The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1895-12-19
FARMER AND PLANTER.
SWEET POTATOES.
To Keep Well the Tubers Must be Prop
erly Harvested.

erly Harvested.
To keep sweet potatoes well they |
must first be properly harvested. If
the crop be intended for stock feed 1t
is much cheaper to let the stock har-
vest it. Cattle may be turned on first
to eat the tops and vines, atterward
hogs may be turned on to harvest the
tubers. In this way nearly all the
crop may be saved at a minimum cost.
If the potatoes are to be dug it is i'm
portant to know when to dig them.
The crop should not be dug when the
sap is active in the vines. If, when
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-
| rested.
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
sharp rolling cutter on the beam of
turning plow just in front of the plow
|
ter cuts the vines off each side of the
row while some dirt was thrown away
from the row at 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 were
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
ure, 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 where
they grew until wanted. BY throwing
dirt over the rows with turning plow
it will prevent them from freezing in
this climate. Further work, which is
now in progress, is necessary in this
line before positive recommendations
can be given as to the best method to
prevent injury by black rot. If the
potatoes are to be stored away they
must be dried first, and those which
decay from soft rot must be taken out
frequently. In about two weeks after
digging they will be dry and the soft
rot will stop. The potato house we
have used in keeping potatoes, both
sweet and Irish, is shown in a bulletin
now in press. 1t consists of two outer
walls with dead-air space between.
Also two doors, double floor and a
ventilator. The ventilator may be
opened and closed at will.
During warm days in the
, fall the doors are left open
for further ventilation. Inside
are upright pieces which project from
the floor to the ceiling. Strips reach
. from these across to the walls: or
> these planlzs are laid engthwise, which
D are nailed also against the sides of the
I posts, thus forming long boxes. The
9 potatoes are stored in these and dry
: road sand mixed with them. Mice car
Q not go through dry sand. Potatoes
= kept well in this house last winter
e when the temperature went down as
:, low as degrees Fab, and not one pei
= cent. was injured by freezing.
The sand must be changed every yeal
= for sweet potatoes, because it is very
!. apt to contain spores of diseases which
Q will infect the next crop. Where VIZ
: did not change the sand nearly all tht
8 crop was lost from black rot The po
n tatoes that have kept best are Brazil
= ian, Bronze, Canal, Shanghai anc
I Southern Queen. The purple skin va
= rieties have resisted the diseases best
d Texas Experiment Station Bulletin