238 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



brightly, never leave them long in the sun. I lost one hundred 

 bushels one year by allowing them to lie till the middle of 

 the afternoon, so that when we picked them up they felt hot 

 to the hand. 



It is often a difficult question with the grower of early pota- 

 toes to know when to dig an early crop. Perhaps the first of 

 August finds them ripe and the vines dead, and if left in the 

 ground and heavy rains follow, they are in danger of either rot- 

 ting or taking a second growth. If picked up as soon as dug, 

 and put in bins ventilated like that shown in the cut, I find 

 there is no risk in putting potatoes in the cellar in August, pro- 

 viding they are ripe. 



Perhaps there is no crop which it is so difficult to tell when 

 to sell to the best advantage as potatoes. There is often a rush 

 which gluts the market at digging time and reduces the price 

 very low, and if held till spring there is some risk, labor, and 

 shrinkage, and but a short time to sell in before the new crop 

 from the South conies in competition with them. When a price 

 can be had which will give a fair profit, I would advise that the 

 bulk of the crop be sold in the fall. I think all things consid- 

 ered fifty cents a bushel when dug is nearly or quite as profita- 

 ble as seventy cents in May following. 



One other point deserving of attention in connection with pota- 

 toes is their value for stock. I think that most farmers under- 

 value them for this purpose, and I am aware that the tables show 

 them to have a large per cent of water and a low albuminoid ratio. 

 I find, however, when fed in connection with other food that 

 they make it more palatable, and I think more easily digested, 

 and a peck of potatoes boiled and mashed, mixed with three 

 pecks of bran and meal makes a palatable food for hogs, and one 

 on which they thrive wonderfully, and I am sure that fed in this 

 way they possess great value ; they are also good for milch 

 cows when fed raw. 



Sweet Potatoes. I have found sweet potatoes a profita- 

 ble market crop, and although writers generally recommend 

 sandy land for them, I have been entirely successful with 

 them on clay upland. It will pay every sweet potato grower to 



