PKOPAGATIOST OE THE SWEET POTATO. 29 



sufficient to protect the bed from any change of temper- 

 ature, and boards must be provided to keep off rain, sup- 

 ported by temporary rafters, which are taken of out of 

 the way in good weather ; on these rafters the boards, 

 a foot wide, are laid, beginning at the bottom and 

 overlapping. 



" Careful watching is necessary for the first ten days. 

 Examine thoroughly all parts of the bed every day or 

 two, by thrusting the finger into the sand, between the 

 potatoes, below their level. It should feel decidedly 

 warm, and as long as an even warmth at this point can 

 be maintained the first ten days, the bed needs no farther 

 attention. But it almost always happens that, in three 

 or four days, some parts will become too hot, and others 

 too cold. The warmer places must be thinly covered 

 during the night ; the cooler should have all the hot mid- 

 day sun possible, and be covered up warm, and every 

 effort made to increase the heat. In cases of extreme 

 heat, water thoroughly, and with a crow-bar (or sharp 

 stake), work a double row of three-inch holes, one foot 

 apart, along the center of the bed, through the manure. 

 This will have the desired effect in a few hours. 



"About ten days after ' putting out/ the bed should 

 show the white crowns of the plants pushing vigorously 

 through all parts of the surface, and will thenceforth 

 need uncovering, during all good days, from nine to four 

 o'clock, increasing the length of time, and decreasing the 

 covering as the plants strengthen, until just before setting- 

 out time, when they should be left uncovered at night 

 also, to ' harden.' The bed will need frequent watering, 

 which is done with the least risk about two P. M. 



"All this care is requisite, and, though troublesome 

 to the inexperienced, it resolves itself into a plain, 

 straightforward duty with practice, though it may re- 

 sult m partial failure from the slightest cause." 



it seems to us that the essential ucntita, -r e~sn the full 



