The Van Buren press., 1895-12-07
FARMER AND PLANTER.
S MEET POTATOES.
So Keep Wei the Tubers Must be Prop
erly Harvested.

So Keep Wei the Tubers Must be Prop
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 he saved at minimum cost
II the potatoes are to be dug 1t is i'm
portant to know when to dig them.
The crop should not be dug when the
sap Is active in the vines. II, when a
tuher is cut. the cut place partially
heals over and becomes dry the crop
is usually ready to be harvested.
| j i ut II tire cut place turns greenfsh
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 a
sharp rolling cutter on the beam of
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 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 tuhers were
then gathered and sacked. Care must
be taken not TO hruise them as the soft
rot IS apt to start at all bruised places.
All bruised tuhers 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
effeetual 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 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; on
these planks are laid lengthwise, which
are nailed also against the sides of the
posts, thus forming long boxes. The
potatoes are stored in these and dry
road sand mixed with them Mice can
not go through dry sand. Potatoes
kept well in this house last winter
when the temperature went down as
low as degrees Fab, and not one per
cent was injured by freezing.
The sand must be changed every year
for sweet potatoes, because it is very
apt to contain spores of diseases which
will infect the next crop Where we
did not change the sand nearly all the
crop was lost from black rot The po-
tatoes that have kept best are Brazil
ian, Bronze, Canal, Shanghai and
Southern Queen. The purple skin va
rieties have resisted the diseases best.
Texas Experiment Station Bulletin.