SOUTHERN HORIZONS 



found a ready market as cattle feed. However, the sup- 

 ply of raw material fell far short of providing a profit- 

 able volume of business. The Laurel location was not 

 the best, for the yield of sweet potatoes in the area 

 ranged all the way from zero to three hundred bushels. 

 Since sweet potatoes keep badly, there was no oppor- 

 tunity to store sufficient stocks to provide for anything 

 like a year-round operation. 



Over at St. Francisville, Louisiana, Douglas War- 

 riner ran into the same stone wall. Here it was certainly 

 not the fault of the location. Warriner, the son of one 

 of the pioneer sweet potato growers, was in the heart 

 of the great sweet potato country centering about 

 Opelousas and Sunset. In Mississippi and Louisiana de- 

 hydrating promises salvation. During the war both the 

 Laurel and St. Francisville plants began dehydrating 

 for Army rations and postwar they have a multiple 

 choice: dehydrated for food, cattle feed, or starch. In 

 these sections the crop will doubtless be picked over, 

 the table grade going to that fancy-priced market and 

 the culls to the dehydrating-processing plants. 



Out in Lubbock County, Texas, thanks to the example 

 of an agricultural trail blazer, C. D. Ellis ton, and his 

 record yield of seven hundred bushels, another sweet 

 potato country is opening up. His secret was good seed. 

 Having observed that cotton and grain sorghum plant- 

 ers paid fancy prices for seed, he paid $66 for three 

 bushels of Red Goldens, and his results have jumped 



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