VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 401 



before going to the table. Starch can be manufactured 

 from potatoes, as may ardent spirits. 



Marketing. — The potato with an easily bruised skin is 

 immature and unfit for shipping. Handle the crop care- 

 fully, so that no injury will occur to the surface, and 

 harvest only in cloudy weather, or protect the potatoes as 

 much as possible from the sun after digging. Pack in 

 barrels, and only while the potato is in a cool condition. 



POTATO (SWEET).— (Ipomcea Batatas.) 



This valuable plant, first cultivated in England in 1597 

 by Gerard, is the potato mentioned by Shakespeare and 

 his cotemporaries, the Irish potato being then scarcely 

 known. " Let the sky rain potatoes," says Falstaff, 

 alluding to this vegetable, which was at that time im- 

 ported into England from Spain and the Canary Islands, 

 and considered a great delicacy. The sweet potato is a 

 tender perennial plant, of the convolvulaceous family, a 

 native of China and both Indies. It has small leaves, with 

 three to five lobes, according to the variety, with herba- 

 ceous vines which run along the ground, taking root at 

 intervals. Its roots are long, spindle-shaped or oval, often 

 very large, and abounding in starch and sugar. Its nutri- 

 tious properties and agreeable flavor have brought it into 

 general use in all parts of the globe, where the climate is 

 warm enough to admit of its successful cultivation. The 

 following are the most common varieties, and perhaps as 

 good as any: 



Barbadoes Bunch yam, Georgia yam, Hayman, Pump- 

 kin yam, Red Brazilian, Spanish yam, Sugar yam, Ten- 

 nessee yam, Yellow yam, Bush or Yineless. These varie- 

 ties are quite sweet and not ?o dry and starchy as the 

 following, which are more popular in Northern markets: 

 Early Golden, Red Nansemond, Jersey, Southern Queen, 

 Sugar (Creole). 

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