SWEET-POTATO 



SWEET-POTATO 



617 



ary to use as posts in the vicinity. The walls 

 may be built of wood by setting posts two or three 

 feet apart and spiking slabs or planks on the out- 

 side. A rough floor is laid over the floor beams, 

 four or five inches of soil is put on, and then the 

 roots and the covering are applied in exactly the 

 same way as with the manure hotbed. A cover 

 may be conveniently constructed by placing raf- 

 ters eight or ten feet apart and connecting them 

 with the ridge-pole, forming a skeleton roof; over 

 this is stretched ordinary unbleached cotton. (Fig. 

 841.) There is no great necessity for heavy cloth 

 such as tents are made of, except that it will last 

 longer. The cotton cloth should be sewed into a 

 single sheet and a roller made by tacking together 

 strips three-fourths-inch by one-and-three-fourths- 

 jnch, fastening the edges of the cloth between 

 them. The gable end may be of boards or of 

 cloth. 



After the potatoes are bedded the cloth tent is 

 put in place and kept there until the plants begin 

 to push through, which should be in about ten days 

 to two weeks. Sometimes a few precocious sprouts 

 will be through in less than a week. After the 

 plants begin to break the soil, attention should be 

 given to ventilating the bed on very hot days. A 

 thermometer should be placed at some average 

 point in the bed, and when the outside temperature 

 is in the eighties, as often happens in the latter 

 part of April or May, the cover should be rolled up, 

 and unless the night is unusually warm it should 

 be lowered at sunset. As warm weather and plant- 

 ing time comes on, the cover may be rolled up and 

 the bed kept open to the air the greater part of 

 the time. 



After the roots are bedded the bed should be 

 moistened by watering. It is a great mistake to 

 bed the roots in rather dry sand or sandy soil and 

 leave them several days without watering. Moisten- 

 ing the soil and the roots starts them into activity 

 and prevents rotting. It is not desirable, however, 

 to keep the hotbed very moist until the plants are 

 up. When the plants are breaking the crust a good 

 watering should be given, or, better yet, the cover 



Fig. 841. Fire hotbeds in operation, showing furnace end. 

 The cloth covers are here shown in place. 



should be raised while a spring shower is passing. 

 All experienced sweet-potato-growers agree that 

 no watering is so beneficial to the growing plants 

 as a warm rain. If too much rain is falling, espe- 

 cially if followed by a cold wind, the covers may be 

 rolled down as soon as the bed is moistened. As 



the plants begin to form leaves and draw heavily 

 on the soil moisture, they will stand a gteat deal of 

 watering. In fact, up to a certain limit the output 

 of the bed is largely determined by the amount of 

 water given. Too much water makes rank, sappy 

 and tender plants. It is a good plan to keep the 

 bed somewhat dry for two or three days before 

 using the plants for setting out, but serious losses 

 in the next pulling will result if this is carried too 

 far. 



When the planting season arrives and the plants 

 are four inches above the ground, making their 

 total length with roots about six to seven inches, 

 the bed may be gone over and all plants of sufii- 

 cient size carefully pulled. Usually, when the fin- 

 gers are thrust below the soil-line and the plant 

 skilfully pulled sidewise it will come out without 

 dislodging the root. In pulling those plants which 

 are up to size, it is important to disturb as little as 

 possible the root and the other growing plants. As 

 soon as a given area is pulled over, it should be im- 

 mediately watered to wet down the disturbed roots 

 and prevent injury to the remaining plants. 



An average barrel of seed-roots will cover fifty 

 to sixty square feet of space on the hotbeds. The 

 larger the roots the smaller the space covered, and 

 vice versa. At the first pulling the product of a 

 barrel of roots under favorable conditions will be 

 3,000 to 5,000 plants, or sufficient for a half-acre 

 or more of ground. As soon as the bed is pulled 

 over, by watering and perhaps adding a little soil 

 and giving the necessary attention, the remaining 

 plants continue to grow and new sprouts are pushed 

 out from the same roots. In this way the bed is 

 ready to pull over again in ten days to two weeks, 

 or perhaps even less time, depending on how closely 

 it was pulled at first. Three pullings are commonly 

 taken from the hotbed during the planting season, 

 but sometimes more. The first pulling is usually 

 regarded as slightly superior to the others. 



When plants are grown for sale they are com- 

 monly tied in bundles of one hundred, when they 

 may be packed and shipped about the country by 

 express. If they are to be used on the farm, it is a 

 good plan to have a tub of mud batter made by 

 mixing some good clay soil or river mud with 

 water, preferably with the addition of fresh cow 

 dung. The plants are then dipped in bunches of 

 about twenty into this batter and kept in the shade 

 in baskets or trays until they are used. It is nec- 

 essary always to set them in a vertical position, or 

 they will curve to the light. 



Tmn^lanting. — It is a problem to get the plants 

 set out in a proper and timely way. The old method 

 was to depend on a "season," or a rainy time, and 

 with a mild spring shower and a set of active men 

 results can be secured in this way equal to the 

 very best. For hand-planting it is usually best to 

 throw up a ridge four to six inches higher than 

 necessary, and then a boy with a garden rake can 

 flatten the top of the ridge to six or eight inches 

 in width nearly as fast as he can walk. A better 

 way is to fasten a board, five or six feet long, on 

 an old cultivator frame ; by this means a boy and 

 a horse can knock off the tops of two ridges at once. 



