Sweet Potatoes, the Largest Cash Crop of South Mississippi 



Sweet Potatoes 



Mississippi is the home of the sweet potato, as there is not a soil within its 

 borders where it will not grow. Of course some types of soil produce a better 

 quality and flavor than others, just as some soils in the North produce a better 

 quality of Irish potato than others do. The acreage planted to sweet potatoes in 

 1918 was 89,000, with an average yield of 95 bushels per acre. The total yield was 

 8,455,000 bushels, with a total value of $8,793,000, which brings the sweet potato 

 into third place in value among the State's crops. Increased production is bound 

 to follow, as the Mississippi-grown sweet potato, especially the Nancy Hall 

 variety, is coming more and more in favor on the Northern markets, and it is only 

 a question of time when it will supersede the Jersey sweet. There are already 150 

 dry kilns, or curing-houses in the State, built by Government plans, and 500 more 

 will be built during the current year. More than 20 factories are in successful 

 operation, and where local factories cannot use local supplies, they are marketed 

 according to the co-operative system, which has proved immensely valuable in 

 the sale of all farm products in the State. The sweet potato is already the largest 

 cash crop in South Mississippi and the piney woods sections are finding it a very 

 valuable agricultural product. 



For a comprehensive treatise on Mississippi soils, 

 write to the Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion, Agricultural College, Mississippi, for Technical 

 Bulletin No. 7. 



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