140 POTATOES 



Good vegetable storehouses are frequently made detached from 

 the dwelling. A cellar is dug six or eight feet in depth and walled 

 with concrete, brick, stone or lumber. A roof is placed over this 

 and a stairway is provided at one end. If the surface drainage is 

 good, the cellar may serve as an ideal storage place for Irish pota- 

 toes and a number of other root crops. 



SWEET POTATOES 



The sweet potato plant is believed to be a native of South 

 America. Thus three of our most important food crops, the Irish 

 potato the sweet potato, and Indian corn, were discovered in 

 America. 



The sweet potato crop is grown in nearly all states but is pro- 

 duced chiefly in the southern states where the climate is mild, the 

 season long, and where moisture conditions are favorable. 



Relationships. — The sweet potato belongs to the morning-glory 

 family and is therefore closely related to the morning-glory of the 

 flower garden and to some of our worst weeds in the field. 



Soil. — The sweet potato prefers a rather sandy loam and unlike 

 the Irish potato is not much helped by the addition of organic 

 matter. When soils are rather too poor for the Irish potato, they 

 are often planted with sweet potatoes. 



Feeding the Crop. — As sweet potatoes are not much improved 

 by the addition of stable manure, the best way to feed plants is 

 to apply commercial fertilizers. From five to seven hundred 

 pounds per acre of the general fertilizer may be used. Mix three 

 hundred pounds tankage, one hundred pounds dried blood, four 

 hundred pounds acid phosphate and two hundred pounds muriate 

 or sulfate of potash. This would have a formula of about two 

 and one half per cent nitrogen, nine per cent phosphate and ten 

 per cent potash. 



Starting the Plants. — Sweet potato plants are commonly called 

 slips. The seed potatoes are spread out in a dense layer in the 

 hotbed or coldframe. The potatoes are covered with a few inches 

 of light sand or soil. The bed is then covered with muslin or glass. 

 The potatoes are kept well watered and in about six weeks pulling 

 of the slips may begin. The larger plants are best for setting in 

 the garden but second and third pullings from the same roots 

 may be used if necessary. The best plants have a good supply of 

 roots, vigorous crowns and strong stems A good supply of leaves 

 is best. 



