STORING SWEET POTATOES 273 



sired. Two boys place the plants, holding them until the machine 

 draws the dirt securely around them. 



Cultivation. Cultivation for the purpose of weed killing and 

 surface stirring is continued until the vines interfere and after that 

 the vines cover the ground with a thick mat and discourage weed 

 growth. 



Harvesting and Storage. Use of the sweet potatoes may be- 

 gin when they attain suitable size, but for keeping they must attain 

 a good degree of maturity. 



Some find the keeping of sweet potatoes somewhat difficult. 

 Many pack the potatoes in dry sand and keep them in the house. 

 This is expensive and is not a sure way. Many will rot and some- 

 times only one-third of them will keep till spring. Storage in the 

 open air with due protection against too great temperature changes 

 and moisture is better. This method has been approved in Fresno 

 county : 



Take stout stakes, say five to six feet long, and drive them into the 

 ground in a row and five feet apart, in some dry place that is not sheltered 

 by trees. Dig the potatoes and throw them up around the stakes to the 

 height of four feet. For a large field a great many such rows may be neces- 

 sary ; for a small patch perhaps one single stake will suffice. When all dug, 

 put four inches of straw as covering. After a week or ten days, according 

 to the weather, the potatoes will have undergone a sweating process. They 

 first cover themselves with moisture, as if they had been dipped in water. 

 This moisture gradually begins to disappear, and as soon as it does so it is 

 time to throw off the straw. This should be done when the wind is blow- 

 ing; the potato hills should be left open for three or four hours, or until 

 the potatoes appear entirely dry. If the straw covering is taken off in the 

 morning, the potatoes will be dry at noon. Then cover them again with 

 three or four inches of fresh, dry straw, and on the top of the straw put 

 three or four inches of soil to keep out the cold. On the top of this must 

 be placed a roof, which is easily made of shakes, nailed to strips of two 

 by three and made in the shape of panels, to allow of easy handling and of 

 repeated use year after year. Potatoes kept in this way will preserve per- 

 fectly until next spring. Very few, if any, will be found decayed. 



Varieties. Probably all the improved varieties have been in- 

 troduced in California. The California demand is for a variety 

 which is rather dry and mealy when cooked, although the softer, 

 sweeter sorts have some advocates. The most common variety is 

 called the Californian but it is a Chinese sort introduced in early 

 days. The Southern Queen and the Nansemonds are also popular, 

 and the Jersey Red is grown to some extent in southern California. 



