SWEET-POTATO. 217 



DIGGING THE CROP. 



When the crop is to be dug, if the vines are not yery 

 abundant (a luxuriant growth above ground is by no 

 means a sure indication of a good crop below it), they 

 may be torn away by the plow, the point not being 

 permitted to enter the ground. This is only practi- 

 cable with the Nansemond and other small- vined varie- 

 ties. The " Peabody," " White Yam," and some others, 

 have vines that are too thick and strong. If the growth 

 is too heavy, they must be stripped with sharp hoes; 

 when the rows may be sided by the plow and the crop 

 dug with steel prong-hoes. The gathering, assorting, 

 and packing are the same as in the case of the Irish 

 potato, with the exception that sweet potatoes are less 

 susceptible of injury by sunshine, and they may be ex- 

 posed long enough for the soil to become dry and rub off 



in the handling. 



POTATOES FOR SEED. 



The proper time to put up seed potatoes for the next 

 crop is as late as possible in the fall, or after the first 

 white frost has touched the leaves. The opinion gen- 

 erally prevails that potatoes grown from draws will not 

 keep well. Probably it is so, only because such are 

 over-ripe. Seed potatoes are saved from plantings of 

 slips or cuttings. The earlier they can be made, as soon 

 as the vines have grown long enough and the weather 

 is sufficiently wet, generally in this latitude about June 

 1st, the better. The longest, and, therefore, hardiest 

 vines being selected, an evenly laid bundle as large as 

 the hand can grasp is placed on a board, and cut with 

 a sharp hatchet in lengths of about fifteen or eighteen 

 inches, rejecting the delicate end pieces. These cuttings 

 are laid across the ridges at twelve or fifteen inches 

 apart, and pressed down into the soil by means of a 

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