The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-10-26
EARLY SWEET POTATOES

and will pay the price. Florida is the
winter and spring garden for this ma
TONS cities. 1t is fresh stuff that they
want.
After the stored sweet potatoes
are exhausted, along about the first
OF May, several weeks intervene in
which they are rested up from sweets.
Then about June 10th Florida sends
up few hampers of Jerseys and they
are snapped up. For the past four
years they haven't brought less than
SO barrel-the average price being
about $14 and the top price S18 bar
rel of eleven pecks. (Ask the state
marketing bureau if these figures are
cerrect).
They want sweet potatoes-not
pumpkins or strings And they want
them OF the Jersey type, medium size,
white and mealy. They don't know
any better. We haven't time or pa
thence to teach them SO we are going
to give them what they want when
they want it.
! For two or three years small acre
ages of these potatoes have been
grown near Green Cove Springs and
Hastings. They have been profitable.
Two counties in southeast Alabama
have been shipping early sweets for
several years. Marion county has as
good or better sweet potato land as
either of these sections, and we can
| beat any of them to the market.
| But If we can't, L. M. Rhodes, state
market commissioner, says that the
normal sweet potato consumption of
New York city is one hundred car
loads week. and this looks as if we
could find room to dispose of many
an acres product. Then there are
Washington. Baltimore, Philadelphia,
Boston, Pittsburg, Cleveland, De-
troit, Chicago and how many smaller
large cities?
Raising them early enough will re-
quire special plant beds, special pre-
paration, fertilization and cultivation,
special care in digging, grading and
packing. But if we figure all this up
the crop would not be as expensive
as some of the other truck crops
raised in Marion. One of our most
prominent tomato growers recently
stated that he could make as much on
sweet potatoes as on tomatoes if he
! should give them the same care
| throughout and put the same money
into them. But his speciality is to-
matoes, he knows that whole game
and is right in sticking to them.
Suppose the market price does not
warrant shipping cabbage, lettuce,
beans, cucumbers, tomatoes or can
taloupes, what will we do with them ?
They are quickly perishable and gen.
orally under this condition a total
loss. Not so with sweet potatoes.
They can be utilized They are a
good dairy COW feed, good hog feed.
good mule feed even Some people
too. like them. Not being so perish
able they can be shipped by boat
thus taking cheap rate.
The bureau of markets of the Unit
ed States department of agriculture,
Washington, has promised to send an
expert on sweet potato grading and
packing if we need him during the
shipping season.
The seed potatoes would have to be
bought in Virginia, where this potato
has been raised for market for years,
and where they have developed its
uniform size and prolific yield by seed
selection. Mr.. Jesse M. Jones, S. A.
L. development agent, and his assist
ants have offered to buy what seed
we want for us in Acconaac county,
Virginia, and to see to their being
properly loaded on a mild clay in JAN
uary for shipment to US.
However, they have all ,eady had
frost over most of Virgini a, and are
now placing these seed Otatoes in
storage houses, and it is necessary
for those of US who intend to try
them. next spring to engage. the seed
They win cost So barrel, storage
charges another dollar, an d freight.
A deposit of 81 for this sstorage is
rec uired.
This article is written nc It for the
purpose of trying to induce farmers
to experiment, but to put be fore them
the fact as nearly as seve ral weeks
study and investigation COULD develop,
and to say to all interested that we
must get this order in for the seed
at once. A large number f conser-
vative truckers have express ed an in
tent1on of trying out the ca rly sweet
potatoes. All are asked to taEz the
matter as widely as possibl Ee and to
come in with whatever ord ers there