shaken gently to settle them, and the barrel is filled a little above the 
top. The head is now laid on, and with a screw press it is forced in, 
and the apples are then perfectly tight. The hoops are driven down tight 
and the head linings nailed in place, and when the barrel is opened after 
long journeyings it will be found with the imprint of the head on the 
upper layer of fruit, showing that no apple has moved. The tight packing 
is not possible in a' slatted crate made of laths, such as are sent to Raleigh 
from the western part of the State. 
KEEPING WINTER APPLES. 
The process just described for packing for market is the best that 
can be devised f<?r keeping the apples. Apples that are to be kept for 
home use will keep better tightly packed in the barrels in the orchard 
as fast as gathered. If not sold at once, pile the barrels on their sides 
in a cool, airy place under shelter, and as the weather gets colder put 
them in a tight house, on their sides, with a thick layer of straw under 
them, and, in very cold snaps, a thick layer over them. This will keep 
them in any weather we have if in a close building, for it takes a very 
low temperature to freeze an apple packed in a close barrel and shel¬ 
tered. There is more danger of keeping them too warm than too cold. 
Just at or a little above the freezing point of water will keep them all right. 
Tight barrels, tightly packed, are the only packages fit for winter 
apples, and any attempt to ventilate the barrels is worse than useless. 
Never ship them in lath crates if the fruit is expected to sell well. 
THE SWEET POTATO CROP. 
In the South, the sweet potato is more a crop of the farm than the 
garden, but its production for the northern market belongs to the trucker 
rather than to the farmer. This is one of those crops with which glass 
can be used with profit and success. We, years ago, abandoned the 
practice of starting the plants in a manure heated hot bed, because the 
practice encouraged the growth of the rot fungus, and we had more 
trouble from the “black shank” in the plants, which is caused by the 
same fungus that afterwards attacks the roots, when manure was used. 
We have had little of this trouble since we began to grow the plants 
in a cold frame, depending entirely on the heat from the sun through 
glass sashes to start the growth. We bed the potatoes in the cleanest 
sand obtainable and cover with the same an inch or more above the 
top of the potatoes. The bed is then watered well with lukewarm water, 
and the sashes put on and kept close till signs of sprouting appear. After 
this, air must be given whenever the sun shines, and the bed must be 
kept moist by repeated waterings or by full exposure during warm rains. 
In this way we have never failed to get good plants. They make far 
better roots in the sand than they would if bedded in a rich soil, and 
transplant more readily. We consider April ist as early enough to start 
the beds in the latitude of central Virginia, but southward it would be 
better to start a little earlier, or six weeks before time to set in the open 
ground. There is seldom any gain by too early setting of the plants, 
for the potato is a tender plant and needs to have the ground warm to 
make its best growth. This is one of the crops for which deep plowing 
is not best. The best roots are made where they have a hard bottom to 
33 
