SWEET POTATO 



SWEET POTATO 



1755 



Propagation is effected altogether by means of shoots, 

 mostly those from the root. While blooms are often 

 found on the vines — particularly in the extreme South— 

 they are nearly always imperfect and invariably drop 

 from the pedicel. No ovaries ever develop. Therefore 

 the remarkable series of rapid transformations observ- 

 able in the Sweet Potato must be credited entirely to an 

 active and persistent tendency in the plant to bud varia- 

 tion—in effecting which it must be admitted to be a 

 veritable kaleidoscope. 



Propagation. — "Draws," or developed sprouts from 

 root-buds, supply the readiest and. indeed, the only 

 practicable means of propagation. Tubers of the last 

 season's crop are ''bedded " for this purpose; that is, an 

 ■outdoor hotbed is constructed in which the tubers are 

 placed in a single layer, close together, and covered 

 with several inches of soil early in spring. In a few 

 weeks the latent buds of the tubers, under the stimulus 

 of the heat from the fermenting manure, will have 

 sprouted, and by the time all danger from frost has 

 passed a dense growth of "draws," or "slips " will cover 

 the bed. These are removed from the tubers, set by 

 hand in the field in rows four feet apart — the plants 

 eighteen inches, generally, in the row. The size of 

 the bedded tubers does not affect the crop. As good 

 results are obtained from small as from large potatoes. 

 Even the smallest tubers or "strings" consistently 

 planted from year to year, produce as heavily as the 

 ■choicest selections. This is but logical if we remember 

 that the Sweet Potato is merely an enlarged, in axial, 

 fleshy root, and heavy tubers, when sprouted, should 

 have little direct tendency to produce a crop of corre- 

 sponding size, particularly when the subsequent culti- 

 vation is indifferent. 



For later plantings the "bed" may be supplemented 

 by cutting "slips" 12 or 14 inches long from the young 

 vines after growth commences in the row, and using 

 them as "draws." While the "slips" do not live quite 

 so readily as the rooted "draws," they are said to make 

 smoother and more sightly tubers — due, doubtless, to 

 the fact that by this method the mycelium of the black 

 rot is not conveyed from the bed to the field. 



Soil and Fertilization.— Although a gross con- 

 sumer of nitrogen, the Sweet Potato cannot advanta- 

 geously occupy "bottomland," With this reservation it 

 may be said that almost any land will produce potatoes. 

 Yet a light, sandy loam is best. Stiff, red soil is to be 

 avoided, as in it the potato splits, cracks and "rough- 

 ens," by reason of the suspension and sudden resump- 

 tion of growth during variable weather. 



The most approved fertilizer formula has been found 

 to be, per acre, about as follows: 



Lbs. 



Nitrogen (ammonia equiv. 50 lbs.) 40 



Phosphoric acid 90 



Potash 50 



This requirement would be met by a compound of: 



Lbs. 



High-grade ar-id phosphate 640 



Nitrate of soda 260 



Sulfate of potash 100 



Total 1 ,000 



Cottonseed meal has been found in many localities 

 preferable to sodium nitrate, as it is not so readily soluble 

 and therefore more gradual and continuous in action 

 through the season. It may be substituted in the for- 

 mula for sodium nitrate in the ratio of two pounds for 

 one. Potassium muriate produces as heavy a crop as 

 potassium sulfate, but the latter considerably increases 

 the starch content, which in southern -grown potatoes 

 is unusually large. For potash, kainit may be substi- 

 tuted in the proportion of four pounds of kainit to one 

 of either potassium sulfate or muriate. Stable manure 

 of normal composition produces excellent Sweet Pota- 

 toes, but is. of course, too variable in character and 

 too uncertain in quantity to be generally available. 



A complete summary of methods employed in Sweet 

 Potato culture would occupy too much space. They are, 

 moreover, too familiar to reqiiire repetition. Yet it is 

 desirable to call especial attention to certain points 

 which have been insufficiently discussed in previous 

 publications. First among these is the practice of 



premature planting. Against this tendency earnest 

 protest should be entered. It is the cause of much 

 loss. When an early market crop is not the object 

 there is no need for haste in putting out the draws, 

 since the season is abundantly long for leisurely plant- 

 ing, even in June, after oats and wheat are harvested. 

 If planted in May, or earlier, with the long southern 

 season, the crop is likely to mature before the approach 



2445. Sweet Potatoes. 



of cold weather permits the proper housing. The con- 

 sequent and usual result is a "second growth," which 

 predisposes the tubers to the inroads of the "soft rot," 

 which causes great loss. 



A deep, mellow soil-bed, with an extended season, un- 

 questionably will produce more and larger, but later, 

 tubers. Shallow preparation will yield an earlier crop. 

 It follows that the deeper the soil the earlier the plant- 

 ing may be effected. 



Preservation. — Were it possible to successfully and 

 inexpensively preserve through the winter the Sweet 

 Potato crop, southern agriculture would be prac- 

 tically revolutionized. Laud capable of producing a 

 bale of cotton, worth, say $40, will readily yield 300 

 bushels of potatoes, at half the cost for cultivation, 

 worth, at 20 cts. per bus., $00. This the planter would 

 gladly take, at harvest time, but there is then no market 

 at any price. Yet six months later he cannot supply the 

 demand at 00 cts., or $180 per acre. These figures are 

 conservative. Even on poor soil, producing 500 pounds 

 seed cotton (one-third of a bale) per acre, the yield in 

 Sweet Potatoes — 100 bushels, a very small output — could 

 be sold in the spring for $00 were it possible to success- 

 fully keep the tubers through the winter. Many succeed 

 in so doing, and reap the reward, but it is still an un- 

 solved general problem. Methods, too, are variable in 

 the extreme — and this is the one notable exception to 

 the rule of uniformity prevailing in Sweet Potato cul- 

 ture. Climate and local environment seem here to play 

 an important part, and means of preservation found 

 successful in one place prove entirely unserviceable in 

 another— personality, even, entering as a factor in the 

 problem, one man failing where another, by the same 

 methods, succeeds. Many waj*s have been devised and 

 practiced, some simple, some elaborate ; but each 

 said by its enthusiastic originator or advocate to be 

 absolutely infallible. 



Nothing has yet been found that will effectually 

 supersede the well-known popular method of "bank- 

 ing" or "hilling" in quantities of from 30 to 50 bushels, 

 according to the different local customs which prevail 

 in each community. The ordinary practice is to heap 

 the tubers in a conical pile around a perforated wooden 

 flue, covering them with a few inches of dry pine- 

 straw, then a layer of corn stalks, and finishing with 

 three inches of dry sand and afterward two or three 

 inches of clay or other stiff soil. The hill may be con- 

 structed either under shelter or out-of-doors. If the 

 latter it is well to protect with a covering of boards to 

 keep off the rain, though not absolutely necessary. 



Diseases and Maladies. — A few of the most im- 

 portant maladies of the Sweet Potato — the cause, indeed, 

 of nine-tenths of the loss experienced in attempts to 

 winter the crop — will be noted in the probable order of 

 their importance: 



(a) Soft Pot (Rhizopus nigricans) : This is the most 

 common form of rot, and the one that produces the most 

 damage. It is due to a fungus or mold on abraded 

 places, chiefly of the tuber, especially when the potatoes 



