The new South-news., 1909-03-13

Considerable has been said In
these columns during the past year
concerning our sweet potafoe crop
and the effort 10 introduce il In the
Northern and Eastern markets A
trial shipment was made last March
BY J. J. Wilson of Pelahaichle. and
the result was most satisfactory. Mr..
Wilson. was secretary OF large com
mission concern in PittsbC- <. Pa.
for humber of years Failing health
suggested that he come South for a
nshahge He bought a large tract of
timber land In Rankin county and
begaa milling the timber. He then
became interested In developing 1t
agriculturally and was impressed
with our sweet potato as an excel
lent crop.
Mr. Wilson has kindly written plain
and sensible letter which is hereby given.
In an article which appeared In
The Bulletin and Greater Mississip-
pi last June. the writer endeavorei
to set forth the advantages OF sweet
potato culture In a general way
either for the home market or for
shipment North That article. as
well as those written by yourself.
seem to have struck a responsive
chord with both the merchant and
the farmer. and with the assimila-
tion of that general article. comes a
line of more technical inquiry. the
latter class. while knowing how tc
raise sweet potatoes. seem 10 fail
in keeping them over winter In a
marketable condition. The former
class agee thatthey can persuade
their customers TO grow the potatoes
and that they are willing to handle
them. il they only know how to
prepare them and the how. when
and where OF shipping them.
The article referred to has stimu-
lated many persons to address the
writer personally along the lines
abvoe stated, and to reduce my cor
respondence to a minimum. | have
considered II advisable to prepare
tnis article for the March Bulletin.
which is intended in general way
to answer the inquiries that have
reached me on this identical sub
ject..
Let us begin AT the beginning:
II you want to keep sweet potatoes
successfully. select a variety that
will keep as we'll as sell n you
have a variety that will keep and
nd v{
but won't keep, you are in the wrong
either way. Divorce yourself from
your own prejudices and tastes as
to any commodity that you wish to
sell IL you wish to be successful
Any Northern commission man will
tell you that the public will buy the
large, white, fibrous Paschal celery
ahead OF the crisp golden heart; they
will buy long green Ashtabula let
tuce while the delicious Creole var
ieties go begging. The Italian fruit
vendor sells more Ben Davis apples
than he does the staple Baldwin or
King because the former variety
takes a high polish and is attractive
in appearance. notwithstanding the
fact before US. let us give the pub
lie what they want rather than try
TO educate them TO what we think
they ought to have.
''If you are raising sweet potatoes
for the home use. you naturally
know more about the conditions
peculiar to your own markets than
the writer: you know what your
{t tn h i'm,
We have learned from experience
that the best keeper and the best
traveller. as we'll as the best seller
is the vineless or bunch yam. There
may be other varities equally adopt
ed to the requirements of the North
ern market but we are not acquain-
ted with them.
1.-The very best way that we have
found to keep sweets, without the
expense of a house, is to helect a
we'll drained spot and put the dry
hay on the sept selected. so that the
layer OF hay will be several inches
without cutting or brusing. pile
them about five feet wide at the
bas :, and not over four feet high
ben as long as may be necessary
your crop Hay should then
1cked over them same as I'M
e4em and then corn stalks should
< stacked around them so that the
tops would extend a foot or more
above the top of the pile. Allow
these stalks to cross over each other
the idea not being so much for pro-
lection against frost as to aHord a
vent for the escape OF heat that de-
velops rapidly when sweets are con-
fined in a tight space When the
banking has proceeded this far and
We will assume that the period is
October 20th. the dirt should be
banked up little over halfway
and lightly at that. No more dirt
should be put in on the bank after
that until freezing weather arrives
at which time the dirt should BE-
banked about three or four inches
thick all over the bank except al