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Show TJHeJ GROWING OF SWEET PO- 5 TATOES. i 1 , M. W. LUlywhite, B. Y. University, ! 1 . Provo. 1 ; The sweet potato is a vegetable rtjry (rarely planted in climates not having eight or ten months of grow ing; woathor; therefore people who liye in cold climates know but very little 'of how it is j$r.wn. Th'c swoct potato differs widejy from the Irish potato. The method of planting is somewhat a kin to that of the tomato. Early in the spring th,c farmer plants his potatoes in a hot-bed, usuallly on the sunny side bf the house. irdn each potato planted will grow, perhaps, twenty to fifty small' plants. These when about four inches hjgh, arc pulled and replanted in just the same man- 1 nar, and about the same distance I apart, as the tomato, excepting that a ' the potato ought to be planted on 1 idfi (f ,bgb furrow. "1 About a nfttnHi nff, the plunks have 1 hecnisct pu, the farmer will do some I more transplanting, especially if he is farming on n large scale. This , II time however, instead of using hot -(t 'liousc; plants he will use the shoots, I or runners from the plants already t ct but ; whicji will lmve spread ovor B the ground fpr several feet in all directions. 'JJuay are chopped off in lengths of about ten inches, and H pltnted in a similar manner, though with not so much care, as at the first' transplanting. If the soil is a rich, sandy loam, and it is this soil which produces the best sweet potatoes; the vines will be of a dark-green, healthy-looking color, and before many months pass the ground will be entirely covered cov-ered with them. The potato, itself however, grows only on the main roots of the plant and near the top of the furrow. When the potatoes arc nearly mature, ma-ture, the vines turn a yellowish color. The soil about the main roots cx-, cx-, pands, to the ex vent of cracking, so as to make room for the growing potatoes. The harvesting is in the same manner as that of the Irish potato; po-tato; The sweet potato will mature with less water than the Irish. The greatest labor is in setting out the plants. But the farmer feels well paid for his trouble when he plows up potatoes weighing from one to ten pounds. |