352 JOURJSAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the North Carolina Experiment Station years ago suggested sun- 

 drying, and it was said that few people realize how handy the dried 

 sweet potato is aboui tlie house, being always on hand for use oi] the 

 table at short notice. It was advised that the tubers should be sliced 

 and dried, iuid. when required for use, be soaked to restore the 

 evaporated moisture and baked in pans as the fresh ones are; or they 

 could be ground into powder and put up in packets with directions 

 for making puddings. The creation of a market for dried sweet 

 potatoes, it was thought, would not be a difficulty, if an evaporating 

 plant would undertake the putting up of sweet potato meal. In neat 

 packages with attractive handbills and numerous recipes for the many 

 delicious preparations that can be made from sweet potatoes, " a 

 market could soon be made for a product that eastern North Carolina 

 can supi)ly in limitless quantities." 



Cost of Production. 



The cost of production is naturally a very important item in 

 sweet potato culture, especially if the ultimate aim is the manu- 

 facture of a cheap industrial alcohol. In order that those interested 

 in sweet potato growing in South Africa may form some estimate of 

 what is implied in this phase of our subject, a few figures may here 

 be culled from agricultural practice in the United States, and the 

 following cost of growing an acre of sweet potatoes has accordingly 

 been compiled from published statistics for the eastern sweet potato 

 section of that countrv, one dollar being taken as the equivalent of 

 4s. 2d.: — 



Rent of land £1 13 4 



Ploughing and fitting the land j fl 10 



10,000 plants, at 4s. 2d. per 100 2 1 S 



Fertilizers ^5 2 (i 



Setting plants with tongs 5 2 



Picking up tubers at 7hd. per band 3 2 6 



100 barrels at 12Ad. each 5 4 2 



£16 10 2 



This, it will be seen, does not include the cost of hauling to 

 market. In many sections of the southern States the coirespondiug 

 cost would not exceed £8 per acre. 



On the other hand, the produce of an aero has often realized as 

 much as £20 to £30. 



In connection wath the cost of production in the Cape Province, 

 Mr. Robertson has supplied the following information. Excluding 

 ploughing and harrowing, the cost of cutting shoots on the land, 

 dividing them 'into the required lengths, making water furrows, holes 

 for plants, actual planting, closing up, and irrigating after plough- 

 ing, ]s approximately 18s. i)er acre, provided that the planting is done 

 by boys, and other cheap labour is employed, such as old native 

 women to do the cutting of the shoots. The crop on an average 

 requires for adequate cultivation to be horse-hoed three times, hand- 

 scuffled twice, and irrigated once, these operations involving a cost 

 of about 24s. per acre. Digging up and bagging need an expenditure 

 of about £4 per acre, so that the total cost approximates to £6. 12s., 

 excluding costs of bags and cartage, cuttings, and manure. 



