66 Richard Frotschér’s Almanac and Garden Manual - 
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planted alongside of the Peerless, it produced fully one-third more than 
that variety. 7 
| THE SWEET POTATO. 
Convolvulus batatas. 
The Sweet Potato is next to corn the most important food crop in 
the South. They are a wholesome and nutritious diet, good for man 
and beast. Though cultivated to a limited extent on the sandy lands 
of New Jersey and some of the middle States, it thrives best on the 
light rich lands of the South, which bring their red and golden fruits 
to greatest perfection under the benign rays ofasouthernsun. Itisa 
plant of a warm climate, a child of the sun, much more nutritious than 
the Irish Potato on account of the great amount of saccharine matter 
it contains, and no southern table should be found without it from the 
first day of August till the last day of May. Some plant early in 
spring the potato itself in the prepared ridges, and cut the vine from 
the potato when large enough, and plant them out; others start the 
potatoes in a bed prepared expressly for that purpose, and slip off the 
sprouts as they come up, and set these out. The latter method will 
produce the earliest potatoes ; others who set out the vines, say that 
they make the largest tubers. In preparing the land the soil should 
be thoroughly pulverized, the ridges laid off about five feet apart, well 
drawn up and rather flat on top. If everything is ready, and time for 
planting has arrived, do not wait for a rain, make a paste of clay and 
cow manure; in this dip the roots of the slips and press the earth 
firmly around them. Old slips are more tenacious of life than-young 
ones, and will under these circumstances answer best. Watering 
afterwards, if dry weather continues, of course, will be beneficial. 
Otherwise plant your vines or slips just before or after a rain. Two 
feet apart in the row is considered a good distance. The ridges 
should never be disturbed by a plow from the time they are made 
until the potatoes are ready to be dug. 
