42 SWEET POTATO CULTURE. 



It is often hard to beat tliis truth into the heads of 

 hiborers. Incipient weeds can be ke])t under with one- 

 fourth the hibor that will be required if allowed to at- 

 tain the bight of a few inches. Large beds can be 

 raked out in a few minutes, Avhich, if neglected, would 

 require hours, to say nothing of the damage and set-back 

 sustained by the cultivated crop. 

 / Sweet Potato crops are especially liable to damage from 

 weeds. When neglected, weeds soon get the advantage, 

 and double the labor is required to suppress the.n. They 

 spring up close around the plant, and hand-weeding is 

 the only remedy. 



CHAPTER XII. 

 HARVESTING THE SWEET POTATO. 



How TO Dig. — With the two-horse plow ; pass be- 

 tween the rows to collect the vines ; with a sharp weed- 

 ing-hoe (ground for this purpose), cut the vines from the 

 ridges or hills, and have them carried out of the way ; 

 then side down and put in the plow deep, and turn them 

 all out. The potatoes will come up in bunches or 

 clusters, and with the bottom ends projecting out of the 

 furrow-slice. They are, with the plow, saved in half the 

 time, and with scarcely any of them cut or broken. 

 With a pronged hoe or potato-hook they are quickly 

 taken out of the loose ground and placed in the heapnig 

 row. Tlie soil is then rubbed or shaken from the ])ota- 

 toes, and they are deposited in white oak-split or willow 

 baskets or hampers, and removed from the field. The 

 sorting is generally done in the field, making three lots 

 — market roots, cut and broken roots, and small roots 

 or slips. 



