Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-12-14
Maxine Sweet Potatoes Pay

Tt
the fact that this years sweet potato
crop amounting to upwards of one
hundred and five and d half million bushels
has sold at prices lower than any quoted
since 1914, lower indeed than any but the
most beggarly figures of the past. Does
this mean that Aopes of building up an ex-
tensve and profitable industry in the pro-
duction of the sugary yam must be aban-
doned? By no means, say those who have
studied the situation most discerningly. To
the contrary, they insist, one of the South s
especially valuable opportunities still awaits
development in the efficient raising and eff
cient marketing of sweet potatoes.
Arguing to this effect in the Manufacture
ers' Record, DR.. Il. !. Horton, an agricul-
tural specialist of high attainments who now
resides in Chicago, estimates that out OF a
one hundred million bushels crop of sweet
potatoes, the availa. "prime quality table
stock is only thirty-two million bushels.
Here then, at the outset is huge loss to be
reckoned with. Can it be reduced? His
answer, well buttressed by citations of fact,
is that losses from disease can be made neg
lightly low; that lcsses in storage can be
prevented almost entirely by properly built,
properly operated "curin,' houses; and that
the proportion of prime table" stock can be
doubled
But of what use is all this, i may be ask
ed, if the potatoes cannot be sold at profit?
The reply is that they can be sold, tens and
scores of thousands of bushels of them, at
goodly profits, if the marketing problem is
rightly handled. To show tina he is not
unaware of the formidable difficulties in
volved, Dr. Horton a otes from one OF MS
recent correspondents in the South para
graph which runs in this wise: "One and a
half cents a poun is the best the curing
~ oUinc
a profit to the glo. er. Two carloads from
B. and one from I were consigned to a
commission house in Chicago. Prices quoted
were from 1925 to $50 per crate OF about
60 pounds, AID nette the growers five cents
per crate. One of the cars from R has not
vet been heard ,rom--almost tive weeks ago.
Is 1t not time to organize and co-operate?'
Discouraging indeed! Yet, at the very time
that letter was written "sweet potatoes were
selling in the chain stores in Chicago four
pounds for quarter, and choice stock at ten
to twelve cents a pound" Evidently, the
rag-tag and bobtail prices of which growers
rightly complained wer~ result largely, OF
Inadequate channels between the great body
of producers and the great body of actual or
potential consumers-that is to say, made
quate facilities and inefficient methods OF
marketing.
By way of remedy DR.. Horton suggests
four lines of procedure: First, convince the
Northern buyer that you have something OF
greater merit than what is now on the
market and something that can be sold Tor
the same price or shade less, second care
full curing and grading; third, choice of var1e-
ties; fourth strong marketing association
Due attention to these matters Will convert
a disappointment and loss into one OF the
most far-reaching and most profitable IN
dustries the South has known. The curing
house has made it unnecessary that any con-
siderable portion Of sweet potato crop
should decay or deteriorate. The canning
factory can tur tn culls to excellent &C
count; and if there be residue not suited
for table use, it can be made into delicious
syrup vinegar, -four, cattle feed and othef
valuable products
It only remains, then, to develop the mar
ketiAg side f tue situation; but that must
be developed on an extensive scale and in
all it's important particulars, from grading
and Grating to craftsmanship in the North.
If this seems a vast undertaking, let 1t pc
that vast field of opportunity
is involved; and that what organized effort
has done to lift the Georgia peach industry
from a precarious and losing status to one
of steady and substantial profit, it can 90
also for the Southern sweet potato crop.