Milford chronicle., 1913-09-19
FELTON, TO PROSPER
ON SWEET POTATOES

FELTON,, Delaware, Sept. 3.-Farmers
all through this live section of Delaware
and particularly in Paradise Alley, are
due to have a very successful year with
sweet potatoes. The crop looks finer
than ever and already the early market
tubers are being shipped, though some
growers believe they lose money to ship
now.
The sweet potato crop does not require
the attention of the harvesters until some
fair days in October, after all the farm
work is over. This does not prevent,
however, the more ambitious, from ship
ping some prime potatoes now to catch
the early market demands and already
this season 2,343 barrels of sweets have
been shipped over the Pennsylvania Rail
road. Charles D. Sipple, who has twenty
seven acres in sweet potatoes on his farm
near FELTON,, shipped some potatoes last
week to accommodate the early buyers and
got SIPS per basket for his shipments.
"Where I got SIS in August money, 1
would have gotten $40 in December, ="
said Mr.. Sipple, pointing to the three
rows he had stripped to get his early
shipments, and pile of "culls", which
have matured into large potatoes.
George c. Hering's sweet potato fields
near FELTON, are of such perfect growth
that the foliage covers every inch of the
ground, although the potatoes were
planted in wide rows. George W. Scott,
L. ID.
has seventeen acres almost as fine, on
which he used the popular "8-S-4" mix
ture.
John W. Killen's thirty-ive acre crop
of sweet potatoes is probably the only
big planting on which the 1884" was
not used. Mr.. Killen, who is an ex
perimental as well as practical farmer,
tried "2-8-10" in order, as he said when
visited a few days ago, ito try to get
more potatoes instead of more vines ~
Mr.. Killen's mixture means that he used
two parts of ammonia, eight parts phos-
phoric acid and ten parts potash, 200
pounds to the acre.
1T is true that land is selling this year
in Paradise Alley at 500 an acre with
out any buildings on it?" was asked of
J. w. Knapp, one the successful sweet
potato men of Paradise Alley.
Mr. Knapp, Who was one of the first
to take up with sweet potato growing
when the secret was revealed to him, is
a Pennington Seminary man, and also
studied at Wesleyan College and at
Dickinson. He replied:
"You see that strip of land over there
some distance from this road? Well, |
Mr.. Herbert A. Kent has just bought |
twenty seven and a quarter acres there |
for 81, ,275. 1t has no buildings. Twenty |
years ago, instead of having to pay 500 |
an acre for that bare land, Mr. Kent
could have bought it for five dollars the
acre.
Mr.. Kent by the way, is another of
he sweet potato growers and he already
1as thirty-fve acres in the tubers,
Other Paradise Alley growers and
heir acreage follow:
George Hill, 40 acres of sweet potatoes;
William Lane, 40 acres; Harry Emmitt
2aughley, 80 acres; Levin Wright, IS
icres; Robert Porter, IS acres, Woodruff
Ease and Walter Case, 38 acres; Lewis
Is acres; Arthur Emory, 20
cres; Ashton Lane, II acres; Herman
'eck, II acres; William Barcus, is acres;
wilson Holden, 8 acres; Samuel Bradley,
: acres: Bradford Harris, the only col
red man who has kept pace with the
asst game of growing sweet potatoes into
Ortunes, has ten acres.
Samuel Creadick, whose new sweet
otato house is full of sanitary bins and
ermin-proof, has over ten acres in sweets.