The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-10

OF the two score or more or NeSe-
table plants valued either for their
leaves as cabbage, caulihower lettuce,
spinach, etc. or for their seeds as beans
peas, rice. etc, or for their roots, as
turnipSs satisfy, carrots etc, or for
their Bulbs, of which the onion Is the
chief representative, or for their tu-
bers, of which the Irish and sweet po-
tatoes are by far the most important
as human food, or of that other and
rather mixed class, embracing those
valued for their buds, pericarps. etc,
such as okra, tomatoes, elephants, etc.
of all these various classes none is OF
more value to the South than the tuber
class. Without referring to the arti-
choke, which is also a valuable men,
ber of the class when utilized in its
proper way on the stock and dairy
farm, we can claim for the tuberous
Irish and sweet potatoes greater
value to the Southern grower than any
of the others It is true the pod-bear-
ing plants-beans, peas and the like
have a greater life sustaining power
for man and beast than the succulent
tuber-are more productive of flesh and
muscle are more capable of preserVa-
ton in their natural state. Still con-
sidering the ease with which the pota-
toes can be grown in the South-mak-
ing a crop of each on the same land
n necessary or making two crops Of
one on the same land, as conditions
may warrant.
The sweet" potato is still the potato
of the South, though in the past TWEEN
ty-fiVe years there has been a WondeT
full increase in the area devoted TO the
white or Irish potato. Twenty-Five
years from now, doubtless, there VIII
be ten times the quantity or POTATOES
grown that there is now for II IS
profitable crop to one who knows no"
to grow both the early and the sec
ond crop: the one to ship North ana
the other to supply home use in the
winter. The Southern grower can sell
his early crop to Northern consumers
in May and June generally at prices
that pay a good profit, and the same
may be said of the crop that natures
in October, that he sells w1thin ms
own state. Heretofore the Southern
consumer has relied upon the North
ern grower TO supply him with pota-
toes in the winter but as we come 10
know better how to grow the second
crop. this demand for Northern pota-
toes will steadily grow less, until no
doubt the time will come before very
long when our home consumption VIII
be met fully by home production.
There is fair promise that new Narle-
Ties better adapted to Southern use
will be Observation-Disclosures better even
than the Lookout" or Triumph" that
are now regarded as the best that can
be used for the late crop.
There is plenty of soil in the South
that will grow fine crops of sweet po-
tatoes, that will not produce prottta-
BILE crops of Irish potatoes, even with
a most liberal application of CONNER
cial fertilizer. The latter potato de-
mands a soil rich in humus or Vege-
table matter to make anything ike a
crop of $50 bushels. On the other
hand, the sweet potato VIII make such
a yield on soil that has little Vege-
table matter in it, but is well sup
piled with mineral fertilizer-potash
and phosphoric acid. And, still, soil that
will make good crops of Irish potatoes
will produce fine crops of sweet almost
invariably.
Under high culture good soils should
produce 200 to 800 bushels OF Irish po-
tatoes and like soil should yield al
most twice that quantity in sweet
There is plenty of land in Georgia that
can easily be made to yield 400 bush
els of sweet. that will not yield 100
bushels of marketable Irish
Both are crops that pay for intensive
culture, and there is no profit what
ever in either when grown on the
basis of the average production which
credits us with less than so bushels
of the one and 100 of the other.
Except for having to grow the crop
from plants set out, there is no crop
that can be grown with so little Gull
tivation as the sweet potato. Prepare
and fertilize the land Alright and set
out the plants and the great bulk of
the work is done. With the long vine
sorts one good hoeing and two good
cultivatings is about all the work a
crop will take. The bush sorts allow
of one or two more cultivatings than
the running sorts, but this will only
be an offset for the mulching that
the latter secures from it's vines.
Surely, so long as Southern soil win
yield it's modicum of potatoes and cow
peas there can be no actual famine
within our borders.