BIG 



SWEET-POTATO 



SWEET-POTATO 



be planted out in moist weather the same way as 

 plants, and in a favorable " season " appear to leaf 

 and root almost as well as rooted slips. 



The roots should be bedded in the hotbed a month 

 or six weeks previous to planting time. In the 

 latitude of Washington, where planting begins May 

 10, the roots should be planted in the hotbed about 

 April 1 to 10. Usually in the first two weeks in April 

 there is a warm-wave which hurries out the peach 

 blossoms, and these are followed a week later by 



Fig. 840. Fire hotbed in operation, with (our inches of straw-covering 

 and without the tent. Tent should replace the straw after the 

 plants are np. 



the pears. The bedding season, therefore, may be 

 considered as the time when peaches and pears are 

 in blossom. In the northern states it is necessary 

 to bed the potatoes in hotbeds a month or more 

 earlier than the climate will permit them to live 

 in the field. 



Various types of hotbeds are in use. The sim- 

 plest arrangement for the southern states is a little 

 pit or frame sunk in the ground ; about six inches 

 or more of manure is carefully filled in; and a four- 

 to-five-inch layer of good sandy loam is placed on the 

 manure. This should be moistened, after lying about 

 forty-eight hours for the first heat to pass oif, es- 

 pecially if the manure is new; the potatoes can 

 then be bedded. Bedding or planting sweet-potato 

 " seed-roots " consists simply in laying them on the 

 soft sandy soil, preferably with their ends all in 

 one direction, and cross-ways of the bed ; when 

 the potatoes are curved, the convex side should be 

 upward, thrusting the points in the sand. They 

 are then covered with the same sandy loam to a 

 depth of about one and one-half inches above the 

 upper surface of the roots. Some growers prefer 

 to cover them lightly, say one-half inch ; then, after 

 the tips appear, to add the additional inch of soil. 

 The simplest protection consists of a layer of pine 

 leaves six inches thick. This has to be carefully 

 watched, however, and removed as soon as the 

 sprouts begin to appear, otherwise slender white 

 " drawn " sprouts will result. A better covering is 

 a cheap grade of white cotton cloth, and a still 

 better one is the ordinary hotbed sash. Extensive 

 beds, utilizing several dozen sashes, are in use by 

 some growers. 



Wherever glass sash is used, careful attention 



has to be given on the first warm days, especially 

 after the sprouts appear, to ventilate the beds by 

 placing a block under the end of one sash and under 

 the opposite end of the next sash, and so on. 



Before the plants are up a warm spell may be 

 had, or, through some unusual activity of the fer- 

 menting manure, sufficient heat may be generated 

 to cause the roots to decay. Old-time gardeners 

 trust to their sense of feeling in changing the heat. 

 A better method is to use a thermometer and to 

 keep the temperature as low as 90° Pahr., 

 preferably between 80° and 90°. 



The best method of propagating the 

 sweet-potato in the North is through the 

 fire hotbed (Pig. 840). The intense bottom 

 heat, with the exposure of the plants to 

 the open air during a large part of their 

 growth, not only makes this an eifective 

 method of getting large quantities of 

 plants, but with proper attention to the 

 covering and watering the plants will be 

 of the most desirable quality. Briefly, the 

 fire hotbed consists of a floor or bed on floor 

 beams or joists with a two-foot air space 

 underneath and with a brick furnace at one 

 end, from which tile flues carry the heat 

 part way across the bed. At the opposite 

 end a wooden flue, some ten feet in length, 

 carries off the smoke and furnishes a draft. 

 The bed should be sunk in the ground nearly 

 to the level of the soil and should have a tilt or in- 

 cline of about one foot to every twenty or thirty feet 

 of length. Since the upper half of the bed, or rather 

 the air space beneath it, serves as a chimney, this 

 inclination is required to carry the smoke and hot 

 air from the furnace to the far end of the bed. With 

 this inclination the bed will be but little warmer 

 over the furnace than it is at the opposite end. 

 The brick arch or furnace should be depressed so 

 that its top is three feet below the floor beams. 

 It is then covered with a foot of soil, making the 

 two-foot air space continuous. In an average- 

 sized bed, say sixty to eighty feet long and twelve 

 to fourteen feet in width, the furnace should be 

 six feet by two feet six inches inside, so as to burn 

 cord-wood. The flues should be of six-inch tile and 

 should extend for about thirty feet, gradually 

 rising to the surface of the ground until at the 

 outlet it is raised one inch above the ground. At 

 thirty feet from the furnace the smoke and the 

 fumes will be sufficiently cooled to permit dis- 

 charging into the air space without danger. An 

 inch or two more of soil, however, should be placed 

 under the plants in that part of the bed directly 

 over the furnace and over the discharge of the tile 

 flues. No wood construction can be used in touch 

 with the furnace. The end wall has to be built of 

 brick or stone. To avoid digging a pit in which 

 rain may collect, it is best to place the bed just at 

 the crest of the hill, allowing the furnace end to 

 extend over the crest. 



The remainder of the walls of the hotbed may 

 be built of wood, cement, brick or stone. The 

 floor beams should be of some rot-resistant wood, 

 such as chestnut, cypress, or whatever it is custom- 



