VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 405 



crop, while young, as to any other. At one of the hoeings 

 just before being laid by, the ground should be deeply 

 moved with the plow or spade, but not close to the plants. 

 They should be laid by before the plants run a great deal, 

 after which they should be undisturbed. Be careful not to 

 cover the vines, but if they become attached to the soil, 

 loosen them up from it, so that the vigor of the plants 

 may be thrown into the roots and not into the running 

 vines. Make the hills large and broad, not pointed. In 

 hoeing, draw the vines carefully over towards you while 

 you draw up the earth and cover the weeds; then lay 

 them carefully back, and finish the other side in the same 

 manner. At this time till the spaces between the rows 

 with leaves and litter while the ground is wet, to retain 

 the moisture. After the vines have covered the ground 

 too much to use the hoe, any large weeds that appear 

 should be pulled up by hand. 



The Yam potato can also be raised from seed, but the 

 Spanish variety, like the sugar cane and many other 

 plants long propagated by division, rarely produces seed. 



Just as soon as the tops are killed by frost, the potatoes 

 should be gathered. In field crops they can be plowed up 

 and gathered by hands which follow the plow, depositing 

 the potatoes in small heaps, but in the garden the potato 

 can be gathered with the hoe or the potato hook, an im- 

 plement much used in gathering crops of the Irish potato. 

 It is better to do this in a dry day, and many prefer to 

 dig their potatoes just before the frost kills the vines, 

 thinking they keep better. 



To keep sweet potatoes it is necessary, at the North, 

 to store them in a dry, warm place, in well-dried sand. 

 At the South they are safely stored in hills containing 

 thirty or forty bushels each. Let the potatoes, when dug, 

 dry in the sun through the day. In digging and hand- 

 ling thev should not be bruised. Elevate the bottom of 



