THE SWEET POTATO. 65 



Attempts have been made to erect, in addition to 

 the three forms of leaf generally accepted, to wit: 

 "Split leaf," "Shouldered" and "Round," a fourth 

 form, "Semi-shouldered"; but the difficulties are 

 too great in the way of its adoption, and hence the 

 regular division into "Split-leafed," "Shouldered" 

 and "Round" must suffice. 



In Louisiana Bulletin 30, p. 1053, Mr. lUiruette 

 says: "^iucli time and expense have been speut in 

 trying to properly classify these so-called varieties 

 and adopt a nomenclature which can be followed 

 throughout the country, but so far, only with partial 

 success." 



These questions give a fair idea of what others 

 think. Another good indication of the desire for 

 a uniform nomenclature are the frequent attempts 

 to reduce a number of varieties to a group, and the 

 abundant descriptions of many varieties, given in 

 various bulletins. 



The writer's own reasons for working on a classi- 

 fication of varieties are as follows : The sweet potato 

 at present forms one of the staple crops in various 

 sections of our Atlantic and Gulf States. Experi- 

 ments liave demonstrated that there is an enormous 

 difference between the yields of different varieties. 

 It is well known that there is a great difference in 

 the quality and market value of different varieties. 

 Some varieties contain a starch content of as much 

 as 29 per cent., and could probably be utilized for 

 starch. But one of the most serious drawbacks to 

 experiments in any of these lines is the confusion 

 in nomenclature, "\\1ien one experimenter has 

 detected a desirable quality, another who tries to 

 verify the result secures another variety under the 

 same name and fails ; others having sweet potatoes 



