214 The Sweet Potato 



wjien the roots are to be used immediately for canning. 

 Even in this case, proper ventilation must be provided. 

 Shipping in bulk almost necessitates rough handling, 

 which bruises the potatoes and causes them to decay very 

 rapidly. When shipped long distances, bulk potatoes, 

 even when the car is provided with a false bottom and 

 false walls at the ends, are difficult to ventilate properly 

 and are liable to heat en route, causing disastrous losses. 



Sacks. — Handling sweet potatoes in burlap sacks is 

 almost as bad as loading in bulk. It permits the outside 

 roots to become bruised, allows the potatoes to rub 

 together, thus giving entrance for decay organisms, and 

 sacked sweets are difficult to load tight in a car and at 

 the same time ventilate thoroughly. Notwithstanding 

 these disadvantages, several of the southern markets 

 give preference to the bag. New Orleans commission- 

 men will hardly handle sweets in any container but the 

 90-pound burlap sack. The Memphis, Tennessee, mar- 

 ket at times also favors this size and type containers. 

 When market demands justify the use of sacks, they 

 should be handled with utmost care to prevent bruising 

 and should be properly loaded to insure safe delivery 

 (see page 235). 



Requirements of sweet potato containers. — Several 

 factors must be considered in the selection of a sweet 

 potato container. Custom has established some pack- 

 ages as standard and it is usually bad business to go 

 too much against well established customs. Neverthe- 

 less, certain facts must be borne in mind if the con- 

 tainer problem is to be solved satisfactorily. The pres- 

 ent tendency is to use gift packages exclusively. Such 

 containers go with the potatoes and must be considered 

 as one of the costs of marketing. Such containers as 



