SWEET POTATOES 257 



it is useless to start the plants too early. There are few localities in the 

 North where it will be available to set the plants before the last of May or the 

 first of June. 



We have adopted a method of sprouting sweet potatoes which we prefer 

 to any other. We use the ordinary cold frame, and place in it a layer of clean 

 sand. On this we place the small potatoes just near enough not to touch. 

 They are then covered with clean sand about two inches above the top of the 

 potatoes. The sand is settled with a sprinkling of warm water, and the 

 sashes are put on and kept close until the potatoes begin to sprout, when they 

 are opened a little every sunny day to keep the temperature from getting 

 too high. This bedding is done the last of March. We prefer the* frame to 

 the manure heated bed, as it is less provocative of fungus growths that dam- 

 age the plants, and though the sprouts are rather slower in appearing they are 

 stout and strong, and in the sand get well rooted, far better than if in a rich 

 soil. If the potatoes are sound and free from disease there will be little dan- 

 ger of "black shanked" plants, and they will be ready as early as it is safe to 

 set them. 



CULTIVATION OF THE SWEET POTATO. 



A few days ago a gentleman from Georgia, seeing the low ridges on 

 which my sweet potatoes were growing, was very much surprised. He said: 

 "We throw up large beds with the plow and then go over them and pull them 

 up higher with the hoe so as to have high beds to set the plants in." It is 

 strange how long this useless practice has held its ground in the South, in- 

 volving an unnecessary amount of labor and making a less valuable crop. 

 The sweet potato is the one crop for which we always plow shallow, as we 

 want a hard bottom right under the ridge in which they grow so that the 

 potatoes will form short and stout rather than long and crooked. The upper 

 four inches of the soil we prepare as thoroughly as possible, and then lay off 

 furrows, three feet apart, in which the fertilizer is scattered. A furrow is 

 thrown from each side with a single plow, so as to form a list over the first 

 furrow. Just before planting the top of this ridge is flattened with a rake, 

 leaving the ridges only about three inches high. Plants are carefully drawn 

 from the bed so as not to disturb the potatoes, and are set at once with their 

 roots in a bucket of water. They are set thus dripping, are placed so that 

 only the tip of the shoot is above the ground, and the earth is pressed firmly 

 to them. If the land is moderately moist this will be successful without 

 any watering. If planted when the soil is very dry, it is better to pour a cup 

 of water in each hole and at once drop the plant in and cover. Cultivation 



