The Sweet Potato and its Cultivation. 351 



may be unnecessarily bruised, and the piling would prevent tbe cir- 

 culation of air necessary to dry tliem. When they come to storage, 

 then they are supposed to be dry and as free from cuts and bruises as 

 possible." 



If a ripe tuber happens to be cut or broken, the cut dries and a 

 sort of skin or crust forms over the injured part, and prevents access 

 of air and the germs of fermentation and decay ; in the immature 

 tubers, on the contrary, the damaged part remains moist, turns black, 

 and fails to secure immunity from micro-organisms. Damage to 

 stored tubers by mice has been found to be a frequent origin of rapid 

 spread of fermentation. The Florida sweet potato growers con- 

 sequently construct store-houses of poles, notched up closely at the 

 corners, and daub all cracks with clay. Dry sand is collected in 

 summer and stored ready for use amongst the tubers when they are 

 dug up, and the same sand is often used over and over again year 

 after year. By adopting this method of storing, Georgia planters are 

 said to have kept old potatoes until the new crop came in every year 

 for forty years. The advice given in those States was : in order 

 to minimize loss, exercise proper judgment as to the time and manner 

 of digging up the tubers and as to liandling and storing them. 



A common method of storing sweet potato tubers practised in the 

 Southern States consists in making about 20 or 30 bushels of them 

 into a pile, which is then completely covered with straw. As long 

 as the temperature does not fall below 40° F., the pile may be left 

 thus for about a week during which the tubers will undergo a 

 thorough sweating. After the sweating is over, the pile is covered 

 with earth, lightly during the preliminary stages, but more thickly 

 as the cold season advances until a thickness of from 4 to 6 inches 

 has been reached. A shed of scrap timber may now be erected over 

 the pile, or it may be constructed before making the pile, so that 

 the latter is not exposed to rain while sweating.* 



In the northern States, where the ground freezes and low tempe- 

 rature prevails for a lengthened period, the tubers are stored usually 

 either in a warm basement or in a specially constructed house, whose 

 wells are half above ground and half below, with the earth banked up 

 to the eaves on the outside and ventilators on the top. There is room 

 for a stove and fuel-bin in this house, and the tubers are piled in 

 bins, with skeleton floors and hollow partitions for ventilation, up to 

 6 to 8 feet square and 8 to 10 feet deep, care being taken to prevent 

 bruising. Until the sweating period is over, the temperature is kept 

 up to 70° to 80° F., but although the temperature may be sub- 

 sequently lowered, freezing has to be avoided. 



Use of Sliced, Dried, and Powdered Tubers. 



The late Mr. J. B. Hellier, at one time Editor of the Cape 

 Agricultural Journal, used to advise dipping the tubers into boiling 

 water until the skin could be easily slipped off ; they were then to be 

 cut into slices, and dried naturally on shelves. When required for 

 cooking they had to be soaked overnight before boiling for use. 



To overcome the difficulties attendant upon storage of the tubers, 



* This method is also practised in South Africa. Another local method of 

 storage is carried out by digging a trench, filling it with the tubers and 

 piling them up until they form a ridge three feet above ground ; this is then 

 neatly covered with a water-shed roof of sods, leaving an air-hole. 



