620 



SWEET-POTATO 



SWEET-POTATO 



Two methods are employed in sorting the pota- 

 toes. It is usually necessary for those who sort for 

 seed to separate the seed or small potatoes from 

 the shipping potatoes, and also to cull out strings 

 and other defective roots, fit neither for seed nor 



Fig. 845. Sample bill of sweet-potatoes, showing six or more 

 merchantable potatoes and two seed-roots or "seconds." 



market. This may be done in the field, when those 

 gathering the potatoes sort them in separate bas- 

 kets. When first-class help is used in gathering 

 this is the most satisfactory way, as the potato is 

 handled only once and is then placed in its proper 

 class. On the other hand, with careless and indif- 

 ferent labor, such as is often necessary, the sort- 

 ing can best be done by a few picked hands work- 

 ing on benches at the storage house. The crop is 

 then gathered promiscuously by the field hands, 

 and, when dry, is hauled to the storage house, 

 dumped on the tables and there sorted. By this 

 means the best results in grading can be secured 

 and the additional expense is not very great. The 

 field pickers, having no discrimination to make, can 

 gather the crop more quickly than 

 when they are required to decide on 

 the class of each potato. Five or six 

 good sorters at the house will handle 

 a couple of hundred barrels per day 

 and often save, by careful and accur- 

 ate grading, many times their hire. 

 The main requisite for the storage 

 of sweet-potatoes in the middle states 

 is a warm, tight building in which 

 the crop can be placed when dug in 

 the fall. This building may be a sin- 

 gle small room or may be of large 

 size sufficient to hold several thou- 

 sand barrels, provided it can be heated 

 and ventilated throughout. A single 

 room in the cellar or in a building of 

 any kind in which a stove can be 

 placed and ventilation can be pro- 

 vided will suffice. For ordinary farm 

 purposes, however, where sweet-pota- 

 toes are a main crop, a building of a 

 size sufficient to meet the demands should be con- 

 structed especially for this purpose. One of the 

 most desirable types of building is built on the plan 

 of a bank barn. The lower or basement story is of 

 stone or brick and sits mostly in the ground, except 

 the one exposed side or front in which are the 

 windows and door. The stove may be placed in the 

 center and bins arranged so that the nearest are 



some three feet from the stove. It is advisable to 

 have the bins .raised at least six inches from the 

 floor, and it is best to have an air-space of a few_ 

 inches between the bin-boards and the walls of the' 

 building. Ventilation can be arranged through the 

 doors and windows, or ample top ventilation in the 

 form of one or more trap-doors through the ceiling 

 should be provided. If a second story is to be used, 

 and this is very convenient, the top floor can be 

 level with the ground above, and the upper room 

 can be heated by an extra stove or by means of 

 registers in the floor from the stove in the lower 

 room. The bins may be large, even large enough 

 to hold five or six hundred barrels, but as a rule it 

 is better to divide the bins so that more or less air 

 can get around and through the potatoes or under- 

 neath them. The building should be warm and 

 tight, should have but few windows, which, if pos- 

 sible, should be on the south and east rather than 

 on the north and west sides. Other conveniences 

 in the way of passageways, platforms for handling 

 the potatoes and sheds under which the wagons 

 may be loaded and unloaded, add to the utility and 

 success of the sweet-potato storage house just as 

 may be the case with any warehouse. 



For heating, a common wood stove answers fairly 

 well, but some of the air-tight sheet-iron heaters 

 have proved very successful. A good hard-coal stove 

 with a self-feeding arrangement is a satisfactory 

 type of heater. Hot-water heating is almost ideal, 

 inasmuch as the hot-water pipes can be run around 

 the floor, warming the cold exposed corners of the 

 room. 



When hauled from the field or taken from the 

 sorting benches the potatoes are dumped into the 



Fie. 846. Sweet-potato field as the hills have been lifted from the soil alter 

 the digger. The field will run at least 400 bushels per acre. 



bins. All handling should be done as carefully as 

 possible. The two prime requisites of success in 

 getting the crop into the house are to have the 

 potatoes well dried, clean and free from dirt and 

 to handle them without bruising. It is a good plan 

 to place a bed of pine leaves six inches deep on the 

 bottom of the bins and around the sides, and by 

 proper management with a plank, a carpenter's 



