SWEET-POTATO 449 



baskets or boxes, which are not emptied until after these 

 packages are hauled to the place of storing or packing. 



Sweet-potatoes for market are generally packed in 

 ventilated barrels covered with burlap cloth, though 

 smaller packages are also used to a hmited extent. 



426. Yields. — The average yield for the entire acreage 

 cultivated in sweet-potatoes in the United States is usually 

 reported as about 100 bushels per acre. Good farmers 

 expect to make fully 200 bushels per acre, and yields above 

 500 bushels per acre have been repeatedly reported. 



The substitution for corn of sweet-potatoes (supple- 

 mented by peanuts or other crop rich in nitrogen) as a 

 food for hogs in the fall months is often advisable on 

 sandy soils. For very sandy soils are not well suited to 

 corn, but, when properly fertilized, they make good crops 

 of sweet-potatoes. On such soils it is sometimes as easy 

 to make 200 bushels of sweet-potatoes as to produce 30 

 bushels of corn to the acre. In this case the amount of 

 nutritive material in the potatoes is about twice as much 

 as in the corn from a similar area. 



The sweet-potato largely or entirely loses this relative 

 advantage on richer soils, particularly on those consisting 

 largely of clay. 



427. Conditions necessary in storing potatoes. — In 

 order that sweet-potatoes may keep in perfect condition 

 throughout the winter, so as to prolong the time of use or 

 to be sold at the higher prices prevailing after Christmas, 

 they must fulfill the following conditions : — 



(1) The potatoes when stored must be sound, all bruised, 

 cut, or diseased potatoes being excluded from the storage 

 place. 



2g 



