TUBER 
109 CROPS 
SWEET POTATOES. 
The common or Irish potato does badly in 
the South, except as an early crop, because the 
climate is too warm, but where the common 
potato suffers, the sweet potato thrives. It 
requires a warm, sunny climate, a long season, 
and warm, loose soil, with plenty of moisture 
during growing time, and less during ripening. 
It is very tender and cannot stand frost. It is 
grown extensively as far north as the sandy 
lands of New Jersey. 
The soil must be rich, loose, and well drained 
and liberally fertilized with well-rotted manure. 
Wood ashes will help the growth of the tuber 
most satisfactorily. 
Only one variety of sweet potato, the Spanish, 
is cut and planted like the common potato. 
All other varieties are grown from “slips,” or, 
as they are sometimes called, “draws.” <A 
whole potato is laid on a hot-bed and covered 
with a couple of inches of loose soil or leaf- 
mould. Very soon it begins to sprout and 
when the shoots are from three to five inches 
high, they are broken off next the tuber, and 
planted. Their roots have already begun to 
form and these are the “slips.” The same 
potato or tuber, will give another set of slips if 
allowed to remain in the ground. In the ex- 
