AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 547 



dug for manure from swamps, and the ground then used for cran- 

 berry culture. 



Prof. Mapes stated that he had sold, this morning, a hundred 

 pears grown by him last season upon dwarf trees, for $12. 50, 

 and thought it decidedly more profitable than growing wheat, 

 whether threshed by flail or machine. 



CULTIVATION OF SWEET POTATOES. 



Solon Robinson read the following interesting letter from a 

 practical sweet potato grower, A. W. Hilman, of Sharpstown, 

 Salem county, N. J., for the purpose of enabling the Club not 

 only to obtain the valuable information it contains, but to liave 

 it published in the transactions for future reference. It is 

 addressed to him as agricultural editor of The Tribune, as follows : 



Sweet potatoes are raised very extensively along the eastern 

 shore of the Delaware, on the light sandy soil that extends thirty 

 miles southward from Camden. The principal markets are 

 Philadelphia, New-York, Boston, Wilmington, Delaware, and Balti- 

 more. The varieties cultivated, are Nansemonds, Early Yorks, 

 and Bermudas. The first named grows large, long, and rougher 

 than the second, yields abundantly, but does not suit the Phila- 

 delphia and Wilmington markets as w^ell as the Early Yorks, 

 which are marketable earlier, and grow more smoothly and com- 

 pactly, and are the most generally cultivated. The third, a new 

 variety, received from Bermuda, of a light red color, coarse and 

 rough, is inferior to the first two for the table, but attains a mar- 

 ketable size earlier than they do, and produces a much larger 

 yield. 



Sweet potato seed is all sprouted in hot beds, which is made 

 about the middle of April, nearly as follows: In a sheltered 

 piece' of ground with a south-easterly exposure, dig the ditch 

 for the bed one foot deep by five wide, and about two and a-half 

 feet long for each basket full (five-eighths of a bushel) of seed. 

 Stake boards at the ends and sides to make the whole depth 

 about two feet; put coarse hay in the bottom, so that when well 

 trodden it will be one-third full. If the hay is dry, it must be 

 wet sufficiently to make it heat. Next, put on good horse-stable 

 manure, that has not fermented nor been water-soaked; have the 



