UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
I BULLETIN No. 1063 
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 
WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
May 29, 1922 
SWEET-POTATO STORAGE STUDIES. 1 
By H. C. Thompson, formerly Horticulturist, and James H. Beattie, Horticul- 
turist, Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations. 
Importance of the sweet-potato 
crop 
Preliminary studies 
Objects of the experiments 
Methods of procedure 
Comparison of the keeping qualities 
of sweet potatoes under careful 
and under commercial handling 
Comparison of house storage and 
bank storage of sweet potatoes 
Comparison of the keeping qualities 
of injured and uninjured sweet 
potatoes 
Comparison of the practices of sort- 
ing and not sorting stored sweet 
potatoes 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Comparison of the keeping qualities 
Page. 
1 
of various varieties of sweet pota- 
2 
3 
toes 
10 
Comparison of the keeping qualities 
3 
of sweet potatoes when stored at 
different temperatures 
12 
Keeping qualities of sweet potatoes 
5 
stored in bins and in crates 
Relation of the temperature in the 
13 
6 
bins to the temperature of the 
surrounding air 
15 
Comparison of the keeping qualities 
7 
of four important commercial 
varieties of sweet potatoes stored 
under like conditions 
17 
9 
18 
IMPORTANCE OF THE SWEET-POTATO CROP. 
The sweet potato is second in importance of the vegetable crops, 
being exceeded in value only by the Irish potato. In 1920 approxi- 
mately 1,085,000 acres of land in the United States were devoted to 
the production of sweet potatoes. The estimated production was 
112,368,000 bushels, with a farm value of $126,629,000. The greater 
portion of the crop is produced in a few of the Southern States, the 
important producing States being Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, 
North Carolina, Texas, South Carolina, and Louisiana. 
1 During the progress of this work assistance was rendered by H. M. Conolly, formerly 
assistant horticulturist ; F. E. Miller, formerly horticulturist ; and C. J. Hunn, assistant 
horticulturist, Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations. 
87029°— 22 ■-! 
