6 BULLETIN 12<h;, r. s. DEPARTMENT OF ACItierLTURE. 
LOCAL SALES. 
Sales in near-by markets are mainly small lots of field-run stock 
sold by individual growers to retail merchants. Some growers dis- 
pose of their surplus by also selling direct to housekeepers, restau- 
rants, hotels, and institutions that use comparatively large quanti- 
ties. In some districts local marketing includes sales to canning fac- 
tories and sales on public markets of near-by cities. The entire stocks 
of a few favorably situated storage houses are disposed of by market- 
ing them locally in the late winter and spring, using motor trucks for 
delivery, direct to merchants in conveniently located towns and 
cities. 
inasmuch as there is a period of several months during the year 
when many southern towns and cities are without an adequate sup- 
ply of sweet potatoes, it would seem that more storage-house opera- 
tors would find it desirable to cater to this neighboring demand. 
Florida markets approximately 40 per cent of its crop within the 
State, North Carolina about 28 per cent, Louisiana about 25 per cent, 
and 'Texas about 20 per cent. In other States of the southern group 
less than 20 per cent of the crop is marketed locally. 
HOME CONSUMPTION. 
That the sweet potato is one of the most important food crops in 
the South is indicated by the fact that approximately 37 per cent of 
the large southern production is consumed on the farms. This 37 
per cent of the South's production is larger than the total production 
of all other States. The quantity used both for home consumption 
and local sales is practically twice as large as the total production 
of all other shipping sections. In no other section is the per capita 
consumption so large. 
CONSUMPTION BY LIVESTOCK. 
Most of the sweet potatoes fed to animals are consumed by hogs. 
In some sections fields are either ''hogged off" or gleaned at har- 
vest time. Culls and jumbos are sometimes stored and fed in the 
Iced lots as either the main or a supplementary ration. These 
practices are more general in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Missis- 
sippi than in any other of the States. Louisiana feeds about 17.5 
per cent of its crop, South Carolina about 15 per cent, and Mississippi 
about 11.5 per cent. An effort is being made by agricultural leaders 
to encourage the feeding of culls and low-grade slock, and it is prob- 
able that a much larger proportion of the crop will be utilized in this 
way in the future. 
SALES TO CANNING FACTORIES. 
The quantity of sweet potatoes canned in factories and on farms is 
such a small pari of the total production that no attempt has been 
made to estimate it separately from local sales. There are, however, 
numerous canning factories in the South that pack sweet potatoes 
as one of their principal products. Many small factories can them 
exclusively. That the industry is glowing is shown by the fact that 
in L920 the total pack of the United States, according to the best 
figures obtainable, was 173,384 cases, which is almost twice as large 
as the L917 pack." 
i cited States Department pt Agriculture Bulletin 1041: a Study of Sweet Potato Varieties 
with Special Reference to Their Canning Quality, bj C a. Magoon and C. W.Culpepper. 19^2. 
