WAYS TO KEEP SWEET POTATOES 251 



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, but should not be subjected to frost for 

 it is held that even frosting the vines injures the tubers, and it is 

 advised to cut off the vines just above the ground if digging must 

 be delayed. 



The first potatoes to be dug are those which seem most likely 

 to get too large if allowed to mature, according to F. L. Landram, 

 a pioneer sweet potato grower of Merced county. These earliest 

 potatoes are dug in July, though immature, and are generally sold 

 at three or four cents per pound in crates holding a little over 20 

 pounds each. Later potatoes are sold in 12x12 crates, and those 

 dug after August 1 are packed in standard 100-pound crates 12xl6x 

 about 24 inches. They are also marketed in 100-pound sacks. 



There are three classes of potatoes: "hog feed" includes very 

 slender potatoes and roots ; "seed" or "canning stock" includes those 

 under about 1J4 inches in diameter; salable potatoes are those over 

 1*4 inches in diameter, though extra large sizes are sometimes dis- 

 counted. 



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 necessary ; 

 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 blowing; 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 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 perfectly until next spring. Very few, if any, 

 will be found decayed. 



The Season. Heavy shipping continues from August 1 to Jan- 

 uary 1, though sweet potatoes are sometimes kept in cellars until 

 April. If growers can get $1 per crate, however, they do not store 

 many. In 1915 the price went down to 50 cents. In 1916 the low- 

 est was about $1.15, and they were selling at $2.50 in mid-February. 



