Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-11-03
WONDERFUL POSSIBILITIES
IN SWEET GEORGIA VANS
Potatoes Popularity Spread
ing and Canning Industry
Is in Infancy Means Of
Shipping Raw Sought
BY RALPH SMITH

EN- ROOIE, NOV. line pOteb-
TALLY of the sweet potato. as a
money crop for the farmers of Geor-
gia is appreciated in Brooks county.
Although conditions respecting the
present harvest are not wholly salts
factory, there is at Quitman, a sig
nificant confidence in the potato as
a merchantable product, and facil-
tiles are being provided throughout
the country for handling the crop.
The Bank of Quitman is lending
every encouragement to the con-
struction of potato curing houses in
various sections of the county. The
officers of the bank believe in the
sweet potato as a commodity that
can be raised In a commercial guam
titles, and at a profit by the farmers.
In helping to finance potato houses.
the bank is taking an important step
toward making Georgia yams the
basis of commercial credit.
S. S. Rountree and H. W. Stubs.
officers of the Bank Of Quitman, be-
lieve there is a. wonderful future for
the Georgia sweet potato, and it was
from them That first learned of the
ever-spreading demand for vans.
II found them advertising and sell
ing sweet potatoes in Paris for two
francs q pound" said Mr.. Stubbs,
who returned recently from q trip
abroad. 81 was impressed with the
fact that sweet potatoes were listed
On the menus of the liner on which
/ went over and returned, and I
marked, also, that the passengers ac-
cepted them as delicacy."
The potatoes served on shipboard,
Mr.. Stubs remarked, were of a very
ordinary quality, as were also the
yams he observed in Paris.
II was impressed with the posi-
bility for developing the market for
sweet potatoes he continued. "I
know in reason that if the stringy,
ordinary potatoes thai are being Of
fered in Paris and served on the
transatlantic liners are regarded as
table delicacies, there is wonder
full opportunity for worldwide dis
tribution and sale of high-grade
sweet potatoes. Every effort should
be made to encourage the foreign
sale of this Georgia product
Shipping to California
California is buying few Georgia
yams, Mr.. Rountree stated, and
there is a steady demand for the
canned product all over the country,
he added, and observed, further, that
the canning business is in it's very
infancy. The possibility for it's de-
velopment is unlimited, he thinks,
and is awaiting only the perfection
Of means for canning the product
in it's raw state.
"At present. sweet potatoes are
parboiled before they are canned.
he said. "Then the potatoes are
packed in the cans. The treatment
softens the product, and it's shape is
wrecked in the packing. Moreover,
it is not as well suited after this
treatment for cooking as it is in it's
raw state. The parboiling makes it
possible to slip the skin off the po-
tato.
Efforts are now being made to
perfect means for chemically treat
ing the raw potato so that it's skin
may be. slipped without impairing
the flavor. 1t will then be possible
to slice the potato and can the slices
IN their raw state, so that me house
wife or chef can prepare the potato
for the table according to her own
notions.
II have reason to believe that sat
1SIactory means Tor thus canning
potatoes in their raw state will be
perfected, and this will, I believe,
give a wonderful impetus to the
canning industry and result in new
and wider markets for Georgia
yams."
Cotton, Corn, Peanuts
Brooks county has enjoyed a
splendid name as one of the progress
sive and successful agricultural
counties Of the state for many years,
and it is not different today, but
like other counties conditions are
not SO rosy as they have been In
the past. The range of prices for
farm products, including cotton, is
far from satisfactory, and this tol1es
into account, also, hogs and cattle,
Of which Brooks county has in the
past and continues to produce many.
There is large surplus corn crop
in the county. Formerly there. was
an elevator at Quitman for handling
this grain, but it was destroyed by
CONTINUED on Page s, Column 81