Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-10
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
BY DR.. ANDREW NJ SOULE

Iticultural specialists are as follows:
After bedding is finished, water
should be applied abundantly. Fur
Their waterings may be made with
care. for if the bed is kept too wet
the damping off fungi are apt to
start. and cause serious trouble. DO
not let the bed suffer for water, but
do not send it into the night with
the surface of the soil and leaves of
ering should be at hand to protect the
plants on cold nights. In lieu of hot
bed ash, canvass may be made tc
serve the purpose. Do not keep the
bed covered during the day, unless
bit is very cold. Be sure that the
will be hardy when set in the field
If the lips are ready before the
time to set them in the field arrives,
they may be pulled and tied in
punches of a hundred or more and
heeled in. This should be done in a
protected place to await the time oil
setting in the field.
done until after all danger of frost
is past. Early planting is, however
recommended. For late paintings
cuttings may be taken from the early
set vines. These cuttings readily
take root and avoid the necessity of
VI oOOo
Sweet potatoes may be set in some
sections of Georgia as late as the
latter part of June or the first OF
July and make fair yield.
AS a rule. tn rows are four feet
apart. The plants are eighteen inches
in the row. Where the ground is in
good condition the plants may be
forced into it with a forked stick. and
the soil pressed to them with the
fon+ iS drJ ~ hpnOOnnS npopS.
sary to have a hole opened with a
hoe and little water poured into
this before the potato plant is set.
These are both expensive ways Of
setting potatoes, but the average
farmer will find it more practical
to set his small areas by hand. Where
larger areas are to be set, the work
should be done with transplantlng
machine.
The sweet potato needs a long
growing season, and to make large
yields they should be planted early.
However, the growing Of sweet po-
tatoes as a secondary crop to oats,
more profitable, although the yields
are not so good.
No particular or special methods
are required in the cultivation OF the
sweet potato crop. Any of the ordi-
nary tools used to make and main
tam a soil mulch will answer the
purpose. The cultivation should be
shallow and often; once every ten
days or two weeks and after every
rain. When the vines begin to inter
fere with cultivation they should be
thrown back and each alternate mid
die cultivated. The vines can then
be placed back in this middle and
the ground is pretty well covered
with vines, cultivation should cease.
The best time to dig sweet pota-
toes is when the potatoes are ma
ture. certainly before frost. Since
the part of the sweet potato that is
used for food is an enlarged root. it
might be reasoned that it is never
mature in the same sense that an
ear of corn or a boil of cotton is
mature as the latter are parts of the
plants and directly concerned in the
production of the seeds. Since the
sweet potato is an enlarged root
whose purpose is to store up and
carry through the winter food for
use of the plant the following year
sidered, from all practical stand.
points, in the same way as the seed
parts of other plants.
During the summer, the sweet po-
tato roots store up food. This food.
which is mostly water and starch, is,
uuH4is tno SroWlHS SedSoL, III d very
succulent condition. AS fall comes
along, the growth of the plant is ar
rested, gradually or quickly, depend
ing upon the season. It is arrested
gradually if the summer blends into
the fall and the fall into the winter;
quickly if the summer days are fol-
lowed suddenly by a freeze or frost.
The ~arresting of the growth of this
root of the sweet potato is what we
have in mind when we speak of ma
turity in the sweet potato.
In harvesting sweet potatoes a
machine or implement that will not
injure the potatoes should be used.
Dig on a clear day and haul as soon
as possible to the storage house in
wagon which has good springs.
Particular care should be taken not
to bruiSe and cut the potatoes, and
before storing it is desirable to grade
out all diseasedsand injured potatoes.
There are no machines on the mar
ket at the present time that can be
highly recommended for digging
sweet potatoes. The potato diggers
used extensively for the digging of
Irish potatoes have not been entire
ly satisfactory when used in the
sweet potato fields. One serious i'm
pediment to the smooth operation of
these machipes has been that the
long vines of the sweet potato him
Also the pillow part of such a machine
has to be set so deep that it is diff
ficult to draw, but this latter objec-
ton is not serious. A digger that
has been used for many years is a
plow with, rods attached to the mold
boards.
The usual method of digging sweet
potatoes is to bar off the rows with
a bull tongue" or twister pillow, Just
as cotton or corn is cuStomarily
barred off when it has gotten Gin the
grass" In this manner the vines
are wrapped together in the middles.
Then by the use of a middle
buster" the potatoes are brought to
the surface.
At digging time the sweet potato
contains too great an excess of wa
ter for successful storage. Allowed
to remain in a sandy soil this excess
of water will be thrown off during
dry times. Anything that will pre-
vent the easy throwing off of this
excess of water greatly interferes
with the keeping of the potatoes.