36 THE bWEET POTATO. 



list when it comes to the actual average crops raised 

 there. Now, while it is conceivable that the experi- 

 ment station at Baton Rouge may contain the very 

 best potato soil in the state, still the difference 

 between what can be done and what is done is so 

 enormous that one cannot but think that the average 

 could be made very much higher if all the potato 

 fields were given the necessary care. But even at 

 present the average sweet potato farming is, on the 

 whole, profitable in Louisiana, or it would soon stop. 



B. The Sweet Potato as a Starch Peoducer. 



Now, it is true that those varieties which have 

 given the largest yields are not usually the best 

 table varieties, although even on that opinions differ. 



On the other hand, it is commonly stated that 

 those coarse varieties which do give enormous yields 

 are the ones richest in starch. Now the question 

 of the proportion of starch contained in the tubers 

 of different varieties grown under the same con- 

 ditions, and of the same variety under different con- 

 ditions, has not been investigated thoroughly, and 

 when we hear from one experimenter that a certain 

 variety contains 20 per cent, of starch, and from 

 another that it contains 15 per cent., and from still 

 another that it contains 30 per cent., that is only 

 what we should expect as long as our varieties are 

 not well defined and as long as very little is known 

 concerning the influence of variety, climate, fertil- 

 izer, cultivation, and storage upon the starch con- 

 tents in the sweet potatoes. 



As to the percentage of starch in different varie- 

 ties grown under the same conditions, we find the 

 following data: 



