Sweet Potato Culture for the Southern Planter by Clinton Crow, assisted by C. W. Waughtel, is a regional manual that follows the crop from bedding through harvest and sale. Crow & Brogdon published it in Seville, Georgia, and the copyright page dates the work to 1915.
A southern manual with a commercial outlook
The dedication addresses planters moving away from a one-crop system. Crow’s preface presents more informed sweet-potato culture as a way to improve production, keeping quality and returns.
The book combines the author’s experience with information from growers, shippers and correspondents. Its perspective is that of a practical southern industry, including both roots grown for use and plants produced for other growers.
That commercial setting matters when reading the volume. Expectations about markets and profits are historical judgments, while the detailed growing sequence remains useful for understanding how the enterprise was organized.
Adaptation and varieties
Early chapters discuss adaptation and varieties before turning to propagation. The author pays attention to the confusion of names, including the different meanings given to “yam” in different communities.
This makes the variety section relevant to readers working with old agricultural literature. A name in a local account may not have had the same meaning in another district or market.
The discussion links varieties with growing conditions and preferences. Read it as a record of the sorts and terminology used by the author, rather than assuming that every historical name identifies a readily available modern planting stock.
From seed selection to transplanting
Bedding and seed selection lead into soil preparation and fertilizer application. The structure lets readers follow how decisions about planting material connect with the land where the main crop will grow.
A separate transplanting chapter covers time of setting, methods and cutting vines. Propagation is therefore treated as a process with several stages, rather than a single action at planting time.
For readers comparing traditional crop systems, these passages preserve the relationship between plant beds, field preparation and the supply of young plants. They also show how commercial plant production could become a distinct business.
Fertilizer discussions and quantities belong to the agricultural practice of the period. Their use today requires separate assessment of soil, crop requirements and current materials.
Cultivation, harvest and keeping
The cultivation chapter carries the crop through its growing period. Harvesting and storing follow together, connecting the condition of roots at digging with their behavior afterward.
The storage discussion includes ventilation and the arrangement of a storage building. The author also considers banks and the effect of handling and weather on keeping quality.
These sections are useful for studying the practical concerns of a farm before modern storage systems became common. They preserve the choices available to growers and the reasoning used to compare them.
Markets and Florida plant growing
The marketing chapter discusses finding buyers beyond nearby southern markets, the qualities wanted by different customers, grading and packing. It links variety choice with the expectations of the buyer.
A final chapter concerns commercial sweet-potato plant growing in Florida. This broadens the book from raising roots to supplying the planting material on which other growers depend.
Named businesses, growers and period promotional material form part of the scan. They should be read as historical evidence of the trade, with their prices, claims and contact details belonging to 1915.
The conclusion includes production calculations and a planting story. Those examples reveal how the author encouraged readers to think about space and returns; they are not present-day earnings estimates.
Who will find it useful
This free ebook suits agricultural historians, readers studying southern crop diversification and anyone comparing traditional sweet-potato propagation and marketing systems. Its regional focus and plant-growing chapter distinguish it from a short general extension leaflet.
The PDF contains 122 digital pages, including preliminary matter, portraits and commercial material. It preserves the original cover, illustrations and printed pagination. Use the contents to locate individual operations, and enlarge small type when reading numerical examples and equipment details.
Book details
- Author: Clinton Crow, assisted by C. W. Waughtel
- Publisher: Crow & Brogdon, Seville, Georgia
- Year: 1915
- Edition: Copyright 1915 by Southern Printers, Inc.; no numbered edition stated
- Digital length: 122 PDF pages
- Language: English
- File size: 6.03 MB
