Sweet Potato Culture for Profit by R. H. Price is an illustrated manual that carries the crop from propagation through harvest, storage and use. Published by Texas Farm and Ranch Publishing Co. in Dallas, the volume has an 1896 copyright and a preface dated August 25 of that year.
A manual built around the whole crop
Price identifies two intended readers in his preface: the farmer putting information to use and the teacher presenting facts to students. He explains that the book brings together his experimental work with results from other investigators.
The title page promises coverage for both southern and northern latitudes. That comparison recurs in the chapters on growing plants, storing roots and yields of varieties.
Its breadth makes the book useful in a historical self-sufficiency collection. It treats propagation, field work, storage, marketing and food uses as parts of a connected enterprise.
Origins, uses and growing conditions
The opening chapters consider botanical characteristics and origin, followed by a separate treatment of the Chinese yam. The latter should be distinguished from the sweet potato rather than assumed to be another name for the same crop.
A uses chapter discusses food for people and livestock, canning and drying. Climate, soils and soil preparation follow, establishing the conditions in which the author places his growing methods.
The fertilizer chapter distinguishes commercial and domestic materials and asks how their use can be made profitable. Its figures and recommendations document the agricultural thinking of the period, rather than providing a present-day input budget.
Propagation and transplanting
Propagation receives detailed attention. Price discusses sets, tubers and vine cuttings, selection of roots for planting stock and the production of young plants under different climatic conditions.
Transplanting follows as a separate stage, with discussion of timing, methods, machinery and ridge versus level planting. The structure helps readers follow the movement from a propagation bed to the main crop.
Illustrations make equipment and operations easier to interpret. For readers comparing traditional methods, they also preserve the forms of machinery available when the book was written.
Cultivation, harvest and storage
The cultivation chapter considers shallow and deep work and the handling of vines. Harvesting and storage then connect field maturity and digging with the crop’s condition during keeping.
The author distinguishes northern and southern storage conditions. This is a useful reminder that storing a harvested crop involves climate and facilities as well as the roots themselves.
Readers interested in farm organization can use these chapters to trace the succession of tasks and the points at which damage, delay or unsuitable conditions might affect the product.
Varieties and crop health
The title page advertises descriptions of forty-seven varieties and a proposed system of classification. The contents include nomenclature, synonyms, variation and the origin of new forms, alongside a chapter on vineless or bunch types.
These sections are valuable for interpreting names in older catalogues and agricultural writing. They show how the author tried to organize a crop whose varieties could be described under overlapping or inconsistent names.
Diseases and insect enemies receive their own chapters. The explanations and remedies are historical material; they should be distinguished from current diagnosis and crop-protection guidance.
Marketing and household material
Shipping and marketing broaden the account beyond production. The later chapters also include state weights and measures, weather prediction and cookery, giving the volume a mixture of farm reference and household information.
That mixture is part of the book’s historical character. The weather material and other period explanations should be read critically, while the contents and index allow readers to locate the practical crop subjects directly.
This free ebook suits gardening historians, readers comparing sweet-potato systems and researchers of agricultural education. Its strongest features are the full growing sequence, substantial variety material and illustrated operations.
The PDF contains 127 digital pages, including covers, preliminary matter and an index. It preserves aged paper and some library markings. Enlarge small labels and tables, and consult the errata notice when following the original printed references.
Book details
- Author: R. H. Price
- Publisher: Texas Farm and Ranch Publishing Co., Dallas, Texas
- Year: 1896
- Edition: Copyright 1896; preface dated August 25, 1896; no numbered edition stated
- Digital length: 127 PDF pages
- Language: English
- File size: 8.58 MB
