| Show CULTURE OF SWEET POTATO l lOne I IOne One of the Best Drought Resisting Plants and Will Produce Cr Crop Crap p With Little Water eB By FABIAN GARCIA i New Mexico College College Col Col- lege of or Agriculture and Mechanic Arts The sweet potato Is on one of the most drought resisting plants which we have In southern New Mexico It will prot produce uce a crop with le less s water than any other vegetable The fact that the sweet potato is quite drought resistant resistant resist resist- ant does not mean that the grower should not use as much water as Is necessary to produce a good crop At this station from six to ten Irrigations have produced good yields It has also been observed that If It the swe sweet t potatoes pota petit toes are kept well irrigated and the surface soil soli moist a larger crop is produced produced produced pro pro- and the tubers are tue nearer the sl surface of the ground than when the surface soil soli Is allowed ed to dry out ont too much If It the surface soil soli dries out too loa much the roots of the sweet potatoes pota lota- toes tend to follow the moisture and go down deep into the soil In such cases there Is a n devel development of the I root se seemingly at the expense of the I crop and the tubers are down quite deep in the soil soft besides It Is believed that if more frequent but lighter irrl were given instead of irrigations at long Intervals better results results re re- re- re suits could be obtained Aside from a d larger yield the sweet potatoes would form orm nearer the surface and it would be much easier to dig them out When the sweet potatoes are near the surface surface sur sur- face they can be plowed out very easily without bruising them very much If It the tubers go down deep In Inthe Inthe Inthe the soil soli It Is quite difficult and expensive expensive ex ex- pensive to plow them out without br bruising ising them As a rule in this section sweet pota potatoes potatoes potatoes toes are allowed ved to remain In the field until the vines have been killed by bythe bythe bythe the first frosts To a certain extent the Idea prevails among many farmers farmers farm farm- ers that sweet potatoes should be dug before the frost runs runs d down wn the vine into the tuber As to whether this is a fact or not we have no authentic data All AIl that can be said now is that practically all the sweet potatoes stored away are dug after the vines have been killed by the frost Great care must be taken that the tubers are not bruised The less they are bruised the less loss there will b be from decaying |
