72 SWEET POTATO Cl'LTURE. 



must be tiir-dried in the shade previous to storing in Avin- 

 ter quarters. 



*' Hmall quantities in tliis localit}- may be kept for home 

 consumption, up to January 1st, by packing in boxCs or 

 barrels in alternate layers of leaves or kiln-dried sand or 

 any earth. Large growers at the North build regular 

 l)otato or root houses for the preservation of the sweet 

 potato, with suitable arrangements for maintaining the 

 proper degree of heat. In these houses the potatoes are 

 packed in dry sand in bins." 



Sweet Potato Plant-Beds. — Mr. A. B. Cook, of 

 Chesterfield County, Virginia, gives the following as his 

 mode of making sweet potato hot-beds : " Have the pit 

 in a well-drained place. First place green pine boughs 

 or twigs and trample close until about six inches in depth ; 

 then thoroughly wet. On this three or four inches of 

 well-packed stable manure. ' Then place three or four 

 inches of good, rich soil and rake smooth.' Bed the po- 

 totoes, pressing or firming each potato in the soil ; cover 

 with about three inches of woods mold or fine sand. 

 Eepeated experiments on a large scale have convinced me 

 that the soundness and good size of the seed potato is 

 the only necessary test." 



Hot-Beds. — Mr. Luther H. Bailey, Jarratt's Depot, 

 Sussex County, Virginia, gives his mode of constructing 

 hot-beds: ''The modus operandi in this sweet potato 

 country is as follows : I select a good, warm si)ot in my 

 garden, with southern exposure; and dig out a pit twelve 

 inches deep, and in length and width according to the 

 quantity I wish to bed. Then fill the pit nearly to the 

 top with dry stable manure ; then throw on earth to the 

 depth of six inches ; smooth this and place on the pota- 

 toes evenly, but do not let them touch. Then cover 

 with earth about four inches deep. By the first of May 

 the sets will be up, and some large enough to draw. 



