This is a Southern plant, but is now being acclimated in Northern
latitudes. Good sweet potatoes are now grown in the colder parts of
Vermont, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. There are many varieties, and they
are increasing by seedlings. Not long since, they were said to bear no
seed; but recently, in different parts of the country, seeds have been
found, and new varieties grown from them. Certain varieties are best in
different localities. They will always find their way through growers of
plants. The process of growing is simple, but must be carefully followed
to insure success. Plant the seed potatoes in a moderate hotbed, at the
time when grass begins to start freely. Keep well watered, and do not
allow them to get too warm. An hour's over-heating will cause them all
to decay. The heat, when it begins to rise too high, is at once checked
by a thorough drenching with cold water: if too low, the heat is raised
by a tight cover, in a warm sun, and by watering with warm water. Water
them every day after they are up. The sprouts, when six inches high, are
pulled off from the potato, and set out as cabbage-plants; this should
be done as soon as all danger of frost has ceased. The same potatoes
will sprout as many times as they are pulled off.
Sweet potatoes need much sun and warmth; they are, therefore, planted on
round hills, or, better, on ridges, which may be principally thrown up
with a plow, and made from a foot to eighteen inches high. Set the
plants in the top, about fifteen inches or two feet apart; keep clear of
weeds, making the hill or ridge a little larger by each hoeing. The
tops, being long running vines, will soon cover the ground. They produce
better tubers for throwing the vines, in a twist, up over the top of the
rows. They will take root at each joint of vine, when undisturbed, which
roots will draw from the main tuber. These roots would be as good and
large as any, if they had time: hence, at the South, one half of the
crop is grown from sets, from cuttings of the ends of the early-planted
vines. At the North, where seasons are short, these joints must be
prevented--by throwing up, as above, or loosening--from taking root. The
tubers will need all the strength; the plant and tuber are tender, and a
little frost will kill the vines and cause the potatoes to decay. They
may be kept for use until January by packing, when dug in a warm day, in
the soil in which they grew;--kept through winter, packed in straw or
chaff, in boxes that will contain about two or three bushels each, and
kept in a room with a fire: the room should be at a temperature of from
forty to sixty degrees; fifty-five is best, though seventy will not
destroy them; more or less will cause them to decay. The boxes may be
placed one upon another, but should be left open, that their moisture
may evaporate. Dry sand (kiln-dried), sifted over and close among them,
will preserve them. Free circulation of air is indispensable. It is
usually cheapest to buy the plants of those who make a business of
raising them. They are very hardy--may be transported one thousand miles
and do just as well. To transplant with perfect safety in a dry time,
after the plant has been put in its place, pour in a pint of water, and
cover it with a little dry soil to prevent baking--and not one out of
fifty will perish.
These few brief directions will enable any one to be successful wherever
corn will grow. A new variety has just been brought into Alabama from
Peru, that is pronounced superior to all others; a prodigious bearer,
even on poor sandy land, and far more hardy than other varieties, the
root retaining its excellence as it came out of the ground till the
following May.