486 



SWEET POTATOES IN DELAWARE. 



express trains. Cool air fruit cars are as good as refrig- 

 erator cars, if sent through in time. 



The advice was given growers to look after the smaller 

 markets, which often pay high prices while the large 

 cities are glutted. 



Organization of local societies is one of the best means 

 of collecting and scattering knowledge, and the sooner 

 the fruit men in the different counties take hold of this 

 matter, the better for them and for the state work. 



Better varieties of fruits are needed, and the many en- 



gaged in work in this direction can only be successful in 

 the end. 



A resolution was adopted unanimously, requesting the 

 legislature to enact measures for the prevention of the 

 adulteration of jellies, vinegars, etc. 



The proposed exhibit of the state's horticultural pro- 

 ducts at the Columbian Exposition had careful attention. 

 The Society asks for 20 per cent, of the $150,000 appro- 

 priated by the legislature for the World's Fair, in order 

 to make a proper showing. 



SWEET POTATOES IN DELAWARE. 



NLY a few years ago the sweet potato 

 was regarded here merely as a 

 garden luxury, and scarcely any 

 could be found in our markets after 

 Christmas. Now it bids fair to 

 rival our peach and berry crops in 

 proportion, and no one can foresee 

 its possibilities. For about three 

 or four years past a few enterpris- 

 ing men all over the southern portion of the state 

 have been growing this crop in quite large quan- 

 tities, increasing their acreage each year until 

 during the past season, when, owing to the entire 

 failure of the peach crop, the sweet potato made 

 its debut before the public as a farm crop of 

 proportions not previously thought of, and ma- 

 terially assisted many a man in meeting expenses 

 at the close of the year. Many farms, too, hereto- 

 fore unfit for the profitable growth of almost any 

 crop, proved to be especially adapted to this, on ac- 

 count of their light, sandy soil, in which the sweet 

 potato delights and does its best. 



Formerly, beds were made of any size adapted to the 

 wants of the grower, by digging out the earth for eight 

 or ten inches and then filling in with fresh manure from 

 the horse stable. This was placed at the bottom, and a 

 few bucketfuls of water, sometimes hot and often cold, 

 were thrown on to supply moisture. Then came a cover- 

 ing of about three inches of earth, and the potatoes were 

 placed in a row close to each other, and covered with 

 two inches of soil. Straw or pine shots were put over 

 this, and a shed or covering of boards to protect it from 

 rain completed the bed. In two days or more, if a "good 

 heat" was developed, the plants began to make their ap- 

 pearance, and in five or six weeks from the time of bed- 

 ding they were large enough to be set out in the field. 



This is the plan still followed by many, but the largest 

 growers, who wish to be absolutely certain of getting a 

 supply of plants, have adopted another plan of making 

 the bed, which insures success every time, and pro- 

 duces several times as many plants from the same quan- 

 tity of potatoes as could be obtained from a manure 

 bed. The bed varies in size from twenty to one hundred 



feet in length, according to the needs of the grower, and 

 is constructed as follows ; It is usually ten feet wide, 

 and a bed fifty feet long by ten wide — the ordinary size 

 — will hold fifty baskets, or twenty-five bushels of pota- 

 toes. A brick furnace is built, three feet long, two wide 

 and eighteen inches high, on a level with the ground. 

 From this two brick flues run the entire length of the 

 fifty-foot bed. Logs are placed as sills on both sides 

 and in the middle, and boards are placed across these 

 and covered with earth three inches deep. The potatoes 

 are bedded and covered as previously mentioned, no 

 shots or straw being used, and the bed, which is built 

 like a cold-frame or hot-bed, is then entirely covered 

 with plant-bed cloth or muslin. At the end of each flue 

 is a chimney made of boards, and from six to eight feet 

 high. A fire is started in the furnace, and kept going 

 until the bed is of the right temperature, care being taken 

 not to allow it to become too hot. When the plants be- 

 gin to come through — which is usually within a week or 

 ten days — the heat is reduced and the bed kept well 

 sprinkled and moist. The furnace should be placed out- 

 side the bed at the end, and the flues be well plastered 

 for ten feet, in order to prevent sparks from escaping and 

 setting the bed on fire. After the plants are up and 

 nearly large enough to be set out, the cover is removed 

 entirely, to enable them to get hardened before they are 

 set. So much for the bed ; now for the field. 



It has been found best here to plow the ground very 

 early, say in February, or sooner if convenient, A coat 

 of rotted manure is spread on it by some ; others use the 

 manure in the furrow before planting ; and some have 

 adopted the Virginia plan of spreading pine shots on the 

 ground and plowing them under. No matter which of 

 these methods is followed, the ground must be kept 

 clean and well stirred with a disc or other harrow until 

 the plants are set, which is usually from the loth to 20th 

 of May. Fertilizers are generally used at planting time, 

 either in the furrow or the hill or broadcast, from 300 to 

 600 pounds per acre. They should be applied at least a 

 week before the plants are set, or the roots that come in 

 contact with them will be killed. Rows or hills may be 

 from thirty inches to three feet apart, as the planter de- 

 sires, and the plants are set eighteen or more inches 

 apart in the row. 



As to fertilizers, we have found several of the commer- 



