Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1905-10-07
FARMER AND PLANTER.
RAISING SWEET POTATOES.
An Important Industry Owing to
the Largely Increased Demand
FOR Them.


A few years ago sweet potatoes were
rarely seen in the northern parts OF
the United States after November.
Now they are shipped long distances
in winter with safety, and through the
introduction Of canning their use Is
still further extended. Dried sweet
potatoes and sweet potato flour, starch,
glucose and alcohol are not new prod
ucts, but they have never been Of
commercial Importance.
Sweet potatoes are produced very
cheaply on the rich lands Of the Mis-
sissippi valley, but they do not stand
in market with eastern sweet pota-
toes, or with those grown on thin
lands in the middle west. The New
York market is generally supplied
about ten months in the year, from
August TO May, inclusive. The high
est prices are obtained early in the
season, the yield being then compare
lively light, for the tubers have not
then finished their growth. By the
middle of August the supply is liberal,
and prices decline until the lowest
level Is reached in October and No
vember. After that prices are likely
to advance slowly to compensate for
shrinkage, loss in storing and the ex-
ira risk attending winter shipments.
The advance does not always begin
before the first of January, and is
not always maintained through the
winter.
For profitable general field culture
the sweet potato requires at least four
months Of warm weather, free, not
only from frost, but from Good winds
and from the cool nights that prevail
in summer at the north and at high
attitudes everywhere. Sweet potatoes
do not suffer as quickly as Irish po-
tatoes from drought, but are injured
by excessive rainfall and over-irriga-
ton. A temperature below As degrees
Fahrenheit Injuries them, and frost Is
Immediately fatal. The best soil for
sweet potato Is n light, well-drained,
but not Ieachy, sandy loan that will
not adhere to the potatoes.
The English people are not educated
up to the delicacy of the sweet potato
as grown in the southern states of
America, because those known in that
country come mainly from the Canary
Islands, and are a poor, wet and soggy
product. There are about $4,000 per-
manent American residents in Lon
don. and if they could buy a good ar
ticle At a moderate price there is no
doubt they would do so, and from the
Americans the English might learn to
like them. An elaborate attempt was
made IN March, 1900, to introduce the
sweet Potato into England and France,
but owing TO the poorly-preserved
stock the foreigners did not take kind
ly to the tubers. Other trials have
produced similar results.
Sweet potatoes do not bear rough
handling, and for this reason are more
commonly shipped in packages than in
bulk, as are Irish potatoes. Barrels are
preferred, but many are shipped in
half barrel crates, particularly early in
the season. In packing sweet pota-
toes n barrels, the barrels are filled
loosely aud covered with burlap, or
"double-headed," under pressure, as
apples are packed for shipment
Prime" Select" and Fancy" brands
are packed under pressure and double
headed, while the cheaper grades in
the market are found under cloth COW
ers. A barrel packed under pressure
holds a peck more of sweet potatoes
than a barrel of the same size loosely
filed. Adding the value of a peck OF
sweet potatoes to the extra cost of a
better barrel and Misunderstanding, tina
forme" should sell for 25 cents more
than The latter when sweet potatoes
are worth 50 cents a bushel at the
skipping point. This assumes that the
swee, potatoes in the two barrels are
Of tho same grade.
The following are the principal sweet
potato states, with their production in
bushels, as furnished by the last gov
rrDr,eDt rpD0rts