Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1911 — Farm and Garden [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Farm and Garden

GROW SWEET POTATOES. That They Thrive Only In th» South is Now an Exploded While the sweet potato is of a tropical nature and is generally considered a vegetable to be grown only in the south, experiments by the department of agriculture show that it will grow, and grow well, as far north as Michigan. ' The ridges for planting sweet potatoes should be three to five feet apart and the plants about fourteen inches apart in the row. Cultivate sufficiently to keep the surface soil loose and free from weeds, and the vines will soon cover the ground, after which no cultivation will be necessary. In the warmer parts of the country the seed is not bedded, but is cut In small pieces and planted in the ridges instead of plants. After the plants come up and begin to make vines freely pieces of the vines are removed and used as cuttings for planting additional areas, the cuttings taking root and growing the same as plants grown from seed In this manner three and four plantings are made, the last being as late as the middle of July. If a rainy spell be

selected for making and planting the cuttings very few will fail to grow and an excellent crop may be produced. In the north sweet potatoes are dug as soon as the vines are nipped by frost. In the south the potatoes are allowed to remain in the ground until a convenient time for handling them, and in Florida or Texas they are frequently left until required for use. Sweet potatoes should be dug on a bright, drying day, when the soil is not too wet. On a small scale they may be dug with a spading 4 fork, and great care should be taken that the roots do not become bruised or injured process of handling. ,lt is desirable that the roots should lie exposed for two or three hours to dry thoroughly, after which they may be placed in a warm, well ventilated room to cure for several days. The proper temperature for curing sweet potatoes is from 80 to 90 degrees F. 'and 45 or 55 degrees F. afterward. A small crop may be cured around the kitchen stove and later stored in a dry room where there will be no danger of their becoming too cold. Sweet potatoes should be handled as little as possible, especially after they have been cured.

Hum of the Hive. Remember that bees crawl up instead of down. Sjjend your honey to the market in as attractive a form as possible. Stand at the aide of the hive and not in front of it while handling your bees. Be sure that your bees have a good prolific Italian queen, and the ants will not bother them. The honey extractor saves the bees much time in comb building, and thus the beekeeper can secure more honey. Improve your bees by always rearing queens! and increasing from colonies that have gathered the most honey. A large number of farmers are engaged extensively in honey production. Some of them ship over a car of honey each season. Heartsease whs formerly not worth considering as a honey plant because of its scarcity, but of late years it has become plentier, and now it is worth many dollars; same with dandelion. Honey and wax were never in greater demand than at the present time, and beekeeping bids, fair to take a higher rank among the productive industries than has hitherto been accorded it. The present improved system of management requires that hives should not stand too near each other. There should be at least six feet between them, and ten would be a preferable distance. A bee expert gives away this little secret: If bees are kept in a shed the grossest of them can be handled withs_out fear of being stung. A bee shed ought to be long enough to give at least two feet to each hive and sufficiently wide and high, so that one can work .comfortably back of the row of hives. It should open preferably’ to the east, so as to get the morning air. Cleaning and casing honey must be done in a well lighted place and a large bench or table provided for it. The shipping cases to receive the honey should be placed so as to face the packer and should be arranged so no propolis from scraping will fly into them. It is desirable to have several cases for each grade on the bench, so that honey of the same shade and finish may go into the same case.

HOW SWEET POTATOES GROW.