. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. Ta —^a ^~ Fig. 842. Hand-marker for the proper spacing of sweet- potato plants. cession. The writer has had men set 15,000 plants, or two acres in a day. For setting out large areas, say twenty acres or more, it will usually pay to get a transplanting machine. Several of these transplanters are on the market, and work with a fair degree of success when operated by a well-trained crew. One great Fig. 843. Transplanting machine setting sweet-potatoes. See Figs. 230, 871. make straight rows. Two boys quick with their hands are required. When
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. Ta —^a ^~ Fig. 842. Hand-marker for the proper spacing of sweet- potato plants. cession. The writer has had men set 15,000 plants, or two acres in a day. For setting out large areas, say twenty acres or more, it will usually pay to get a transplanting machine. Several of these transplanters are on the market, and work with a fair degree of success when operated by a well-trained crew. One great Fig. 843. Transplanting machine setting sweet-potatoes. See Figs. 230, 871. make straight rows. Two boys quick with their hands are required. When the outfit is working properly, twenty-five to thirty thousand plants a day can be transplanted. There are several other methods used in setting out plants, particularly by the New Jersey growers in their soft, sandy soils. One of the simplest planting machines is a lath or stick about the length of a cane, one end of which is two inches wide and distinctly concave; over this concave end a piece of soft leather is tacked. As the boy drops the plant as nearly as possible in its proper place, the man following simply pushes it into the ground by dropping the leather-covered staff over the root-end of the plant. A second thrust is made to force the soil around the plant. More elaborate tongs and planters are used in some places. Cultivation.—The first operation in the cultiva- tion of the sweet-potato is ordinarily the splitting out of the middles. A round trip is made with a plow, throwing against the sides of the ridges the additional soil left undisturbed in mak- ing the ridge. This is done within a week from planting time, or as soon as convenient, and before weeds have .started. It is followed before weed- growth begins, and usually within two weeks of planting, by the first cultivation. The cultivator used by the writer is an ordinary five-tooth garden cultivator of the Planet Jr. type, having a narrow (one and one-fourth-inch) tooth to go next to the plants.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
