The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-09-14
LIGHTNING BAKES
SWEET POTATOES
800 BUSHELS BELIEVED DE
STROYED PROVED TO HAVE
BEEN ONLY WELL COOKED.


P. Latham. wife Of one of the most
prominent farmers of this section of
the state, will not have to worry
about baking" her sweet potatoes
this fall and winter Nature has re-
lieved Mrs. Latham of that much
cooking, and it usually is good
part of the culinary art in the La
than home. Mrs. Latham estimates
! that she has about three hundred
bushels of yellow yams' already
baked for the coming year. The
baking" of these potatoes was done
by a most unusual freak of nature,
according to Mr. Latham. Lightning
struck the entire potato patch and
the tubers were baked in the ground.
Now all Mrs. Latham has to do to
have baked potatoes for any meal is
walk out into what was originally
the sweet potato patch and scratch
out a few big juicy vans which were
cooked in the unusual manner.
According to Mr. Latham there
was a terrific electrical storm in his
neighborhood short time ago. He
and his wife noticed that the light
ming played over" the potato patch
for some time. Not only once, but
several times during the storm. Mrs.
Latham declares that at times the
entire sweet potato patch was liter
ally a sheet of flames for five min
utes at a time She and her husband
commented on the unusual phenome-
ma then and arrived at the conclusion
that something in the sweet potato
patch must have been charged with
electricity of an opposite nature to
that contained by the atmosphere.
Vines Are Dead and Dry.
A couple of days. later they noticed
that the potato vines were dead and
drying up, according to Mr.. Latham,
They then decided the blight of the
potato vines was due to the effects
of the electrical storm. 1t was about
time for harvesting the potato crop,
anyway. and Latham decided to
dig" them Immediately.
Imagine his surprise when with his
spade he turned up handful of big
tubers. They were all baked to tas-
ty brown! He could not believe his
eyes, so he tested his discovery with
his mouth. His orbs had not decelv-
ed him. The potatoes were baked!
But Latham would not be convinc
ed. He took a couple of the big vel
low vans to the house and his wife
examined them. She found they were
cooked as we'll as she could ever
hope to bake them in the oven of her
S125 range.
Together Mr.. and Mrs. Latham re-
turned to the potato patch. They
dug hill and after of the potatoes
and in every instance found the tu-
bers baked. In many instances the
"honeyed juice was oozing out of
them" and "candied yams" were
plentiful Mrs. Latham found that
the potatoes were baked in such
elaborate manner that all required
to make them ready for serving is
slip the coat off the meat and begin
eating.
Many Visit the Field.
There was about one acre of the
patch which was struck by lightning.
Latham declares that judging by the
few vines he had dug under the
yield of the acre will be about three
hundred bushels. Latham declares
that he usually digs the sweet pota-
toes and stores them away in a dry
place to prevent their rotting dur
ing the winter. He says this will not
be necessary this winter. He will al
low them to remain in the ground
and dig them by the "mess," that is
when he and his folks feel like they
want sweet potatoes he will go out
and dig enough for the meal. If 1t IS
decided they prefer the tubers hot
Mrs. Latham declares she will warm
them up in the stove. =,
Hundreds of people have visited
the patch of "balled potatoes They
have sampled the cooked tubers and
say they are as well favored as any
they ever baked or bought in the
best of cafes.