TRUCK CROPS 279 



increased. They are always planted on raised beds 

 or ridges. 



Sweet potatoes are rather difficult to keep through 

 the winter. For best results a rather warm uniform 

 temperature and a dry atmosphere are required. In 

 the large trucking districts special storage houses are 

 provided with some means of artificial heating. The 

 ordinary small farmer at the South, however, keeps 

 them with considerable success by " holing them up " 

 in the ground as is done with apples and Irish potatoes 

 at the North. The hole must, however, be thoroughly 

 drained and the potatoes kept from actual contact 

 with the dirt by the free use of dry grass or pine 

 straw. A ventilating pipe must also be left in the 

 top of the pile, and it is best to provide some tempo- 

 rary shelter to keep off the rain. 



In Cuba the number of truck crops is much more 

 limited; only potatoes, onions, tomatoes, egg plant, 

 and peppers are of much importance. These are all 

 strictly winter or dr3^-season crops. They are mostly 

 grown with irrigation, but some of the sandy lands 

 in Penar del Rio province have such good moisture- 

 holding capacity that good crops can be produced 

 without it. Potatoes yield less than at the North, for 

 though usually of good size they are few in the hill. 

 Only the Bermuda onion is grown. Sets imported 

 from the Canary Islands are used, since but poor 

 success has been had in growing them from seed. To- 

 matoes grow well and yield well for a time, but profit- 

 able picking can usually only be secured for from three 

 to four weeks, when the foliage is attacked by leaf 

 mold and the fruit becomes too small for shipment. 



