VEGETABLES SWEET POTATO. 295 



inches in length by from four to six inches in diameter. 

 The skin is greenish-yellow ; flesh, white, soft and of 

 rich flavor. It is entirely distinct from all of the pre- 

 ceding. Plant eight feet apart. 



SWEET POTATO. (Ipomcea Batatas.) 



The Sweet Potato requires a rich, light, warm soil. It 

 is more generally grown in the Southern States than the 

 common Potato, as there the soil and climate are more 

 congenial to it. We have often difficulty, in this dis- 

 trict, in saving the tubers sound enough until spring, to 

 start for sprouting to produce young plants. The great 

 essentials to their good preservation are a dry and rather 

 warm atmosphere ; the cellar, suitable to preserve the 

 common Potato, being usually much too cold and damp 

 for this. Where there is no place of the necessary high 

 temperature, it is best to get them in spring direct from 

 some Southern market, where they can always be had in 

 good condition ; or they can be kept by packing in barrels 

 in dry sand and keeping them in a warm room. In this 

 district we begin to start the potatoes in hot-beds or 

 forcing-pits about the middle of April, laying them 

 thickly together on a two-inch layer of sand and leaf 

 mold composted together, or sand alone will suit if leaf 

 mold cannot be had. As soon as the buds or eyes show 

 signs of starting, cover the roots completely over to the 

 thickness of an inch with the same material. Treat as 

 for other tender plants in the hot-bed or forcing-pit, and 

 the sprouts or slips will be ready for planting uut by the 

 first of June. 



Market gardeners often make the sale of Sweet Potato 

 plants a very profitable operation, immense quantities of 



