CULTURE AKD MANAGEMENT. 61 



If the ground is not very dry the plant may be made 

 to live by "grouting/' which is simply dipping the roots 

 of the plants into water in which a quantity of woods 

 mold, clay soil, or fine cow manure has been stirred, and 

 setting them without the further application of water. 

 By adopting some such method, the plant beds, being 

 freely watered after each drawing, will produce more 

 abundantly and promptly, and the whole area intended 

 for the crop may be set in good time. 



Slips tor Late Use and eor Seed. — It is a good 

 plan, if there be a suitable season in the latter part of 

 June, to cut slips from the vines and set them in well- 

 prepared ridges or hills. These, if well attended to, 

 produce the late crop, and they answer very well for seed. 

 This applies to Virginia and further south, and to vari- 

 ous parts of the West. There is economy in this way of 

 adding to the main crop. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON THE CULTURE AND MANAGE- 

 MENT OF THE SWEET POTATO. 



The sweet potato is one of the most eatable anu deli- 

 cious of all esculents, and the regions adapted to its cul- 

 ture are quite extensive. It may be grown for family 

 use, if not for market, as far north as Rochester, New 

 York, and Lansing, Michigan, and in all the Southern 

 and Southeastern States. 



Sweet potatoes may be grown in a variety of soils, but 

 that which is dry, warm and sandy will give the finest 

 quality. If the land has a red cast, so much the better, 

 think many farmers ; for this imparts the bright color to 

 th@ roots that gains the good prices in market. 



