Edible Products. 



46 



[January, 1909. 



for the supply of water, and disks or 

 blades for closing the soil about the 

 plants. With a transplanting machine 

 it is not necessary to wait for a "season." 

 as the machine automatically throws 

 a small quantity of water around the 

 roots of each plant as it is being set. In 

 operating these machines it is necessary 

 to have a steady team and two active 

 boys who are trained to drop the plants 

 at proper intervals, as indicated by a 

 spacer on the machine. Under reason- 

 ably favorable conditions, a machine 

 will plant from 3 to 4 acres a day. In 

 addition to being labor savers, these 

 machines do the work better and more 

 uniformly than it is ordinarily done by 

 hand. 



The plants can be set without the use 

 of water, but the results are more satis- 

 factory where the water is used. A 

 number of our most successful growers 

 use water when setting after a rain, 

 claiming that the water has the effect 

 of settling the soil firmly about the 

 roots of the plants and that they 

 start into growth much more quickly. 

 Where the full amount of water is 

 used it will be necessary to provide 

 a man and team to hold the water to 

 the machine, but by this method plants 

 may be set during dry weather without 

 the loss of more than one plant out of 

 every one hundred. 



The majority of the transplanting 

 machines are designed for planting either 

 on the tops of ridges or on the level. 

 The cost of setting an acre with one of 

 these machines, using water, should be 

 figured on the basis of two teams with 

 drivers and two boys for a period of 

 three or three and one-half hours- If 

 water is not used there will be a saving 

 of at least one team and driver ; also the 

 time required for filling the tank on the 

 machine. 



Cultivation op Sweet Potatoes. 

 The methods of handling a crop of 

 sweet potatoes do not differ materially 

 from those employed with ordinary farm 

 and garden crops. Within a few days 

 after planting, a sweep or onehorse plow 

 should be run in the alleys to break 

 out the strip of earth left in ridging. 

 The loose earth in the alleys should 

 be worked toward the rows until a 

 broad, flat ridge is formed upon 

 which a small-tooth cultivator can be 

 run quite close to the plant. After 

 each rain or irrigation the soil should 

 receive a shallow cultivation, and during 

 dry weather frequent cultivations 

 are necessary in order to retain mois- 

 ture. About two hand hoeings are 

 generally necessary in order to keep the 

 rows free from weeds and the soil loose 



around the plants. As hand labour is ex- 

 pensive, it should be the aim to perform 

 the greater part of the work by means 

 of horse tools. Where sweet potatoes 

 are planted in check rows and worked 

 in both directions the hand work re- 

 quired will be reduced to a minimum, 

 but a certain amount of hoeing is always 

 necessary. 



When the vines begin to interfere 

 with further cultivation the crop may 

 be "laid by," i.e., given a final working 

 in which the soil is drawn well up over 

 the ridges and the vines then allowed to 

 take full possession of the land. To do 

 this it is often necessary to turn the 

 vines first to one side of the row and 

 then to the other by means of a stick or 

 a wooden rake. After "laying by," 

 very little attention is required until 

 time for harvesting the crop. 



Tools Adapted to Sweet Potato 

 Cultivation. 



Aside from planting and harvesting, 

 the work of caring for a crop of sweet 

 potatoes can be done almost entirely by 

 the use of ordinary famaa and garden 

 tools. A two-horse riding cultivator is 

 desirable for the general cultivation, 

 and one having disks instead of hoes 

 will serve for throwing the soil toward 

 the rows. For the work of " laying by," 

 a single-row celery hiller is suitable or a 

 one-horse sweep-stock can be fitted with 

 sloping boards and used for this purpose. 

 Many growers use a small one-horse tur- 

 ning plow for the final cultivation, 

 going twice in each alley and working 

 the soil toward the plants. 



(To be continued.) 



CITRATE OP LIME AND CONCEN- 

 TRATED LIME JUICE, 



Dr. Watts, Government Chemist and 

 Superintendent of Agriculture for the 

 Leeward Islands, briefly reviewed the 

 position of the Lime Juice Industries of 

 Dominica and Montserrat :— 



During the past year little additional 

 n formation had been obtained and 

 reference should be made to the article 

 prepared for the last West Indian 

 Agricultural Conference and published 



in the W 'es\ I Indian Bulletin, Vol. VIII.. 



pp. 167-9. 



Concentrated juice prepared from 

 lime juice that has been carefully 

 strained and then settled, after distilla- 

 tion, has obtained a special market for 

 direct use in various arts and manu- 

 factures in the place of crystallized citric 

 acid. It commands relatively higher 



