POTATOES 



143 



Uses. - - The great use of potatoes is to serve as 

 a food for man. They are also used as a stock 

 food and for the manufacture of starch and alcohol. 

 The vines are of no value except to be plowed into the 

 soil to increase its fertility. 



Sweet potatoes. In the South sweet potatoes are 

 an important crop. In the North they do not thrive 



GATHERING POTATO CRO 



unless given special attention. The parts of the sweet 

 potato plant that are used for food are the fleshy roots 

 which have large amounts of starch and sugar stored 

 in them. Several roots branch from the crown of the 

 plant, and these become thickened and fles'iy for a 

 length of a few inches or a foot or more. They con- 

 tain enough sugar to give them a sweet taste. 



Planting. - - The sweet potato is the one root crop 

 for which shallow plowing is practiced. On deeply 



