Vegetable Growing 97 



in about six weeks. A bed of the size mentioned will receive five to 

 seven bushels of seed roots, which will make slips enough to plant 

 an acre or more of potatoes. 



Growing Sweet Potatoes. 



Please inf 0)1)1 »ie Iiozu to keef> SiCeet (potatoes for seed; also how 

 many poioids it takes for one acre, and zcliat distance apart to plant, and 

 the tinic to plant. 



Sweet potatoes may be kept from sprouting by storage in a cool, 

 dry place. Sweet potatoes are not grown by direct cutting of the 

 tuber as the ordinary potato is, but the tubers are put in January or 

 later in a hot bed and the sprouts are taken off for planting when 

 the ground becomes warm and all danger of frost is over in the lo- 

 cality. The number of sprouts required for an acre is from five to 

 ten thousand, and a bushel of small sweet potatoes will produce 

 about two thousand sprouts if properly handled in the hot bed, which 

 consists in removing the sprouts when they have attained a height 

 of five or six inches, and in this way the potatoes will be yielding 

 sprouts in succession for some time. The sprouts are planted in 

 rows far enough apart for horse cultivation. They are usually hilled 

 up pretty well after starting to grow well. They cannot be planted 

 until the danger of frost is over, for they are much more tender 

 than Irish potatoes. 



Sweet Potato Growing. 



In planting stuect potatoes, do :ce liave to niake hotbeds just like those 

 for to))iatoes, or if just a plai)i seed-bed zvill do? Is it necessary to 

 irrigate them or not? 



You can bed your sweet potatoes in a warm place on the sunny 

 side of a building or board fence, and get sprouts all right. You 

 will, however, get them sooner and in greater numbers by using 

 a slow hotbed in which the manure supply is not too large. The 

 fact that sweet potato growers do use some artificial heat, either 

 from manure or by piping bottom-heat in their propagating houses, 

 is a demonstration that such recourse is desirable to get best results. 

 The necessity of irrigation depends upon the soil and its natural 

 moisture supply. On a fine retentive loam, the crop is chiefly made 

 without irrigation, if the plants arc all ready to put out in the field as 

 soon as it is safe. If you are late in the planting, or if the soil is 

 dry or likely to dry before the tubers are grown to good size, 

 irrigation, some time ahead of the need of the plant, is essential. 



Sweet Potatoes. 



What kind of soil and climate does it take to grotc stvecf potatoes, 

 and can I grow thon in any part of Contra Costa county, and about zchat 

 time is the best to plant them? 



Sweet potatoes do best in a light warm loam which drains well 

 and does not bake or crust by rain or irrigation. Sprout the tubers 



