SWEET POTATO 



603 



USES. The tubers are prepared in various ways and eaten like 

 those of the ordinary Potato. The flesh is sweet, very tender, 

 and, in most varieties, has a perfume somewhat like the scent of 

 violets. As in the case of the common Potato, there is a vast 

 difference in the flavour of well-grown " mealy " and that of waxy 

 roots. 



Of Sweet Potatoes, an almost infinite number of varieties are 

 cultivated. We shall only mention the earliest kinds, and those 

 which succeed best in France. 



Patate Igname. Tubers very large, oval or oblong, blunt at the 

 ends, and often channelled or furrowed ; skin grayish white ; flesh 

 white, not very fine in texture, rather floury, and moderately sweet. 

 This is one of the most productive kinds, the tubers sometimes 

 weighing nearly nine pounds each. 



Patate Jaune. A somewhat late variety, but of excellent 

 quality. Tubers long, slender, very thin, about 16 in. long and 2 in. 

 in diameter ; skin yellow, smooth ; flesh of a handsome yellow 

 colour, very fine flavoured and sweet. 



Patate Rose de Malaga. Tubers oblong, somewhat variable 

 in shape, often marked with longitudinal furrows, and thicker at 

 one end than at the other ; skin 

 of a somewhat grayish pink colour ; 

 flesh yellow, very fine in texture, 

 and moderately sweet. This is one 

 of the earliest and most productive 

 varieties. 



Rose de Malaga Sweet Potato (^ natural size). Red Sweet Potato ( natural size). 



Red Sweet Potato. This is the sweetest, most highly per- 

 fumed, and least floury of all varieties. Tubers very long and 

 slender, about 20 in. in length, by 2 in. or less in the diameter of the 

 thickest part, but much thinner at both ends. They are almost 



