St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1922-08-26
SWEET POTATOES FOR ST. TAM.
MANY PARISH.
(By A. E. Briggs)

conditions it is the one sure bet TO
our farmers. They know NOR.
about sweet potatoes than they d.
about strawberries, and although
good farmers Will not overlook
chances to make money on othel
crops he will stick to the one he /:
sure about.
But not only the farmer shoult
realize the value Of the sweet potato
The banker, the merchant, and tn,
owner of 1Gle lands should get ac
1uainted with the sweet potato prop
osltfon. The housekeeper shoull
know Its superior value for fam1l,
food.
The housekeeper who is gooG
buyer tries to see that she gets he1
moneys worth in the food she pur.
chases. Let her consider the sweet
potato. Two pounds of sweet pota.
toes are equal in food value to three
pounds OF Irish potatoes, and yet the
cost On The market this week Is twice
as much for Irish potatoes as for
sweet potatoes. According to the
food tables Of DR.. w. o. Atwatcr
who is the foremost authority the
world over, pound of sweet pota-
toes contains 440 calorfes as against
295 calories for the Irish potato, and
the yellow YAM is full of vita
mines. 1t is clear that the sweet
potato is superior, but people haven t
yet realized 1t, SO they pay twice a;
much for Irish potatoes.
The farmer should raise crap
which he can use proftably on the
farm If there Is a poor market. He
cannot grow anything which he can
turn to use as well as the sweet po-
tato. For fattening cattle and hogs
three bushels of sweet potatoes are
equal to one bushel Of corn, and the
farmer will usually be able to raise
more than three bushels of sweet
potatoes where he can raise one Of
corn, and the market value of a
bushel of sweet potatoes this week
Is more than that of bushel of corn.
For the farmer, raising sweet pota-
toes will usually be more profitable
than raising corn. However, the
farmer who raises velvet beans in his
corn should rotate this crop with
sweet potatoes, as it Is very bad prac-
WV
cessive years on the same ground.
The Southerners are learning fast
and in time will probably be the
equal Of the traditional Yankee in
business aCumen. II the sweet po-
tato were a Northern crop, we would
not hear much about King Korn and
the sweet potato would not be Sec
ond to the Irish potato. AS it is the
sweet potato Is going up by leaps
and bounde. In 1916 the value of
the crop was 74.6 greater than In
1910, and the crop of 1920 sold for
twice as much as the crop of 1916
Northern people are just beginning
to know how coed to eat is the Lou
isiana sweet. The opportunity to
develop Northern markets for the
sweet potato has not nearly been
touched, and that means 1t Is safe
to keep raising sweet potatoes, for
the demand is growing all the time.
But the demand is for sweet pota
toes which have been stored anu
dried artific1al1y. The grower who
wants to take advantage of the high
er prices available between the mid
die of December and the first Of
March must put his potatoes in a
storage house properly built and To-
about two weeks keep the temperl
ture in the house at from 80 to lot
degrees by means of stoves or other
artificial heat. Many of our farm
ers are wondering what effect the
storage has on decay and shrinkage
of potatoes. Can the farmer sell at
high enough price to more than off
set the losses of decay and shrink
age? He can.
Bulletin No. 1868 Of the U. S. De-
partmens of Agriculture sums UP the
results Of several years of expert
ments with sweet potatoe storage,
from which we quote the following:
with careful handling it Is possi
BILE to store and keep sweet potatoes
four months with losses as low as
1852 per cent from shrinkage and
decay. With ordinary commercial
handling these losses ran as high as
2O.40 per cent and averaged 10 per
cent
The results also showed that 1t is
not prolta Bile to store injured pota-
toes, and that it does not pay to
sort the potatoes over from time to
time during the storage period
The farmer who stores his pota-
toes can safely figure on selling in
the late winter at twic as much as
in the early fall, SO figuring on tenf
to twenty per cent shrinkage and
decay in potatoes In nrstorage (Which
percentage can be reduced to less
than 10 per cent by careful hand
ling) it pays we'll to store potatoes
and dry them in the storage houses
Now is the time for the farmers
to get busy and get up the storage
houses, so that they will be ready
for use when the potatoes are dug
in the fall as the heating should
be begun right away after digging
Our merchants, bankers and land
owners have an interest In helping
out in this. l would suggest that IL
the farmers will get together and
nut in their labor at building the
houses, 1t would be profitable 1oF
the business men to advance the
money as loan to cover the cost OF
the lumber. which can be paid back
out of the first crop when the pota-
toes are marketed. Here Is an OPP
portunity for the Farm Bureau to
take the initiative In getting all In
terests together to help out IN
matter which would be boost to
in the parish. But the
Farm Bureau Is new and unused to
the work, so the Associations OF