The Sweet Potato: How to Grow and Keep It by J. Green Nordin describes the author’s system of raising, digging, storing and selling sweet potatoes. Courier-Democrat Print produced the book in Russellville, Arkansas, in 1912. Nordin writes from his own growing and storage experience.
Growing and keeping belong together
The opening outline divides the subject into eleven parts. These include seed selection for bedding, bedding methods, land preparation, transplanting, cultivation, storage houses, construction cost, digging, keeping, marketing and disease.
This organization gives the book a clear practical focus. A successful growing season is only one part of the author’s concern. He also wants the crop to survive handling and storage so that it can be used or sold later.
Nordin begins with an account of results he attributes to his method and a personal sketch. Those passages establish the character of the volume: it is a grower’s account and argument for a particular system, rather than a modern experimental review.
Seed for bedding and the start of the crop
The first cultivation topics are the choice of sweet potatoes for bedding and the time and manner of bedding them. These sections concern the material and conditions used to produce plants for setting out.
Land selection and preparation then lead to transplanting. By treating these stages separately, the author makes it possible to follow the movement from retained roots to the establishment of a new field crop.
Readers interested in traditional propagation will find this sequence useful. It preserves the terminology and working decisions of an Arkansas grower in the early twentieth century, including the connection between the previous harvest and the next planting.
Cultivation and lifting
The cultivation section continues the account after transplanting. Digging receives separate attention later, connecting the field operation with the condition of the crop that will enter storage.
This is one of the book’s useful themes for a homestead library. Handling is part of production, not merely something that happens once the crop is finished. The storage discussion depends on the way sweet potatoes are selected and treated before they are put away.
The recommendations should be read as Nordin’s period practice. Climate, varieties, equipment and present-day storage knowledge can differ from the conditions behind his account.
The potato house
A substantial part of the book concerns storage houses. Nordin discusses their description, size and cost, with illustrations that help explain the structures under consideration.
The house is presented as a working part of the system, rather than simply a room in which the crop is left. Construction and keeping practices are discussed together, giving the reader a historical view of dedicated sweet-potato storage.
These pages are particularly relevant to readers researching farm buildings. They preserve the author’s choices about the arrangement and use of a storage structure. The plans and cost figures are historical evidence, and should not be treated as current building specifications or prices.
Keeping and marketing
Nordin links keeping quality with the opportunity to sell at a different time from the main harvest. The book therefore considers storage as both a physical task and a business decision.
His statements about long keeping and favourable prices are claims about his experience and expectations. They are useful for understanding his reasoning, but do not establish a guaranteed storage period or return for another grower.
Disease is included among the final subjects. As with the cultivation and keeping advice, readers should distinguish the historical description from current diagnosis and management guidance.
Audience and digital copy
This free ebook suits gardeners, smallholding historians and readers studying traditional crop storage. Its distinctive feature is the close connection between bedding, field work, a dedicated house and the eventual handling of the crop for market.
The PDF contains 54 digital pages, including covers, preliminary matter, a portrait and illustrations. It preserves yellowed paper and uneven printing. Enlarge small text and building details, and use the section headings together with the printed page numbers when navigating the scan.
Book details
- Author: J. Green Nordin
- Publisher: Courier-Democrat Print, Russellville, Arkansas
- Year: 1912
- Edition: No numbered edition stated
- Digital length: 54 PDF pages
- Language: English
- File size: 4.13 MB
