SOIL FOR SWEET POTATOES 



291 



per cent. Texas was the only State growing a large acreage to show 

 a decrease. 



Climate for Sweet Potatoes. The sweet potato requires very 

 warm,, sunshiny weather for good growth. For best results it should 

 have abundant rain during the first half of its growing period, but 

 somewhat dry weather as it matures. If there is too much rain 

 during the latter part of the growing season, it is inclined to develop 

 a large growth of vines, with many small potatoes of poor quality. 

 In general, the climatic conditions found in southeastern United 

 States is quite favorable to the sweet potato crop. 



FIG. 117. Map showing range of production of sweet potatoes. The shaded portion 

 shows the area adapted to commercial growing. The dark line represents the northern 

 limits of sweet potato culture for home use. (From U. S. Farmers' Bulletin 324.) 



Soil for Sweet Potatoes. Sweet potatoes can be grown profit- 

 ably on many soils where the majority of farm crops would fail. This 

 is especially true if the soils are sandy, as they do remarkably well in 

 sandy soil. Sweet potatoes also respond very quickly to commercial 

 fertilizers, and do not require so much organic matter in the soil. 

 This makes it possible with the use of commercial fertilizers to grow 

 sweet potatoes throughout the southern States on much of the light 

 or sandy soil. The largest crops are grown, however, where a rea- 

 sonable amount of organic matter is kept in the soil by means of 

 manure or green crops plowed under in connection with a fair 

 dressing of fertilizer. While sweet potatoes will do fairly well even 



