KOOT CROPS, CLEAN CROPS. 87 



of each out of the ground. If the soil is dry, pour in 

 about a pint of water to each ; then cover with soil, but do 

 not press hard. When the soil is clean and well worked, 

 the plants are not liable to fail. They catch at once, or fail 

 altogether. When right, they commence to throw out side 

 shoots from the trailing vine or hulm. The soil should 

 then be ridged up around them, the ridges being similar to 

 those for common potatoes, but in this case broader and 

 higher. Keep working the soil loose and clean as long as 

 the vines will permit of it, to help the roots travelling in 

 search of food and the tubers to swell. On very light 

 soil there is a danger of the potatoes forming too far 

 down, and being long and thin. To prevent this, pass a 

 scuffle-hoe, or the broad share of a plough under the ridges 

 before finishing the cultivation, the object being to cut 

 the deep roots and force them into forming thick, chunky 

 potatoes. As this crop advances it covers ridge and furrow 

 with a mass of vines from six inches to a foot in thickness. 

 As the crop ripens, the potatoes crack and burst the ridges, 

 and the crowns are often seen in bunches coming up to the 

 surface. At this stage the big ones can be fossicked out 

 with a stick for immediate use, without injuring the growth 

 of their fellows, and the vines can be thinned out or cut 

 off close to the crowns of the potatoes, and used for green 

 feed. 



Harvesting Sweet Potatoes. The crop is dug, forked 

 or ploughed out in the same way as common potatoes. The 

 roots must be handled carefully ; they are easily injured. 

 In dry soil they are often left in the ground during winter, 

 and dug as required. They keep well in barrels packed 

 amongst sand or ashes, but they must be kept dry. With- 

 out exception this is one of the most valuable crops at the 

 disposal of the semi-tropical farmer, and one that offers a 

 good field for enterprise in preserving this very valuable 

 and always acceptable variety of potato. 



YAMS. Various sorts of this tuber are grown ; the 

 best are those obtained from the South Sea Islands and 

 from China. They are rough-coated, potato-like tubers, 

 that in favourable soil reach the weight of five to twelve 

 pounds. They are propagated from the crowns of the 



