Potatoes 



211 



When grown in ridges the plants are usually set in rows three 

 to four feet apart and eighteen inches apart in the row. When 

 level culture is practiced, the rows are usually thirty inches 

 apart and the plants twenty-four inches apart in the rows. 

 In some truck-gardening regions, they are often set two feet 

 by two feet each way. 



When not enough plants are furnished by slips, vine cuttings 

 are often made to supply the deficiency. The vines send out 



FIG. 93. Setting sweet potato slips with a transplanter. 



roots from the nodes when they touch the ground. A cut- 

 ting is made from the tip end of the vine, about eight or ten 

 inches is cut off and carried to the place where it is to be set, 

 and is planted immediately. Roots from vine cuttings are seldom 

 troubled with black-rot and for this reason the potatoes from 

 plants set in this way are often used for bedding the next season. 



Cultivation of the sweet potato field during the growing sea- 

 son should be done whenever weeds appear or a crust forms 

 on the soil. Shallow cultivation is best. 



121. Harvesting and storing. The time of harvesting 

 depends on the demands of the market. In trucking regions, 



