The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1917-06-05

provided we fired properly and did
not put IN too many before firing.
l know men who have put in 300
bushels of potatoes and have had as
fine potatoes as ever looked at.
We usually have a hallway come
down the house. If the house is 18
feet wide the hallway will be about
six feet wide, which leaves six feet
on each side for storage space.
las the potatoes come in from
the fields we put them on the
Shelves We do not fill one bin and
then start on another We aim to
keep an equal number of potatoes in
each bin all of the time. This more
nearly equalizes the heat on the po-
tatoes. We lay down few cut po-
tatoes in the house, and when we see
signs of decay in the potatoes on the
ground we start the fires, even if we
have to stop all the digging in the
field to do it.
"We use coal stoves. Some are
using charcoal ovens. The women of
the neighborhood were in the habit
of using charcoal ovens in the house
for ironing, and we thought of then.
for our storage houses. We keep the
temperature from rs to 80 degrees.
Sometimes we fire until bedtime, and
then open up the next morning and
go on with the digging, but usually
we dig four or five days before we
begin the fires. If the weather is
open and dry we can dig five days
before we see any signs of rot, and
of course, if we see no signs of de-
cay we go on digging.
'We fire the potatoes eight to
twelve days, owing to the size of the
potatoes, their condition when taken
from the patch. When the little
sprouts begin to peek around the end
of the potato we throw the door
wide open and cool the house as
quickly as we can. 1t takes eight to
ten days to cool the house"
Market Demands Uniform Product.
ooh, yes; now we grade. At first
we did not pay much attention to
the grading of the potatoes, but the
market deamnds a uniform product
now. Our first year we were able to
sell our potatoes in bulk in cars at
81 bushel. Now we have to have
potatoes in a shipment uniform, and
they must be put up in smaller con-
tanners, such as crates, barrels, or
baskets.
I'm the field we make two market
grades. We class them as we dig
them. The seed is put in one pile
and the eating potatoes in another.
0noly 4k1.1n
grades: the seeds, the jumbos, and
the number ones. We have found
that the seed-potato business is a
thing of the past-there is very little
money in seed potatoes now.
Persons who grow potatoes, all
have their own seed, and, even if
they did not, a few men in COM
munity could supply all the seed that
might be needed for all the others.
We class the potatoes and put the
good ones in the house. The small
seed potatoes we put where we can
feed them to the hogs. With lit
tie corn they make excellent hog
feed"
At this point Mr.. Hawks became
very earnest, as if to convince me,
but | was not doubling him. did
not doubt a man who can manage
shipping association in so success
full way. l knew it had been sue
cessful, but did not know to what
extent. l stepped into the bank, and
the cashier, an officer of the shipping
association, told me that in 1914
from five carloads shipped the re-
turns were $4,000, in 1915 from So
cars handled the receipts were $780,
900, and with the 1916 crop" said
the cashier, "we look for greater
things"