Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1921-04-27
1E GROWING "SUGAASPUDs"
oWS0estlons for Care Of Sweet Potato
6eds and Setting Of Plants
to tho Flold.

oeasOn the sweet potato, slips should
be coming up In the sweet potato bed.
Care should be taken that the bed Is
kept moist at all times In order to en-.
courage growth Of the slips. Usually
four inches Of sand or sandy loan soil
Is placed over the potatoes IN the
bed. This will force the slips to come
up through four inches of soil or sand.
When the slips are three inches
above the surface Of tho grouni they
| will be large enough t. set to the
field. Care should be taken to wet
the sweet potato bed thoroughly two
or three hours before the slips are
drawn; otherwise they may be broken
! In drawing.
1t will require three bushels Of po-
tatoes to furnish sufficient slips to
plant an acre. One acre transplant.
middle of May, will provide enough
vine cuttings to set five acres more.
After the vines have made growth
Of from ten to twelve inches they are
cut and transplanted in the same way
as slips. These cuttings are usually
from eight to ten inches long, and set
| their full length in the soil, leaving
two or three buds only above the sur
| face. In order that large number
Of cuttings may be available early in
the &c lson, 1t is desirable to trans.
plant the first acre Of slips on COM
paratively rich soil, or to fertilize the
land heavily with commercial fer
tilizer In order to stimulate vigorous
growth.
Use Vine Cuttings.
Potatoes grown from cuttings will
be freer from disease than those
grown from slips. Therefore, 1t is de-
sirable to have as large per cent Of
the crop as possible produced from
vine cuttings rather than from slips.
Three or four drawings may be made
from the potato bed, provided the
slips are not allowed to grow too long
before removing them. The slips are
supported by the plant food contained
In the potato itself, and after the third
drawing is removed, will not sprout
freely.
In order that the slips or cuttings
may be transplanted to the field as
soon as they are large enough, the
ground where the potatoes are to be
planted should be prepared in ad-
vance, 30 that advantage may be
taken of a good season; otherwise 1t
| may be necessary to water the plants
as they are transplanted to the field.
This, Of course, is very expensive and
should be avoided wherever possible.
Distance for Setting.
The usual distance for setting the
plants is from fifteen to eighteen
| inches apart in three.foot rows.
When set eighteen inches apart 1t will
require $3.50 plants to set an acre;
| II set twelve inches apart. as Is some
times recommended, 1t will require
| 1880. Potatoes are seldom set as
close as twelve inches in the row,
and this is done only when the tend.
ency is for the potatoes to grow too
large. BY close sotting larger num-
few Of the large or Jumbo type are
found, the idea being to produce as
large a percentage as possible Of the
No. / potato, that Is one that Is not
more than 3h or less than 1N inches
| In diameter.
Preparing and Fertilizina the Land.
After the land for sweets has been
thoroughly plowed, the rows should
be laid off three feet and deep fur
row opened with a shovel plow. The
fertilizer should be applied in this
drill at the rate OF 600 to 800 pounds
per acre, a ridge formed over this fur
row by running two burrows with a
half-shovel turn plow on each side.
The plants should then be set on this
bed. A fertilizer analyzing 8 percent
phosphoric acid, percent nitrogen,
and three percent potash is recon-
mended for the Piedmont region,
whose the soils are clayey. or clayey-
loam In the central and southern
parts of the state, where the soils are
more or less sandy, fertilizer analyz-
ing percent phosphoric acid, 3 per.
cent nitrogen, and percent potash is
recommended. The greatest care
should be taken in the preparation OF
the land and the subsequent cultiva'
ton in order that as high yield as
possible may be obtained. We should
endeavor to produce not less than 15c
bushels per acre. Two hundred to
225 bushels are frequently harvested
where the fields are properly plowed
fertilized, and cultivated.
Varieties Recommended.
The Porto Rico, Nancy Hall, and
Triumph are the three varieties now
being grown most extensively in the
| South. The Porto Rico Is the most
popular variety in this state. The
Triumph is an early variety and Is
planted extensively when the pota
toes are shipped green to the north
ern markets during August and Sep
tember