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Show manure, or by the application of water. The preparation of a plant bed in which artificial heat is used is thus . described by a sweet-potato grower in New Jersey: "Select a location where sufficient rise can be had, say, 1 foot in 20. Build a furnace of brick to burn coal or wood; if you wish to use wood build not less than 2 by 5 feet. The top of the furnace should be depressed about 3 feet below the bed and covered with soil so as to avoid danger of fire. Take 3 rows of s or 6-inch tile for flues and run them about three-fourths the length of bed; here we have a hot-air space about 1 foot deep running all under the bed. Cover this space with boards and put a board chimney at the upper end, with damper to regulate reg-ulate draft. Keep damper well closed to hold the heat. Beds should be about 12 feet wide and from 48 to 100 feet long." On the plank floor of the bed is placed under the potatoes a layer of about 5 inches of sand or soil. The potatoes are covered with earth as in a bed warmed by manure. The flues may be made of brick instead of tile. As an extra precaution against fire a coat of asbestus paint may be applied to the woodwork of the bed. The bottom of the bed I may be level, the slope of the ground giving the necessary grade to the flue, and the hollow space between the bottom of the bed and the ground should be closely boarded in . By excavating, the bed may be brought down to the level of the ground around. PERIOD OF GROWTH OF SETS. The sweet potatoes intended for seed purposes should be bedded 5 or 6 weeks before the date on which it is expected to transplant the first lot of sets. The sets are large enough for Sweet Potatoes! Culture And Uses. (Continued) transplanting when their length I above ground is 4 to 6 inches if they are sufficiently tough to admit of handling. If they are ready before a safe date for setting in the field or before the ground is ready, Oemler recommends that they be detached The amount of manure required depends "on climate, season, char acter of manure, and to a less degree on some other factors. Experienced growers in localities where early sweet potatoes are grown for market endeavor to use such an amount of manure as will keep the soil around the bedded roots at about 75 to 80 F.; during the first few days after bedding bedd-ing the soil is sometimes allowed to warm up to 85 or 90. In the Gulf .; States the usual depth of manure is 2 to 5 inches, while in New Jersey a depth of 12 inches is not uncommon. The manure should be rather coarse manure which has not been repeat edly heated; when applied it should be. moistened, and then leveled and packed . trom tne parent roots, and in a pro- tected situation "heeled in," like strawberry plants awaiting transplanting. trans-planting. Their early removal allows younger sprouts an opportunity opportu-nity for growth. At least three crops of sets three "drawings" may be obtained, although growers desiring an early crop may be able to utilize only one or two of these drawings. The sweet-potato plant is very susceptible to cold, and the sets can not be transplanted with safety until danger of frost is past. j The movable cover of the bed may be either of litter, boards, cloth, : or glass, depending on climate, sea- son, and degree of forcing desired. - Glass is most satisfactory when ;an I early crop is desired, but its expense is against its use in many cases, and cloth oiled with linseed oil is substituted sub-stituted After the sprouts appear above ground they ' should be toughened by a process I of gradual exposure to the outside air, raising or removing the cover in suitable weather. The bed should be kept moist but not wet. If necessary the bed should be watered before and after the appearance of the sets, and should be protected a-gainst a-gainst heavy and cold rains. If the heat from the fermenting manure becomes excessive it may be reduced by removing the cover of the plant bed, by making small holes in the soil down to the layer of |