The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1920-01-01
THE SUCCESSFUL MARKET:
ING OF SWEET POTATOES
Careful Handling, Curing, Grading ana
Study Of Market Conditions
Necessary.

| IlemSOu.S oSS' Ao'
cessful marketing of sweet potatoes
denends on several factors, one OF
the more important of which is the
growing in marketable quantities. BY
; this We mean that we should not grow
small lots, depending too much on
! our home markets, all Of which are To-
Gated in a sweet potato section and
are being supplied at digging time
from the curb. If We have less than
a carload of sweet potatoes and are
able to get good price for these on
our local market, we should consider
ourselves very fortunate and at the
same time think Of .his as an accident.
The above applies to the markets
at harvesting time rather than during
the winter months, when one third
| Of the sweet potatoes grown have de-
| cayed from lack Of suitable storage
facilities. Oftentimes the Division OF
Markets of the Clemson College Ex-
tension Service is asked to find mar
ket for Is or 100 bushels of sweet po-
tatoes near some glutted market but
some distance from an open market.
It becomes an expensive proposition
to ship these potatoes, and handling
and exposure given them when sent
in local lots by freight make their
movement by freig 1T impossible. But
from the same point it may be very
easy task to move two or more car
loads of sweet potatoes to some large
market center or coal mining or mill
ing center.
When all said, it is not the quantity
to be marketed that should receive
the gr ater part Of our attention
Though we should focus our eyes
on quantity for time), because when
we begin growing for markets other
than our curb markets we must nec-
essarily give more attention to the
handling and grading of our sweet
potatoes. A consignment Of sweet
potatoes that reaches it's market des.
tination showing signs Of bad handling
never commands the top market price.
On the other hand, potatoes careful
ly handled will always receive a
ready sale at prices that will more
than pay for the extra time and labor
expended in careful handling. This
handling process begins at harvesting
time and ends when the potatoes
reach the consumer.
Through careless handling and stor.
ing of sweet potatoes we have been
losing from so to 70 per cent OF the
crop grown each year. The crop is
now becoming Of commercial impor-
tance and will be extensively cult
vated in the sections Of the state
invaded by the Mexican boil weevil;
and all who intend to grow sweet
potatoes for the market should build
sufficient storage houses and provide
the best means OF handling this now
important crop for market.
While the production Of the sweet
potato has increased during the past
few years, many new markets have
opened up and thousands Of people
are becoming better acquainted with
the southern grown sweet potato. No
limit as to market has been reached
yet and at this time number Of
sweet potato dealers and fruit and
vegetable marketing associations are
doing much to advertise the south
ern sweet potato and increase the
consumption Of this product. The
crop is of a perishable nature, as
stated above, IL not handled properly,
and only recently has it been given
the proper handling which enables it
to be thrown on distant markets.
This story is told OF the first car.
load OF Nancy Hall sweet potatoes
that reached Columbus, Ohio, about
four years ago through mistake: A
certain dealer in that city had been
handling a dry, mealy sweet potato
grown in q colder section Of tho
country, not as we'll adapted as this
section to the growing Of the sweet
potato, and through a commission
firm in the East they had asked for
a CdI VI luSS0 uly SNSSI pOIaIoCS. L NO
commission house instead, by mistake,
sent a carload of the rich Favored,
juicy Nancy Hall variety from Geor.
gia. When the dealer discovered that
he had the wrong variety of potatoes
he Immediately said, well, we will
have to sell these at Is cents less
on the bushel and take a loss" "No,'
said q southern friend, ''sell them
at Is cents more per bushel, for they
are worth more, and don't fail to ad'
vertise them"
Needless to say this carload went
at that price and, in the words OF
the dealers there, 'sThey are still 60
ing"
This crop in the past has been an
easy one to produce, and naturally
we have become negligent and have
said to those in chargeI "Sell the
surplus if you can, If you can't, feed
them to the hogs"
We now know. however, there are