The Colfax chronicle., 1895-11-30
FARMER AND PLANTER.
S NEET POTATOES.


erly Harvested.
= To keep sweet potatoes well they
must first be properly harvested. If
the crop be intended for stock feed 1t
is mach cheaper to let the stock har
vest it. Cattle may be turned on first
TO cat the tops and vines, atterward
hogs may be turned on 20 harvest the
tdsers In this way l-early all the
crop may he saved at minimum cost.
Ii the potatoes are to be dug il Is inn
portant 60 know when to dig them.
The crop should not be dug when the
sap is active in the vines. If, when n
tuber is cut, the cut place partially
heals over and becomes dry the crop
is usually ready to be harvested.
But if the cut place turns greenish
black the crop is not ready to be har-
vested.
Vines are great nuisance in har-
vesting sweet potatoes. There are two
different ways of getting rid of them.
One is to Craze them off. and the other
is to cut them off. We have used q
sharp rolling cutter on the beam of g.
turning plow just in front of the plow
point successfully. This rolling cut
ter cuts the vines off each side of the
row while some dirt was thrown away
from the row ut the same time. The
third time the turning plow was run
in the center of The rows and the po-
tatoes thrown out. The tubers we're
then gathered and sacked. Care must
be taken not to bruise them as the soft
rot is apt to start at all bruised places.
All bruised tubers should be sorted
out and fed at once before storing.
We have tried Fositite, Bordeaux mix.
ture, lime and sand keeping sweet
potatoes, but neither one proved
effectual in preventing the
spread of black rot We have
obtained good results by letting the
tubers remain in the ground wher:
they grew until wanted. BY throwing
dirt over the rows with turning pillow
it will prevent them from freezing ir
this climate. Further work, which il
now in progress, is necessary in thii
line before positive recommendation
can be given as to the best method Il
prevent injury by black rot. If th'
potatoes are to be stored away they
must be dried first, and those whicl
decay from soft rot must be taken on
frequently. In about two weeks afte
digging they will be dry and the sof
rot will stop. The potato house W
have used in keeping potatoes, bot
sweet and Irish, is shown in a bulletin
now in press. 1t consists of two quite
walls with dead-air space between
Also two doors, double floor and
ventilator The ventilator may b
opened and closed at will
During warm days in tn
fall the doors are left ope
for further ventilation. Insid
are upright pieces which project froI
the floor to the ceiling. Strips reac
from these across to the walls; o
these planks are laid lengthwise, whic
are nailed also against the sides of th
posts, thus forming long boxes. I'll
potatoes are stored in these and DIR
road sand mixed with them. Mice ca
not go through dry sand. Potato,
kept well in this house last wint,
when the temperature went down |
low as degrees Fab, and not one p'
cent was injured by freezing.
The sand must be changed every yet
for sweet potatoes, because it is vel
apt to contain spores of diseases whit
will infect the next crop Where v
did not change the sand nearly all Il
crop was lost from black rot. The p
tatoes that have kept best are Braz
ian, Bronze, Canal, Shanghai al
Southern Queen. The purple skin v
rieties have resisted the diseases bes
Texas Experiment Station Bulleti