SWEET POTATO. 353 



illustrations, see seed catalogues.) Most of the winter 

 varieties, if kept in a dry atmosphere at a temperature 

 from forty to fifty degrees, will keep until May. A garret 



Fig. 135. HUBBARD SQUASH. 



room in a moderately well-heated dwelling house will 

 often be a very suitable place for storing them. 



SWEET POTATO (Iponvw Batatas). 



It is useless to attempt to grow the Sweet Potato on 

 anything but a light and dry soil. On clayey soils the 

 plant not only grows poorly, but the potatoes raised upon 

 such soil are watery and poorly flavored. The plants 

 are raised by laying the roots on their sides on a hot-bed 

 or the bench of a greenhouse, and covering them over with 

 sand, about the first week in May. By keeping up an 

 average temperature of seventy-five or eighty degrees, 

 fine plants will be produced by June 1st, at which time 

 they should be planted in this vicinity. The plants are 

 set in hills three feet apart each way, or on ridges four 

 feet apart, and twelve or fifteen inches between the 

 plants, drawing the earth up to them as they grow, until 



