CORN. BEANS. SWEET POTATOES 125 



South. They are very sensitive to cold. Cultivation 

 should be thorough. The vines need disturbing to 

 keep them from .rooting at the joints. 



Varieties : Yellow Nansemond and Jersey are 

 much planted in the North. Vineless (it has shorter 

 vines) is popular, too. These are dry and mealy- 

 fleshed qualities which seem to be preferred in 

 northern kitchens. In the South the moist-fleshed, 

 sugary tubers (often called "y ams ") are preferred. 

 Southern Queen is a good one of this type. 



Insects and diseases : Cutworms and flea-beetles 

 (see Chapter XI) sometimes bother. There is also 

 a white grub or borer which burrows in the vines 

 or roots ; infested vines should be pulled up and 

 burned. Sweet potatoes are also subject to fungous 

 rot, leaf-spot, scab, white rust, etc. Early sprayings 

 with half-strength Bordeaux and rotation of crops 

 are helps. Also the storage house, before storing 

 tubers therein, should be fumigated with sulphur 

 fumes. 



Digging, storing and marketing: Some growers 

 contend that sweet potatoes should be dug just be- 

 fore the vines are frosted. Experience proves, how- 

 ever, that they will keep all right if dug soon after 

 a light frost. In the absence of a machine digger, 

 the potatoes can be plowed out with a two-horse 

 turning plow with a sharp rolling cutter attached to 

 cue the vines. Or they may be dug out by hand 

 with an ordinary potato hook. Handle as little as 

 possible. Be careful not to bruise. Slatted bushel 

 crates are best for handling potatoes, either sweet or 

 Irish. If not filled level full, they can be stacked 

 on top of each other in the wagon or elsewhere 

 without injury to the potatoes. Only straight, 

 smooth potatoes and none smaller than one and one- 



