U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
shipped are the dry-fleshed varieties of the Jersey group. Produc- 
tion is concentrated in a few counties in the southern portions of New 
Jersey and Delaware, the Eastern Shore and tidewater counties of 
Maryland, and the Eastern Shore section of Virginia. With estab- 
lished market varieties, relatively short freight hauls, efficient sales 
practices, established trade connections, and a reputation for shipping 
stock that is fairly uniform, relatively well graded, and well packed, 
the northeastern section succeeds in marketing approximately 
71 per cent of its production. It produces less than 10 per cent of 
the total crop hut ships more than 65 per cent of the total car-lot 
movement. 1 
THE SOUTHERN SECTION. 
The 1 1 States which compose the southern section are Tennessee, 
North Carolina. South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missis- 
sippi. Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas, all of which pro- 
duce and ship the moist , sugary varieties. 
While moist-fleshed varieties predominate in North Carolina, there 
is a small district in the northeastern corner of the State, mainly in 
Currituck County, which produces Jersey type stock for the early 
market, under conditions similar to those prevailing in the north- 
eastern section. 
The bulk of the southern crop is grown for local consumption rather 
than for shipment, hut tin" territory adapted to commercial produc- 
tion is as large as and almost identical with the Cotton Belt. The fact 
that commercial production is developing over this wide area rather 
than in a few restricted districts complicates the marketing problem. 
With a general reputation for poor grading, loose packing, unattractive 
containers, and improper car loadings, southern shippers have made 
little progress in stimulating the demand lor southern sweet potatoes, 
particularly in consuming centers which do not know and appreciate 
the merits of the product. The southern section produces over 83 
per cent of the entire crop, but ships only approximately 30 per cent 
of the total car-lot shipments. It markets in car lots less than 4 per 
cent of its production. 
OTHER SECTIONS. 
In Kentucky, southern Illinois and Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, 
New Mexico, and California then 4 are relatively small areas which ship 
in car lots. Any one of them may become commercially important 
in a very short period of time, but at present they are minor sections. 
Their combined shipments amount to less than 5 per cent of the car- 
lot movement. 
THE SITI VIION IN THE SOI TH. 
There has been a constant increase in production in the United 
States since L899, and a decidedly rapid increase since 1914. Most of 
this increase has occurred in the southern section, and to a consider- 
able extent is due to the movement for diversification in the Cotton 
Belt and the development of practical sweet-potato storage houses. 
The industry was further stimulated by war demands and war prices. 
1 Car-lot production figures in this bulletin were obtained by reducing product ion in bushels, as estimated 
by the United States I >epartmen1 oi Agriculture, to car Lots on the basis of 600 bushels to the ear. Car-lot- 
movemenl figures arc ba <<l on actual shipments as reported to the department by the railroad companies. 
Comparisons between eardot production and cardot shipments are, therefore, approximately rather than 
actually correct. 
