78 SWEET POTATO CULTURE. 



vegetable. The time will come when they will be pre- 

 pared in this way, and, by being put up in sealed cans 

 and by other modes of conveyance, will become an im- 

 portant article of trade to the North as well as to Eu- 

 rope." They are putting up cans already in some parts 

 of the country. 



CHAPTEE XXV. 

 HOW TO SAVE SWEET POTATOES. 



We gather the following excellent and practical views 

 from the " Southern Cultivator and Dixie Farmer : " 



" The inquiries about saving sweet potatoes, and the 

 many designs for potato-houses, induce me to give you a 

 practical, and, at the same time, a most economical i)lan 

 for this purpose. The old-fashioned, slipshod way of 

 digging and putting up potatoes, so common witli a 

 large class of our planters, is a mockery, and especiiilly 

 do we find it so, for season after season the same hack- 

 neyed phrase greets us: 'My potatoes all rotted this 

 year. How did yours keep?' Yet the majority of 

 them will try the same plan, year after year, without in- 

 quiring the reason. Few men know Avhen to dig pota- 

 toes, and quite a number of failures may be attributed 

 to this cause. No farmer will gather his corn until 

 fully ripe. Just so he should act in saving his pota- 

 toes. Potatoes should be dug when fully ripe, whether 

 the vines have been nipped by a slight frost or not ; but 

 as a general rule, it is best, or as well, for a slight frost 

 to nip the vines before digging should occur. To ascer- 

 tain when to dig and put up potatoes a few should be 

 selected and cut or split open. If the cuts dry white, 

 dig; but should they dry dark, let them stand a few 



