Horticulture, a text book for high schools and normals, including plant propagation; . the worst enemy of the sweet potato is thestem-rot. This is soinetimes very seriousand affects much of the crop. Recent ex-periments indicate that the best methodsof combatting the disease is to select seedpotatoes from a field free from the immunity to the disease is supposed to exist. Where theseason is long enough, cuttings from healthy vines may be rootedearly in the season for the rest of the patch. Never use plantsfrom near diseased parts of propagation beds. Harvesting Sweet Potatoes.^—^T
Horticulture, a text book for high schools and normals, including plant propagation; . the worst enemy of the sweet potato is thestem-rot. This is soinetimes very seriousand affects much of the crop. Recent ex-periments indicate that the best methodsof combatting the disease is to select seedpotatoes from a field free from the immunity to the disease is supposed to exist. Where theseason is long enough, cuttings from healthy vines may be rootedearly in the season for the rest of the patch. Never use plantsfrom near diseased parts of propagation beds. Harvesting Sweet Potatoes.^—^The crop is very sensitive to fallfrost and harvesting should be completed before the first lightfrosts occur. Avoid digging the crop when the soil is very wetor muddy as the potatoes should be cured as promptly as l)right weather the potatoes may be left on the sin^face of thegroimd after digging and allowed to dry before hauling them intostorage. Methods of digging are similar to those used for the Irishpotato, (1) By hand tools, (2) By plows, (3) By machine A?^,^_ Fio. 86.—In sweet potatobeds, thin the plants often toproduce short stems and manyleaves as here shown. EXERCISES, SURVEYS, AND PROJECTS 143 Storage of Sweet Potatoes.—The principles of storage for sweetpotatoes are very different from those for Irish potatoes. Theroots should be put in the sun or in a warm room to thoroughlydry the surface before they are put away for storage. Storehouses are sometimes built where the crates of potatoesare placed in narrow tiers from floor to ceiling. Somewhere in theroom a stove is used to dry the air thoroughly. If there is free cir-culation of air through the crates, the potatoes will soon be dryenough to avoid rotting. The same room may be used to keep thepotatoes during the cold weather providing they are well msulatedfrom the outside cold.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectgardeni, bookyear1922
