The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-05-07
No. ID
GREAT VALUE OF THE SWEET
POTATO.
Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer.

presume no labor done on a farm
Will pay better, if 80 well, as that prop
cry bestowed on sweet potato culture.
0oune years ago read an article in a
patent Office report stating that an acre
oL sweet potatoes was selected from a
neIo OF ten acres, dug and measured to
decide bet, and they measured /, 200
bushels.
1t sweet potatoes be boiled, salt
aoded before or while cooking, and
suthclency of corn meal be stirred in
after cooking, while hot, to form a
mash, this mixture will, as l believe
fatten hogs faster than all corn. It is,
especially good for giving hogs a start
early in the season. But it will be best
to feed wholly on corn for short time
before killing.
By reason of the large quantity of
sweet potatoes that can be grown, it is
believed that pork can be produced for
about half the pre- sent cost if people
would grow and feed proper quantity
of sweet potatoes.
have tried boiling turnips pump
kins and Irish potatoes for hogs, but
none of them appear to be equal to-
sweet potatoes.
THE BOILER TO USE.
A cast-iron kettle that will hold 40 to-
80 gallons of water is imperatively
needed. Properly used it will pay for
itself several times over every year. It
should be placed in a furnace and pro-
vided with a wooden lid, having an
augur hole in it through which water
may be poured without removing the
lid.
If preferable a steam chest may be
constructed that will hold five or six
bushels, and the lid of the boiler and
the chest properly connected by means
of wooden tube about one inch square.
The end of said chest opposite from the
one where the steam is admitted should
be provided with sliding gate which
should fit sufficiently we'll to hold the
steam. There must of course be some
small aperture for the steam to escape.
Vegetables of any kind can be cooked
by steam about as fast as if boiled, thus
keeping the boiler clean for other pur-
poses, which will be found very con-
venient on wash days
The boiler will also be very convenient
to scald hogs in at hog killing time.
Take it all in all, good boiler is in
dispensable on the farm, and the farmer
who attempts to do without one will be
subjected to many inconvenience and
great losses.
PROPER MANURE TO USE.
We some times hear it said that land
is too rich for sweet potatoes. If a
proper quantity of hard wood ashes be
added to said land it will not be apt to
be any too rich. There is a super
abundance of vegetable matter, but a
deficiency of potash is what is the mat
ter.
TRANsPLANTING THE SPROUTS.
II the weather be dry, mud from
some adjacent branch can be advan-
tageously employed. Dig small holes
in the ridges or hills, as the case may
be, into which a proper quantity OF
water should be poured. Then place
in the holes pieces of mud about as
large as the palm of the hand. Place
the sprout thereon and spread out the
roots well. Then place another cake.
of mud thereon and draw dry dirt,
around the sprCut. This plan may
seem tedious, but in the end may be
saving of time, as the sprouts will
readily commence growing-but little
or no replanting to do.
DEPTH TO SET THE SPROUTS
Sprouts should never be set deeper
than they grew on the bed, and the
same holds good of any other vegetable
or tree; the same rule should be OBJ
served in after culture. 1t is a great
mistake to hill with view of forcing
roots from parts that nature 71eUer i1os
tended should produce Gny.
POTATOES FROM VINE CUTTINGS:
Some old potato raisers invariably
raise their paintings from vines cut and
set in the ground; and strange as it
may seem, vines thus cut and set will
produce about double the potatoes that
sprouts drawn from bed and set at
the same time will
HOW TO KEEP THEM
Sweet potatoes can easily be kept
perfectly sound until the new crop
comes in, but the plan for doing so
must be reserved for some more con-
venient time IN the future.
BRYAN TYSON.