90 



THE ii^Liisrois fa.r]nj:er. 



gress will be more than stayed for a 

 time ; to p;et rid of it entirely is too 

 much to expect. We have no doubt but 

 that the commissioners and farmers will 

 do their duty in the premises, but the 

 cattle dealers we fear will thwart all 



their well laid plans. Ed. 



<^ 



Sweet Potatoes. 



As we intend to have this number of 

 the Farmer out a little in advance, and 

 as the time for planting sweet potatoes 

 is yet in order, we make no apology for 

 devoting a large space to this valuable 

 esculent, which is now becoming one of 

 the staple products of the farm and the 

 garden. Since the introduction of the 

 Nansemond sweet potatoe, its cultiva- 

 tion has b«en rapidly extending, and in 

 a year or two more it will hare become 

 one of the prime neceisities of the table. 

 It is well known that all attempts to 

 grow the varieties usually cultivated at 

 the South have proved failures, and that 

 in consequence the impression has pre- 

 vailed that we could not grow this plant 

 in the Northwest. But this illusion ii 

 now dispelled, and the sweet potatoe hat 

 already taken its place among the most 

 valued of our farm products. Aaron 

 Vestal, of Wayne county, Indiana, -was 

 the first to call our attention to the value 

 of the Nansemond ; and Jacob Smith, 

 of Lockport, Will county, Illinois,' was 

 the first person, so far as we know, who 

 first cultivated it for market in this 

 State. But, unfortunately, Mr. Smith 

 did not confine his efforts to this variety, 

 and mtt with lo much serious disappoint- 

 ment in wintering the seed, and poor 

 crops of the larger sorts, that he gave 

 up th« business at an early day. 



To Mr. J. W. Tenbrook, of Rockvillo, 

 Indiana, is due the more general disem- 

 ination of this variety throughout the 

 Northwest. The superior manner in 

 which he kept the seed through the win- 

 ter soon gave him prominance among 

 thoie who sprouted the plants for lale, 

 and ha has become by general consent, 

 to be regarded as the *' sweet potatoe 

 king" of the Northwest. His Siveet 

 Potatoe CuUuristy now before us, is the 

 most complete and valuable work of the 

 kind that we have met with, and we can 

 most confidently recommend it to all 

 those who plant a hundred lotts and up- 

 wards, as an invaluable guide and as- 

 siBtant. 



Mr. M. M. Murray, of Loreland, 



Ohio, has also established a good trade 

 in our State. On the whole we have 

 now a good and healthy competition to 

 supply seed and plants to all who want. 

 The demand is so rapidly increasing 

 that we may not expect the plants as 

 cheap as they will be, so soon as sweet 

 potatoe houses are put up in most of the 

 counties to winter the seed. In putting 

 up seed for winter it has been the prac- 

 tice to pave the small ones or those unfit 

 for market, thus making the cost of seed 

 merely nominal above the cost of winter- 

 ing. But we like the large potatoe for 

 seed and would prefer to pay the differ- 

 ence. It is the large potatoes or the 

 entire crop that Mr. Tenbrook saves, 

 instead of selling the marketable ones 

 for table use. Nearly all our nursery- 

 men, seed stores and market gardeners 

 keep the plants for sale. They are also 

 hawked through the country by ped- 

 dlers, but of this latter class beware, for 

 you may get anything but theNansemond 



of them. 



Many persons plant too early. It is 



useless to plant before the ground is 

 well warmed up towards the last of May 

 and even the first of June. 



In preparing the land we prefer to 

 plow it deep early in April, and ridge up 

 at the time of setting. These ridges 

 we formerly made by back-furrowing, 

 or throwing two furrows together. We 

 now make them by going around the 

 land and throw one furrow on the other 

 — that is, first throw a furrow outwards, 

 and again pass around, letting the off- 

 horse go into the furrow. This will let 

 the plow run deeper than at the first 

 round. The plow cuts a furrow from 

 four to six inches wide and some ten 

 inchei deep. This is thrown on to the 

 first furrow. In passing around the 

 next time the off-horse it on the land, 

 just sufficiently near to throw the furrow 

 to the edge of the last furrow, but not 

 into it ; and this double-furrow system 

 is continued until the field is completed ; 

 and the furrows will be found about 

 three feet apart from centre to centre. 

 In the top of these ridges set a single 

 plant in a hill, at from fifteen to eighteen 

 inches apart, and cultivate with a large 

 ■ingle shovel-plow, by passing it through 

 weekly, or oftener if needed, until the 

 vines are too much in the way ; but do 

 not mind cutting the most forward ones 

 off. We do not raise up the vines as 



formerly, but let them run and grow as 

 fast to the ground, as they will persist in 

 doing. 



In digging use a potatoe fork with flat 

 tines. In marketing the small ones 

 should be thrown out, as they will injure 

 the sale more than they measure. 



It may be proper to state that we hare 

 cultivated the Nansemond for twelve 

 years, several of which we procured the 

 seed of Mr. Tenbrook, and thev have 

 always come to hand in fine order, and 

 produced strong healthy plants. 



Mr. Loomis, of Wisconsin, say of his 

 last year's planting: 



" My first plants were removed from 

 the hot bed about the 2d of May. Be- 

 tween that and the 15th of June my 

 neighbors and myself set out some eight 

 hundred more plants. Some two hundred 

 more were set out on the 25th of June, 

 in'very sandy soil. Most of my neigh- 

 bors were afraid to risk a few shillings 

 m such an unpromising experiment. 

 My object was to test the raising of the 

 sweet potatoe in different kinds of soil, 

 and also to see how late they might bo 

 set out with us and yet mature, as many 

 are of the opinion that our seasons are 

 too short for the sweet potatoe. We 

 are now prepared to look at the results 

 of those experiments. 



The first result noticed was this — that 

 by the middle of July no difference 

 could be observed between the first and 

 last settings of the sweet potatoe. 



2d. That when we came to use 

 the potatoes the tubers from the last 

 settings seemed as mature as those from 

 the first. 



3d. That the more sandy the soil the 

 more yellow in appearance and rich in 

 flavor, the potatoe. The smallest and 

 poorest potatoes were raised in the rich- 

 est black loam. '* 



The largest sweet potatoes that wo 

 have grown were planted the 18th of 

 June, and very small plants at that. 

 A clay soil is better than a black mucky 

 one. The dry upland prairie is good 

 in all cases, but low, flat, mucky land 

 should be avoided. Clean and thorough 

 culture until the vines cover the ground 

 is desirable. 



Mr. Barret, oE Vincennes, says : 



" They may be cultivated on clay, 

 and indeed on any soil where Irish pota- 

 toes will do well ; but in all cases the 

 land should have thorough tillage, by 

 deep plowing and harrowing well, until 

 the Boil is in fine tilth, and the ground 

 must be made naturally dry, or made 

 so by draining. 



Sweet potatoes will grow when the 

 hills are dry as dust; hence the yield 



