78 VEGETABLE GROWING AY XE11' SOUTH WALES. 



Cultivation between the rows should be shallow and frequent, the depth 

 not exceeding 3 inches and the frequency at least once a week for best results. 

 The removal of the suckers during growth is not advised. 



The harvesting stage is usually denoted by the colour of the silks turning 

 from brown to black. At this stage the grains will be in full milk or just 

 turning to soft dough. The cobs soon lose their flavour after harvesting, and 

 should therefore be utilised at once. Roasted and eaten with sauce or butter 

 or boiled, especially with corned meat they are delicious. 



As a rule, the very early varieties of sweet corn are rather poor fielders 

 with small cobs. The best varieties for the home garden are Mammoth 

 White Cory, Crosby's Early, Cosmopolitan, Ruby, White Evergreen. Ooimtiy 

 Gentleman, Stowell's Evergreen and Papago. 



Diseases and Pests. Cutworm (page 114;. 



SWEET POTATO. 



Sweet potatoes are not cultivated in this State to the extent they deserve. 

 They have been successfully grown at Queanbeyan, Howlong, and in a few 

 isolated places in the dry west where water is available, and generally speak- 

 ing inay be expected to do better in the warmer districts on the coast and 

 inland than on the cool tablelands. If a little attention be devoted to keeping 

 down weeds and conserving moisture by hoeing it is surprising how much 

 dry weather the sweet potato will stand. 



The ideal soil for this crop is a sandy one which has been well supplied 

 with organic matter. In a soil of this character, the plants possess almost 

 all' the hardiness of weeds, and the root's develop well, being even in quality 

 and of good shape. As the crop is a deep rooter, a thorough preparation of" 

 the land is necessary. 



It is a good plan to plant sweet potatoes after a crop which has been 

 heavily manured with farmyard manure. If artificial fertilisers are used, a 

 mixture of equal parts , of superphosphate and bonedust, applied at the rate 

 of 3 cwt. per acre, planted in the drill with the plants, is recommended. 

 In cool districts it is likely that the application of 25 Ib. to 50 Ib. nitrate of 

 soda to the acre, in addition to the above mixture, will be found beneficial. 



Propagation. 



The crop is propogated not by planting tubers in the field but by means 

 of shoots or " plants " which grow from the tuber. When bedded or 

 planted, sometimes as many as fifty " plants " will grow from a single small 

 tuber (see illustration), and two or three pullings may be obtained in a- 

 single season. 



