Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1903-10-13
Personal Supervision.
Commissioner of Agriculture.
Sweet Potatoes,

sweet POTATOES.
Sweet potatoes should be gathered
before the cold is severe enough to
injure them. They should always be
dug when the soil is dry and the day
clear. 1t is better to dig them in the
forenoon, so that they may have the
warm sun in which to dray out. The
vines should be cut or dragged off with
pillow and taken out Of the way, SO
as not to interfere with the digging.
A good potato-digger is the best
implement to use, where large quaint.
ties are to be harvested, since by its
use labor Is greatly facilitated, and it
is not SO apt to injure the crop as is
the plow, Where the crop is a small
one, If great care Is employed, six.
lined fork may be used for lifting
them out Of the soil after they have
been barred off with the pillow.
After being removed from the soil
they should be left on the ground fully
exposed to the sun and air to dry for
at least two or three hours. If they
are cut or bruised in handling they
will decay very rapidly.
Do not dig them till they have fully
matured
Professor J. B. Hunnicutt, editor oil
The Southern Cultivator. and author
Of an excellent work entitled "Agri
culture for the Common Schools, y
says:
There is no good In leaving them
in the field after maturity. It is a
common mistake to be governed en-
tirely by the frosts in the matter
BY cutting potato and letting 1t dry
and noting the color of the dried milk
we can know when they are ripe. II
the milk dries white they are ripe,
otherwise they are not. They should
be dug regardless of frost"
Storing Sweet Potatoes.
One thing must be remembered
Sweet potatoes are full of water
They must not be covered closely I'm.
til this has dried out.
When it is desired to store them
away for winter use, they are usually
spread in a warm, dry sheltered place
and kept there for a week or two.
that the moisture from the tubers
may be absorbed.
There are several methods for saw.
ing them. Sometimes they are stored
away in warm, dry cellar. In some
places storehouses are built for them,
the walls being made double and 6llei
with sawdust or earth. In this store
house the potatoes are placed in shallow
bins or boxes. Sometimes a potato
heap is made in the open air in the
following manner: A considerable
space is dug out to the hard clay and
then leveled, and then covered witt
corn stalks or straw. An up.
right pole is placed in The middle and
the potatoes heaped around this in
pyramidal shape. Some take 4 strips OF
plank, and making a long box AKA
inches, put it upright and heap the
potatoes around that. This box should
have holes bored in at convenient dis
tances for ventilation. The object Of
thus placing the pole or box is to give
them ventilation, so as to prevent
sweating. In extreme cold or rainy
spells this opening should be closed,
When the potatoes have been heaped,
they should be covered with stalks
or straw overlaid with with earth fo,
protection against the weather.
They are easily touched by frost and
then become worthless. If they are
too warm, they are liable to be at.
tackled by dry rot So it is necessary
to guard against chilling or excessive
heat. Keep the temperature as near
uniform as possible.
When desired for ready market thew
are sometimes sorted in the field and
put into barrels or boxes, care being
taken net TO inju"o them by bruising
GA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE.