184 



The Sweet Potato 



thorough circulation of air, it will collect on the outside 

 of the potatoes and on the walls of the room, thus caus- 

 ing a humid condition and favoring the spread of 

 storage diseases. This condition is especially suited 

 to the growth and spread of ordinary bread mold, which 

 is present everywhere and which destroys a larger part 

 of the sweet potato crop in the form of soft-rot or ring- 

 rot. To prevent the condition just outlined, it is abso- 



FiGtmE 25.^ A pile of sweet potatoes to be covered with cane 

 tops and soil. Note the absence of ventilating hole which should 

 extend through the center of the pile. 



lutely essential that thorough ventilation be secured 

 which will carry the surplus moisture out of the storage- 

 room, whether it be a bank or a house. It has been 

 found that the proper ventilation and the desired tem- 

 perature can be more easily, economically, and surely 

 secured by using a properly constructed and operated 

 storage-house than by the use of a potato bank. (See 

 Fig. 25.) 



