1913. 
423 
RAISING SWEET POTATO PLANTS. 
H. E. 8., South Jersey .—Give me a com¬ 
plete account as to how to raise sweet po¬ 
tato plants in my locality, with the fol¬ 
lowing materials and advise the method 
you consider the best: With lime unslaked 
as a heating factor. With manure hotbed 
and pine boughs. With manure only ex¬ 
clusive of sash. With Are hotbed. Instruc¬ 
tions how to build a fire hotbed, and at¬ 
tention required. With hot water boiler or 
steam as heat supply. How to make such 
a hotbed and approximate the cost of the 
smallest size bed, together with the cost of 
boiler, pipes, etc. Will muslin do as a 
covering and if so which kind? Flease 
state attention hot water or steam-heated 
sweet potato hotbed needs and details of 
management. 
Ans. —Many different methods and 
systems of heating are employed in 
growing sweet potato plants, but the 
success of any one depends more on the 
man than on the system. I do not know 
how lime would act as a heating factor, 
nor do I know the proper method of 
combining manure and pine for best re¬ 
sults. But I do know that fairly satis¬ 
factory results can be obtained by the 
use of an ordinary manure hotbed. The 
construction of a manure hotbed is 
very simple. We first dig a pit about 
two feet deep, lay boards or rails around 
the edges to keep the sides from cav¬ 
ing; fill it, so that after settling the 
manure will be within about six inches 
of the top of the pit. The manure 
should be in a state of fermentation 
when put in the pit. This fermentation 
can be started by composting fresh horse 
manure in a sheltered place about 10 
days before intended for use, and dur¬ 
ing that time it should be turned once 
or twice. About, four inches of soil 
is placed above the manure. The pota¬ 
toes are laid or placed in this and just 
enough soil put on to barely cover them. 
Then a layer of hay 12 to 20 inches deep 
is placed over this and things are al¬ 
lowed to heat up. The temperature can 
be regulated by close attention to the 
depth of the hay covering. It is often 
necessary to remove it altogether dur¬ 
ing the day. After sprouts appear on 
the potatoes enough soil is added to 
make a covering about 2j4 inches deep 
over the potatoes. The rest is a matter 
of ventilation, heat and moisture and 
that must be regulated by the grower. 
Manure beds are fairly dependable 
and we make a small one, in addition 
to our two fire-heated beds, almost every 
year, but we would not like to depend 
on that method alone, for the chances 
of a total loss are too great. It seldom 
gets so cold after March 25 that po¬ 
tatoes in a manure bed are lost, but it 
does sometimes, and that is the time 
when the fire bed wins out. Fire beds 
are also easier to control in respect to 
heat. 
The method of construction for a 
50 x 12-foot fire-heated sweet potato 
bed in general use with us is as fol¬ 
lows: We dig a pit 50 feet long, 12 
feet wide and about two feet deep, with 
a gradual slope from one end of the 
bed to the other, and deeper in the cen¬ 
ter than on the sides. The furnace is 
located at the lower end of the pit, so 
that the slope is gradually upward as 
we leave the furnace. The soil must 
be removed for the furnace and this 
space must be deep enough to get the 
furnace down to the point where a flue 
can be run from it to follow the grade 
of the bed and yet be six or eight inches 
below the first sleeper laid across the 
bed. In order to build a bed like this 
it is necessary to have it located on a 
small hill or in a place where water 
does not lie close to the surface. The 
furnace itself is built entirely outside 
the bed. It is usually made of brick, 
laid with good lime mortar, and can 
be made any desired size. It is usually 
best to have an arched furnace or at 
least one with an arch top so as to 
nvoid caving. Our furnace is four to 
five feet long, 18 inches wide at the 
bottom and 18 inches up to where the 
arch top commences; the depth from 
the apex of arch to bottom of furnace 
is about 28 inches, inside measurements. 
After being built the furnace is all 
covered over with sand except the front 
where a door is hinged. The flue starts 
at the rear of the furnace and enters 
directly into the 50 x 12-foot pit. The 
flue is made of bricks and need not be 
the rural, 
more than 10 inches wide and 12 to 15 
inches deep outside measurements. This 
runs about two-thirds the length of the 
bed. Tile is often used in place of 
brick for making flue. Heavy sleepers 
are laid across the pit every five feet 
and care is taken to keep them well 
above the flue. The flue itself next to 
the furnace is covered with earth to 
prevent loss by fire and also over¬ 
heating of potatoes near the furnace. 
Boards one foot wide are placed on 
these sleepers side by side one inch apart 
to form the bottom of the bed. It takes 
11 boards to go across the 12-foot bed. 
The edges or sides of the bed are made 
of foot boards stood on edge and nailed 
to posts. At the end opposite the fur¬ 
nace a square opening about one foot 
across is made in the floor of the bed 
and a chimney made by nailing four 
one-foot boards together is erected 
over it. 
In the bed thus made we first put 
six to eight inches of long horse ma¬ 
nure, then three to five inches of pure 
sand taken from below the surface soil 
so as to avoid getting any disease germs. 
We put the deepest layer of sand near 
the furnace end of the bed, and at the 
point about two-thirds the length of the 
bed where the flue stops to let the heat 
and smoke circulate in the pit below 
the floor of the bed. We also have 
more soil down the center of the bed 
over the flue than we do near the sides. 
With this soil on all js ready for the 
NEW-YORKER 
potatoes, which with us go in as soon 
after March 20 as possible. The potatoes 
used for seed run from small to me¬ 
dium size, and we exercise care in se¬ 
lecting so as to get only those from 
healthy plants. They are partly em¬ 
bedded in this soil so that when in posi¬ 
tion about one-half of the potato is 
visible. They are laid so that no two 
will touch. We then sprinkle them 
lightly with lukewarm water and put on 
just enough pure subsoil sand to merely 
cover them. Then one to two feet of 
salt hay or other rough hay is placed on 
the bed, using care to have it deepest 
where we think the heat will be least. 
A fire is started in the furnace at once. 
In a few days when sprouts start the 
hay is removed and two to 2 1 / 2 inches of 
sand added, so that plants will have 
plenty of root. Some growers put the 
proper depth of sand on when potatoes 
are laid, but we think there is less loss 
by rot if the soil is added on the in¬ 
stalment plan. We never use any cover¬ 
ing except hay for our potato bed, but 
many use a heavy canvas cover and it 
has its advantages. With hay a bed 
cannot be opened on a cold day in late 
Spring, when it is often liable to get 
the plants greened up and hardened for 
planting, but with a canvas the light 
goes through and the plants color up 
without at the same time being exposed 
to a chilly atmosphere. With canvas 
no time need be spent in raking off 
broken pieces of hay, etc., when giving 
the bed air. On the other hand, canvas 
is rather costly, and a frame must be 
set up, either around the edge or down 
the middle of the bed, to support it. 
Wood is used as fuel in the furnace, 
and firing must be carefully looked after, 
especially for the first three weeks after 
potatoes are laid. The proper amount 
of heat, ventilation and watering re¬ 
quired can only be learned by experience. 
If kept too cold the sprouts will not 
start and potatoes may rot. If too hot 
the sprouts will shoot up spindling. If 
the bed is kept cold and wet after plants 
get up w r e think it favors the spread of 
black rot on the plants. If too dry 
stem-rot usually develops. Along in 
April, when days get warm, no artificial 
heat is necessary and all covering is 
removed. In early May the bed is given 
all the ventilation possible so as to get 
the plants hardened off and ready for 
planting, which with us is about May 10 
to 20. With a fire-heated bed all possible 
precautions should be taken to prevent 
loss by fire. Hay should be kept away 
from furnace and during a high wind 
the furnace should not be fired too hard. 
I believe hot-water heat will be the 
future system of heating potato beds. It 
will be more even and easier to run, 
and the loss from fire will be reduced to 
a minimum; but. as yet I do not know 
of such a bed in successful operation 
and therefore cannot tell what the ap¬ 
proximate cost of erecting such would 
be. TRUCKER, JR. 
What We Pay for You 
j 
Note what we do to 
save cost of upkeep with 
users of Reo the Fifth. 
To save repairs and trou¬ 
bles. To insure you an 
honest car. 
Cost Us $200 
These extra precautions, 
which some call extremes, cost 
us about $200 per car. I em¬ 
ploy them because, in years to 
come, they save $500 per car. 
I have proved this fact a 
myriad times in my 26 years of 
car building. 
To merely sell cars, these 
things are unnecessary. But to 
hold users’ good will—hold it 
year after year—these things 
must be done. 
Our Extremes 
Our steel is all made to for¬ 
mula. It is analyzed twice be¬ 
fore using. That saves us 
countless mistakes. 
Our gears are tested in a 
crushing machine to stand 75,- 
*By R . E, Olds, Designer 
000 pounds per tooth. Our 
springs are tested for 100,000 
vibrations. 
Each engine is tested for 48 
hours. There are five long-con¬ 
tinued tests. 
There are fully one thousand 
tests and inspections applied to 
every car. 
Overcapacity 
I require in each driving part 
an overcapacity of not less than 
50 per cent. 
I use oversize tires—34x4— 
to cut your tire upkeep in two. 
I use 15 roller bearings, which 
cost five times what the usual 
ball bearings cost. And, to 
avoid all flaws, we use 190 drop 
forgings, at twice the cost of 
steel castings. 
I use a $75 magneto— 
A doubly heated carburetor—i 
An expensive centrifugal 
pump— 
14-inch brake drums—2-inch, 
seven-leaf springs—a 17-coated 
body. 
And we limit our output to 
50 cars daily, to insure accurate 
fitting, abundant tests. To make 
sure that each car is right. 
Does It Pay? 
You know that it pays to get 
a car built like this if you’ve 
owned a car that wasn’t. All 
the difference won’t show at the 
start, of course, but in after, 
years you’ll see it. 
Every dollar I spend in these 
extremes saves users from two 
to four dollars. That’s why 
Reo the Fifth stands at the top 
of its class, after 60,000 of my 
cars have been used. 
See in this car our new cen¬ 
ter control. Note the absence 
of levers. Both front doors are 
clear. Note that it has the left 
side drive, like the leading cars 
today. 
Note the flush electric dash 
lights. Note the splendid finish. 
Let our dealer point out to you 
the countless small perfections. 
This is the climax of a lifetime 
of effort. See what it means to 
you. _ 
Write for our catalog and we 
will direct you to the nearest Reo 
showroom. They are everywhere* 
R. M. Owen & Co., General Sales Agents for Reo Motor Car Co., Lansing, Mich. 
Canadian Factory, St. Catharines, Ont. 
Reo the Fifth 
The 1913 Series 
$1,095 
30-35 
Horsepower 
Wheel Base— 
112 inches 
Tires— 
34x4 inches 
Center 
Control 
15 Roller 
Bearings 
Demountable 
Rims 
Three Electric 
Li ghts 
190 Drop 
Forgings 
Made with 
5 and 2 
Passenger 
Bodies 
(155) 
Top and windshield not included in price. We equip this car with mohair top, side curtains and slip cover, windshield, 
gas tank for headlights, speedometer, self-starter, extra rim and brackets—all for SIOO extra (list price $170). 
(Gray & Davis Electric Lighting and Starting System at an extra price, if wanted..) 
