Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-26
THE BUNCH SWEET POTATO.

have seen IN the Fort Worth GAZETTE,
of which l am a pleased subscriber. an ar
ticle on sweet potatoes, in response to cor
respondents inquiry after better varieties
than are now commonly cultivated. The
correspondent says the nansemond variety
is a great fayorite at the North. but, at the
same time, is variety that does not sue
coed well in Texas. For my own part, l
know nothing of the nansemond, never
having seen it in my life, that
1 am aware Of though have
raised many varieties of the sweet potato,
such as the old Georgia yam, the Southern
Queen and so on. But in all the sweet po-
tatoes yet raised by me no variety has given
me so much satisfaction Us a variety known
in this state as the ''bunch potato" Its
yield is greater then that of any other vaSE
ETY., and no other potato is so palatableH
The bunch potato is really vineless. 1T is
very prolific-indeed, It will yield twte as
many to the acre as any other varidy OF
sweet potato now grown. Such hasteen
my experience with it. 1t is verVearly,
very sweet, and OF shape that takes well
on the market; in other words. It much re-
sembles the Georgia yam-[ourE East Texas
yam.-Ed. And there is another impo1
tant matter associated with 1.-THE tops IN
be made into fine hay that will be relted
by both horses and cattle more that pea
vine hay.
The tops of this variety are much easier
handled than are the long vines Of the other
common varieties These tops (you might
call them vines,) are stocky, and never
grow above three feet in length, hence
there is no tangling at the handling. You
may handle them with hay fork as readily
as you could handle grass hay or straw.
At potato-harvesting time run over the
patch with hoes and cut off the tops of the
hills, working two rows as you CO. and
drawing the tops to the middle along which
you are passing. This leaves each alternate
middle vacant. Next follow with your fork
and throw the tops into piles along the &C.
cupied middle. They are now ready for
your wagon, which is expected to take them
up at once. while yet green. While yet
green haul them from the patch and
and transfer them from the wagon to rail
pens.
The rail pens may need some description.
Build an ordinary four-square rail pen,
flooring it with rails, a rail or so above the
ground. Lay four or five rails above the
evenly and tread down two two-horse
wagon loads of green potato tops. Floor
over these with rails, build round again, as
before, and put in two more wagon loads of
green tops as directed and so on until you
have your pen as high as convenience would
dictate. Cover with boards in a way to
turn off rain. or with a thick covering of
SIdSS VI StIdN, pun COuc-SudpCu lc
vines will cure nicely in the pen, keep as
long as you wish them to keep, and prove
a most superior stock-feed.
Now for the tubers in the ground: You
have probably housed from three to four
tons of good potato hay from one acre, sup
posing that you have given your crop any
thing like a fair chance, and admitting the
same supposition, you will get from two to
four hundred bushels of potatoes from the
same acre. Plow out and gather in the
usual way, and keep as you would keep
other varieties of the sweet potato.
This bunch potato is new as yet I can
tell you nothing of its origin. Many are
raising it in this region, and all such are
well pleased. On account of scarcity and
demand for seed it sells comparatively
high, the market price for it being at pres
ent 50 bushel cannot help regarding it
as the best of all general purpose sweet po-
tatoes. B. S. LEE.
Mansfield, DeSoto Parish, La.
We have seen the bunch sweet potato on
exhibition at fairs east of the Mississippi
river-twenty or thirty tubers hanging to
single plant-but have never raised it.
From lack of experience with the variety,
we are unable to add anything with refer
ence to it.