Evening journal., 1922-06-21
Lead union IN
SWEETP0TAT0ES
Delaware Had Highest
Average Yield for This
Crop in 1919
GIVE FIGURES ON
VEGETABLE CROPS

Special TO The Evening Journal.
NEWARK. June 21.-The Exten-
sion Department OF the University
OF Delaware has given out some in
teresting figures relative 10 the vege-
table crop OF Delaware. These
figures were secured from the Fed
eral Census Bureau and from inves-
legations by the entenslon workers
and show for one thing that Della
ware leads the Union IN the growing
OF sweet potatoes. This crop has
Increased 400 per cent in acreage in
the state in the last 20 years. The
extension department statement fol-
lows:
That vegetable crops 1fsy an i'm
portant part in the income OF farms
in Delaware is shown by the. vaue OF
not including potatoes valued at
S2.634.237. The value OF all truck
and vegetable crops aggregates about
FIVE and one half billion dollars. Of
the ten thousand farms in the State
SIS per cent are growing some
truck or vegetable crop for market.
The crops most extensively grown
are tomatoes and potatoes. Sis per
cent OF the farms growing the former
and 500 per cent Of them growing
the latter. While sweet potatoes
are grown by 44.s per cent OF the
farmers IN Delaware the acreage is
restricted TO a few communities in
Sussex and Kent Counties where II
becomes a very intensive crop. The
per cent OF farms reporting the 9TH
er crops follows: cantaloupes 12.7
per cent. peas Z per cent, cucumbers
Ga per cent. sweet corn Sc per cent
and watermelons SO per cent. All
other vegetables crops are grown on
fewer than fve per cent OF the
farms. such as asparagus. beans.
cabbage. etc.
THE acreages Of vegetable crop
range as follows: tomatoes. 22.797
acres; sweet potatoes, asia acres;
white potatoes. s,255 acres; csnta-
loupes. $500; sweet corn. 2.s76:
peas. 2.145: and the remaining
crops are each under 1000 acres.
Peas. corn and tomatoes are all
grown mainly for canning purposes
and the other crops are sold on the
market.
Delaware leads the Union In
growing sweet potatoes as shown by
the recent census report on vege-
..Lr. c-.. V7,tfo .bara arn v,arr-
larger states growing more acres OF.
sweets. Delaware leads IN quality OF
produ ction with an average yield of
1884 bushels per acre, followed by
Maryland and the Eastern Shore of
Virginia. Sussex county. Delaware.
leads all the counties OF the country
IN the average acre return from
sweet potatoes of s295. Seventy
per cent Of all the farms IN Sussex
county. or a total OF S770. are pro-
duclng sweet potatoes, with total
acreage Of sO62. Sussex and Ac
comac counties lead the world in the
acre yields Of sweet potatoes with
1858 and 1859 respectively. The
total value OF this crop In Sussex
county in 1919 was reported as So
377.440 on total production or l.
s5s 537 bushels.
1.-THE state OF Delaware grows an
averags OF s.s13 acres OF sweet po-
tatoes with a total production Of l.
5O5.27s bushels valued In 1919 at 81
634.237. It is worth observing that
IN 1900 Delaware grew but 2.265 |
acres of sweets and in 1910, 522s !
acres. which is a 100 per cent in
crease in the production Of the crop /
the past two decades. Realizing /
the strides that have been made in J
recent years in commercislizing this
crop in Delaware, who can predict |
the future possibilities OF lower Del
aware as trucking center"