UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1206 
Washington, D. C. T March 13, 1924 
MARKETING SOUTHERN-GROWN SWEET POTATOES. 
By George 0. Gatlix, Associate Marketing Specialist, Bureau of Agricultural 
Economics. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
The sweet-potato industry 1 
Storage facilities 4 
Disposition of the southern crop 5 
, Southern commercial varieties 7 
Car-lot movement and distribution 8 
Grading 13 
Packing 20 
Page. 
Containers 22 
Loading and shipping methods 26 
Outlets and methods of sale 34 
Advertising 38 
Cooperative marketing 39 
Federal services in marketing 41 
Recommendations 45 
Eleven Southern States produce sugary, moist-fleshed sweet pota- 
toes so unlike the dry, mealy varieties shipped from the northeastern 
section of the producing area that they are recognized as a distinct 
class or type on the principal markets of the United States. For 
many years the sweet potato has been the most important vegetable 
crop in the South, but only in recent years have southern growers and 
shippers undertaken to market an appreciable amount of the crop 
outside of the producing areas, especially in the large cities of the 
North and East. 
They have succeeded in distributing southern sweet potatoes* in 
practically all of the important car-lot markets of the country, but 
they have experienced many difficulties. The moist-fleshed varieties 
produced in this group of States are no more peculiar to the territory 
than are the marketing problems of southern growers and shippers. 
Many of them have overestimated the demand for their product 
and underestimated the need for economical production and better 
marketing practices. 
THE SWEET-POTATO INDUSTRY. 
THE NORTHEASTERN SECTION. 
The principal sweet-potato producing States may be grouped into 
sections, according to their geographical position, the varieties of 
sweet potatoes grown, and the purpose for which the crop is pro- 
duced. The northeastern section, composed of New Jersey, Dela- 
ware, Maryland, and Virginia, produces primarily for the market 
and is the main source of the commercial supply. The varieties 
61910°— 24 1 1 
