April some
years ago, noticed that almost every ftrmer's
| place had sweet potato banks on it standing
! out in the weather and on Investigation found
| them As sound and good when first taken
from the ground. II has occurred to ME that
you might be able to give MS, from your expert
| enCe in Alabama, some new wrinkles on keep
ing sweet potatoes. FARMER.
! Tarrant County, Tex.
We can tell you all about how they
''bank' sweet potatoes over there, hav-
ing ourself been ar extensive and sue
| cessful potato grower throughout our
twenty-one years OF residence in the
gulf coast country of Alabama. A few
| potato raisers of that region construct
tpotato houses for keeping their crop,
| but we always preferred banking, and
since banking is what you ask after,
| banking it 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 the bank. Select spot Of we'll
drained ground for your bank, and
! scrape off the surf ce, drawing the
| scrapinss around in q circle, thus form
| ing kind of conceve, say 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 if
| teen to twenty bushels-never more than
| twenty bushels.
After shaping the pile up neatly, place
| some sticks around on it reaching from
the ground to the peak of the cone. They
should rest about eighteen inches apart
at the ground and come together ut 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 10 give the COW
eriug an even pressure upon the pile of
potatoes and prevent settling down more
at some points than Mt others.
Cover the pile, us now made, with dry
straw to the depth of six inches when
pr ysed down, and then put on dirt, be-
ginning at the bottom and spading 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 ditch.
which is important. Cut drain off
from this so that water will not stand in
the encrcling ditch when it rains. Put
upon the bank only as much dirt as viii
safely protect the potatoes from freeze.
Pat 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 the bank.
This is set around on the paIted DIRT,
convex out, until the pile is covered with
it and joints broken. A broad bit of
bark is then LAID, concavs 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 a small stone. The work is then
finished, and the potatoes safe for keep
ing in good condition till spring.
The straw mos: commonly used over
there is ''pine straw (piue needless |
gathered under the pine trees III the
woods, but any kind of straw will an
swer the purpose equally as well. 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 a
sloping shed thus thrown over the bank
would be everything needed. In that
case it might be well enough to put q
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 pots-
toes at a cool temperature, and thus pre-
vent sprouting.
Some people set corn stalks or some
thing of the kind in the middle of the
pile to act as a ventila tor, but expert
ence has convinced US that there exists
no such necessity. The potatoes will
keep Just as well without ventilator as
with 1t.
Many sweet potato growers make d
mistake in harvesting their crop too
early. 1t is best to leave them in the
ground just as long es possible. We'd
always prefer having the vines nipped
by light frost, and then to not pillow out
for a week later, If we thought there was
no danger OF an approaching injurious