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Growing Sweet Potatoes in IowaExperience of a Grower in Muscatine County Who is Planting 150 Acres This Year.—By C. V. Holsinger.I' IWEBT potato growing is one of the most important agricultural I ^ industries o£ the South, As a |k/ food product it serves the peo-pie of that country in much the same way that the Irish potato does in the northern states. The plant is originally from the tropics hut i3 now very much at home in its newer environment which takes in much of the territory south of the 40th or 41st paral-A Sweet Potato Curing and Storing House.lei of latitude. In some favored sections north of this line, the sweet potato does exceedingly well and is one of the leading crops grown by the farmer. It is a warm weather crop and does not do well In those sections where the days and nights are coo', The soil requirements are quite dif» ferent from those generally found in the corn belt. It would be time wasted to plant “sweets” on the heavy black lands where corn does best Ideal soils are those that are sandy in their nature. It does not follow that soils should bo very thin but they can begrowth of vines and unless frosts are very early, they are sure as any cultivated crop of producing 8 good yield. Crops of 200 to 300 bushels per acre were harvested last year.Because of the cultural requirements few growers put in large acreages as measured by other field crops. It takes considerable managerial ability to plant and properly care for 30 or 40 acres of sweet potatoes. Yet here and there we And some who are doing it and in quite a highly profitable way.Wolford Bros. Company, Conesville, Muscatine county, Iowa, have been unusually successful in producing sweet potatoes. One of the brothers recently reported a yield of 8,000 bushels from 30 acres in 1919. In reporting the success of their work Mr. Wolford did not seem to think the growing of the crop was anything unusual, hut anyone who is familiar with a crop of this kind, will realize the dose attention that must he given to the necessary details. Failure to attend to one of the number of important details would spell disaster.In response to questions Mr. Wolford stated that his soil was quite sandy and that it was located in the Cedar river bottom just above Burlington.in preparing their laud in the spring, Mr. Wolford stated that it is first thrown into ridges with a lister. As stated before, sweets'’ will-not do well on soil that is too rich; hut Mr. Wolford finds that he can use manure on his soil to good advantage. He applies it by straddling the ridges with a manure spreader and throwing the manure directly into the furrow. He is able to do this by means of a piece of sheet metal so formed and placed 1 at the rear of the spreader that prac-Nancy Halls Ready fpr the Comer Grocery.too rich. Sandy soils suitable for sweet potato growing are usually well drained and warm. It often follows that on the border line between the northern and southern states or rather the dividing line between the sections where sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes meet, the “sweets” do best in the dry hot summers when the common “spuds” are a failure.The season of 1919 was no exception to this rule for the crop or Irish potatoes was about as near a failure in the central portion of the Middle West as it ever was. The hot, dry weather of July and August, as well as other troubles, caught them at a critical time. On the other hand, the same adverse weather condition went a long way towards making some of the sweet potato growers happy for an unusually good crop was grown last year.It does not follow that the sweet potato vines require only hot, dry weather, for ■ they must have some moisture, but it is really surprising how nitwit punishment, the vines will stand in midsummer. In July and August, when field crops are drying up, sweet potatoes continue to hold their own. It is true that they do uot make such growth during this period but with the approach of autumn and the accompanying fall rains, the ridges are soon covered with a heavytically all the manure goes between the ridges. He was asked if he would not get just as good results by spreading fertilizers evenly over the soil. Ills reply was to the effect that this might bo so, yet his results were so satisfactory that he would continue to plant on the ridges immediately over the fertilizer. They accomplish this by running the lister through the field, splitting the old ridge and thus placing the permanent ridge immediately over the manure. In applying the manure they use eight to ten tons per acre. Much of their supply is se-Imerior View oi‘ Curing and Storinf House.
Newspaper Details
Des Moines Iowa Homestead
Des Moines, Iowa, US
Thu, May 06, 1920
Page 11
Full Page
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Anonymous
IA, USA 18 Feb 2025
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