Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-05-29
SWEET POTATOES
ARE NEGLECTED
FOOD SOURCE
Demand Would Be Greatly
Stimulated by Proper
Care
Sweet Potatoes arc

Washington. d. c.. May 29.-
Sweet potatoes can be made an i'm
portant and cheap source of food,
Department of Agriculture. 1t is quite
easy to increase the acreage enor-
mously and the adoption of better
methods of handling and storing
of handling and storing would i'm
prove the product to such an eX-
tent that the demand would be
greatly stimulated.
Storing sweet potatoes has always
been a more difficult problem than
producing them. A large part of the
southern crop is kept in pits and
banks, with the result that probably
thirty per cent. of the potatoes de-
cay and even those which are fit to
put on the market do not keep well.
Moreover. the pits and banks can
not be opened during wet or rainy
weather without risk of injuring all
the stock in them, so that it is not
uncommon for growers to be un-
able. because of weather conditions,
to get out their potatoes at the very
time that the market demand for
them is greatest.
These difficulties can be done
away with to a great extent by the
use of sweet potato storage houses,
the management and construction of
which are discussed in detail in
Farmers Bulletin 54S of the De-
partment of Agriculture. Records
covering the storage in such build
ings of 22S,S1S bushels of potatoes
for an average period of 124 days
show the average decay to be only
2.45 per cent. If they were to be
adopted generally by growers in the
South, it is estimated that at least
ten million dollars would be added
to the value of the crop each year.
Subject to Disease
The sweet potato is, however, like
practically all other crops, subject
to disease in the field as we'll as to
decay in storage. Black rot, scurf
and soft rot are found wherever the
crop is grown. Stem rot, foot rot,
and other diseases of minor import
ance are severe only in isolated CEN
ters and, with the exception of foot
| rot, all the diseases do more damage
in the North, where the crop is
grown intensively, than in the South.
In the North the loss from disease
is estimated at from ten to forty
per cent. of the annual crop; in the
South, including storage diseases, at
from ten to twenty per cent. The
best methods for the control of the
various diseases are discussed in
| Farmers Bulletin ia.
Partly because of the difference
| in their ability to resist disease and
| partly because of market demands,
more attention should be paid to the
varity of sweet potato grown. For eX-
ample, Yellow Jerseys, Big Stem
Jerseys, Nancy Halls and Early Car
olinas are particularly susceptible to
stem rot, whereas most of the other
commercial varieties are more or
less resistent. On the other hand,
the Yellow and the Big Stem Jer-
seys, which are dry and mealy when
cooked, suit the northern consumer
and are the varieties commonly sold
to him. However, the markets of
the Central West and West will take
the semi moist varieties such as
Nancy Hall and Dooley, If they are
properly graded and packed. The
highest price paid for carload lots
of sweet potatoes on the Chicago
market in two successive seasons
was for southern grown Nancy Hall.
In the South, a moist f1eshed potato
is preferred. A knowledge of such
facts is essential to profitable mar
keting of the crop, but at the pres
ent time most producers, especially
in the South, grow a number of diff
ferent varieties in the same field and
store them miscellaneously together.
The result is Improbable confusion.
Second Truck Crop
Even as it is, sweet potatoes are,
in point of value, the second most
important truck crop in the United
States, being exceeded only by Irish
potatoes. The production, however,
can be increased almost indefinitely
for there are millions of acres of
cheap cut-over lands in the South
we'll adapted to the crop. BY adopt
ing the improvements suggested the
demand can be increased proper
tionately, for an attractive product
can then be placed on the market
throughout the year instead of for a
short season only, as is now the case
in many sections.
1t must be remembered. too, that
the value of sweet potatoes as feed
for live stock is not yet generally
understood. Three to four bushels
are the equivalent of a bushel of
corn for hogs and in connection
with rich concentrates the potatoes
are a good feed for cattle. On light
soils that produce from 20 to 20
bushels of corn, the same care and
attention will return 100 to 200
bushels of sweet potatoes. Finally,
it is not unlikely that by artificial
drying a product may be obtained
which will keep as long as is desir-
ed and, because of it's reduced bulk,
may be shipped long distances at a
comparatively low cost. Government
experiments along this line, however
have not been carried far enough as
vet to recommend drying on a COM
mercial scale.