Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-28
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
BY DR. ANDREW M SOULE

soil should be light to get best re-
suits. The sandy loans underlatd
with clay subsoils are ideal for
sweet potatoes. and there is an album
dance of these types in the state
| In addition to sandy loans, the clay
! loans, fine sandy loans. gravelly
| loans and even the very sandy types
! can be made to produce good yleldS
of sweet potatoes. The selection OF
soils should be made by taking the
sandy loan with a clay subsoil as
! an ideal. The farther away from this
| type, the poorer the soil will be.
I Very heavy soils and deep sands are
| the poorest.
During the past years, the state
has been producing sweet potatoes
at a rapidly increasing rate. In
1909. the crop was estimated at s.
O0O, 1000 bushels; in 1919 it reached
1S,064, 900 bushels. This great in
crease has been due to the stimula-
tion given to the production of food
! crops by the low prices paid for cot
ton in the fall of 1914, by the infes-
tation of many of the counties with
the boil weevils. and by the high
prices paid for all food crops during
the war. The sweet potato being one
of the south's best food crops has
naturally played an important part
in the feedin gof our people during
the war when food became a basic
essential to the bringing of the war
to successful termination. In
looking for a staple food crop, the
farmers of Georgia and other south
ern states always find the sweet po-
tato one of the leading crops.
This increase in sweet potato pro-
duction has not been limited to the
state of Georgia as other southern
states have made remarka BILE in
creases 1t is estimated that the
south's sweet potato crop was worth
S35,000,000 in 1909, S6O,O00,O00 in
1915, and the splendid sum of $780,
dollar for each inhabitant of the
United States.
For a long time the obtaining of
profit from sweet potatoes was
difficult owing to conditions of mar
keting. At market time there were
too many sweet potatoes offered for
sale on the markets of the state to
able price. AS a consequence, in the
fall the farmer necessarily had to
sell his crop for a very low price
often as low as fifty cents a bushel,
or store them in banks in the fields.
The storing of this produce in banks
generally proved to be unsatisfac-
tory as the potatoes did not keep
we'll, were difficult to get during
bad weather, were often discolored,
and those storing them were without
an organization for marketing in
quantity to other markets than those
local.
With the organization of COM
panies for the purpose of storing |
and marketing sweet potatoes, the |
the first time in the history of the |
state, as these companies often paid |
at the storage houses a cash price, |
thereby putting the sweet potato |
on footing with cotton as money |
crop. They were large enough to |
that could investigate the markets |
of the United States much better !
than the individual farmer under the |
old system could investigate the mar
kets of the cities of his state. 1t was |
not an unusual thing, before the |
coming of the large marketing agen
cies, for farmers to be greatly dis
couraged by results of their at
tempts at marketing. This was |
>ometimes due to NOT being in touch |
with the needs of markets. at others |
to poor packages, still more often |
to poor grading and not unusually |
to the consigning of their products |
to commission men when returns |
we're generally unsatisfactory.
A study of the returns per acre |
for the different southern states |
would indicate that the states hav-
ing the lowest returns per acre are |
those with the lowest yields. At the |
same time, the price paid per bushel |
will vary with care in handling, |
grading, storage and marketing IA |
cilities.
The figures given below are meant |
to be a guide for the beginner who |
sells his crop of sweet potatoes at
The storage house in the fall as is
oracticed in many sections of the !
south at the present time. They are
not accurate for any particular
grower but are composite figures |