Harvesting and Storage 183 



toes are to be stored successfully is the method of hand- 

 ling. More potatoes are lost to the grower through care- 

 less handling and consequent bruises than perhaps any 

 other one cause. No definite method of handling can 

 be outlined, as individual cases necessarily require dif- 

 ferent methods, but whatever system of handling is 

 used, sweet potatoes should never be thrown into heaps 

 in the field, hauled loosely in a wagon body, or handled 

 in sacks. A sack is the poorest container for handling 

 potatoes, either in shipping or in storage. A large 

 part of the potatoes handled in any of the above men- 

 tioned ways are sure to become bruised and the skins 

 broken, which permit an easy entrance of diseases of all 

 kinds. Sweet potatoes should be handled as little as 

 possible, graded in the field, and carefully placed in 

 boxes or baskets (preferably small bushel crates in 

 which they will be stored). They should be hauled to 

 storage in the same containers and thus bruises and 

 consequent loss will be reduced to a minimum. Many 

 yam varieties are more susceptible to bruising than 

 such hardy kinds as the White Triumph and the Hay- 

 man. 



Curing and storing. — Whether sweet potatoes are 

 stored in a bank or a house, they should be given proper 

 insulation and thorough ventilation. Insulation pro- 

 vides conditions which will prevent freezing. In a 

 bank, insulation is provided by heaping earth several 

 inches deep over the potatoes ; in a storage-house by a 

 dead air space in a double wall. In a bank, ventilation 

 is secured by a ventilator in the top and sometimes 

 others. When sweet potatoes are first harvested they 

 contain excess moisture which is given off ; if this excess 

 moisture is not carried out of the storage-room by a 



