336 GARDENING FOE THE SOUTH. 



with the hoe, m which the sets are planted. This should be 

 done early in the spring, and where the seasons are short 

 the plants should be started in pots to be planted out 

 when danger of frost is over. Keep the young plants free 

 from weeds, and cultivate like sweet potatoes, except that 

 no earthing up is required. The plant likes moisture, and 

 growth is arrested in dry weather. It is found to produce 

 larger roots if not staked, and the plant is allowed to fall 

 upon, and shade, the ground. Watering in dry weather 

 is beneficial. The crop should not be gathered until after 

 the autumn frosts, and roots will be found somewhere 

 between ten and thirty-six inches below the surface. The 

 whole root should be extracted, as the lower part is 

 always the largest and most starchy. This should be 

 reserved for the table, while the upper or slender part 

 should be kept for propagation. It is a difficult matter to 

 take them up without breaking, as they often grow three 

 feet long. If not required for immediate use, the roots 

 may safely remain in the ground until spring, or may be 

 taken up and stored. The deep trenching required in 

 preparing the soil, and the great labor in gathering the 

 crop, will prevent its extensive cultivation. 



Use. — The roots, which are oblong and tapering, are the 

 edible part. The maximum size to which they grow is 

 two inches in diameter, the larger end tapering upward 

 to the size of the finger. They are covered with a brown- 

 ish-fawn-colored skin, pierced by numerous rootlets. Un- 

 der this is a cellular tissue of a white opal color, very 

 crispy, filled with starch and a milky, mucilaginous fluid, 

 with scarcely any woody fiber. When cooked, it boils or 

 bakes quickly, and becomes dry and mealy, and is gene- 

 rally preferred to the Irish potato, which it resembles 

 in taste. Each plant often produces several tubers, but 

 generally only one, ranging in weight from eight ounces 

 to three pounds. It is more nutritive than the Irish 



