SWEET POTATOES 
267 
and fumigate the storage quarters with formalin or sul¬ 
phur. 
Time and Method of Harvesting.—Potatoes should 
be harvested before the first killing frost. If the vines 
are killed by frost, they should be removed from the 
potatoes, to make ready for digging. 
Practical farmers often cut the vines from the potato 
by running a roller cutter on either side of the row on top 
of the bed. The potatoes are then plowed out with a 
turning plow or a plow similar to the turning plow with 
a section of the moldboard removed. As soon as they are 
plowed up they are picked up and piled in small piles 
in the field where they are left for several hours to dry 
out. 
Grading and Hauling Sweet Potatoes from the 
Field.—Before removing the potatoes from the field they 
should be culled or graded into the following grades: 
baking potatoes, canning potatoes, seed potatoes, cuts 
and bruises, diseased potatoes* and small strings. This 
enables the producer to pick up all the potatoes of a given 
class at the same time. 
Marketing.—If the potatoes are selling for a good 
price one may find it profitable to dig the crop before 
maturity and market it. The most common method of 
handling the crop in this case is to dig the potatoes and 
place them in barrels or hampers in the field and load 
them in wagons and haul them to market. Others prefer 
storing and marketing the crop later in the winter when 
prices are good. 
Curing and Storing Sweet Potatoes.—If the farmer 
is growing potatoes only for his home use he will find it 
economical and practical to place first the potatoes in 
thin piles and allow them to dry for five or six days in 
