The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1900-01-04
Sweet Potato Culture,

There are great many people,
especially in the South, who think
they know all about the culture OF the
sweet potato who do not realize that
there should be great deal of diff
ference in the mode of growing the
crop for early use in the summer and
fall. and for storing IN winter. Most
people make but one general planting,
and the result is that the potato is SO
hard to keep. 1t does require special
care to keep sweet potatoes success
fully. but the keeping will be much
facilitated if the potatoes are grown
especially for the winter storing. For
the early crop. to be used or sold be-
fore the advent of cold weather, the
plants sprouted in the early spring
are, of course, the ones to plant. But
for winter keeping the land should be
prepared later on, and there is no bet
ter place for the purpose than o
stubble field from which oats or wheat
have been cut.
This crop should be planted early
in July, and the plants are merely
cuttings from the tips of the vines of
the first planted crop then running
freely. Make the cuttings about a
foot long, and as fast as cut put them
into tub Of water. Have the ridges
already prepared and as soon as a
favorable season comes and the
ground is moist from rain, make the
cuttings and dibble them in at the
usual distances on the ridges about
fifteen inches apart.
A piece of land that has produced
good crop of wheat or oats will need
little, if any, nitrogenous fertilizer
for the sweet potato crop, other than
that furnished by the decaying organic
matter in the stubble and roots.
The soils best fitted for the sweet
potato crop mechanically are very apt
to be the ones that are naturally de.
licient in potash. Hence the neces-
sity Of giving them an abundant sup
ply Of this element. But it has been
found that potash needs, for its best
results, the presence Of full supply
of phosphoric acid, and that it will
not give the best results If the phos-
phoric acid is absent. No plant food
is so generally carried away from our
soils in cropping as the phosphoric
acid, and it is generally regarded az
governing factor in all fertilizing mix,
lures. Fortunately, in the South
there is an abundant aud cheap source
of this in the dissolved phosphate
rock sold as acid phosphate. For q
fertilizer for this winter crop of sweet
potatoes, would advise mixture of
1900 pounds of acid phosphate, 100
pounds of nitrate of soda and 400
pounds of high grade sulphate of pot
ash. After the land has been well
plowed the rows should be run out
and 400 pounds per acre Of the above
mixture scattered along the burrows.
Then bed on this by throwing a fur
row from each side, and chop off the
top smooth before setting the cuttings.
As soon as the first frost cuts the
vines, cut them off even with the soil,
for if left on they will impart rot to
the tubers Dig on a sunny dry day,
and do not allow the potatoes to be
bruised by throwing them in heaps,
but let them lie in the sun along the
rows as dug. Handie them at ali
times as carefully as eggs, and throw
out for immediate use all that get cut
Pile the potatoes in heaps until they
have had o sweat. When dry cover
with earth to exclude frost. Where
large quantities are grown, one should
have house made for the purpose
with frost proof walls and furnace and
fue for drying them off wnen frat
stored, and for keeping the tempera-
ture up on very cold nights so that
they will not be exposed to less than
fifty degrees. They should be dried
of at temperature of abont ninety
degrees, and then not allowed to go
below fifty degrees. They should be
stored on Slated shelves TO keep from
piling too deepiy.-W. F. Massey,
North Carolina Agricultural College.