CHAPTER XIII

STORING

POTATOES may be stored in the open in piles covered with straw and earth, in cellars or root-houses, according to the climatic conditions.

Piles. These are useful for temporary storage in the North. Dig a trench about 3 or 4 inches deep, 3 feet wide, and as long as desired; make the bottom per

FIG. 45-POTATO SHOVEL

fectly level and firm, so that a potato shovel (Fig. 45) may be used on it when moving the potatoes. Throw the soil from the trench onto each side, making a bank about 15 inches wide with it. This will give a trough about 7 inches deep in which to empty the potatoes. Pile the potatoes neatly, so that the face of the pile at the center will be 3 feet or so high. When sufficient potatoes are stored, place about 3 inches thick of rye or wheat straw (oat straw being liable to heat and become mouldy) with the butts down and heads up on the sides and one end of the pile, leaving the other end for additional potatoes (Fig. 46). Then cover the straw

with soil, beginning at the bottom and piling it toward the apex; 2 or 3 inches thick will be sufficient near the top with the straw, and 6 or 7 inches at the base. Finish the surface off by patting it with the spade so

that it will turn rain. Dig a channel all around the pile, using this soil for the covering. The bottom of this channel should be below the floor of the pile, and have an outlet to let off water, thus insuring a dry bottom for the pile. Leave the ridge of the pile open to permit the moisture to escape when the potatoes "sweat." If it is desired to hold the potatoes in these

piles over winter, more soil or old hay must be put over them as the frost comes on. The mouth of the pile should be closed at night, and care should be taken to have no potatoes left on the ground at night. Rain or frost may come on and injure them, or retard the work. Sufficient covering must be put on the piles to prevent the rain and sun discoloring the potatoes. I have known a whole crop ruined by inattention to this point. The rain browns them, and the sun makes them green and unsalable. This method is not advisable in the Northern States unless one is sure that they will not want to sell or put up the potatoes until spring, as the pit cannot be opened during frost or in wet weather, and in spring moving potatoes on wet land is objectionable.

Cellars. If seed potatoes only are held, they may be kept in trays, bushel boxes, or barrels, storing these so that air can circulate under and round them, or they may be held in bins.

Construction.-The location of the cellar should be dry and well drained. It should be built underground, of concrete, brick, or stone walls, with a plastered ceiling if a building is above it, to make a dead air-space between the plaster and the floor. Concrete walls are readily made with clean gravel, sand, and cement, with boards to hold the material while settling. Use one part of Portland cement, three of sand, and six of gravel; mix the sand and cement, then add the gravel; wet and mix, and fill into the wall-space. To hold it in position while drying it is customary to use 1-inch boards, nailed onto 2 x 4-inch studding, which may be placed 1 foot 6 inches on centers. To pre

vent sagging, the studding of one side is braced to that on the other side by % x %-inch iron strips, which are placed three feet apart each way, and nailed to the studding on each side. These are left in the wall, and the ends cut off when the boards are taken down. Apertures through which to shoot the potatoes should be left at intervals. One satisfactory cellar of which I know has a driveway through the center and bins on each side. The bins are about 10 feet wide and are filled 4 to 6 feet deep. Divisions are put in as desired.

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Ventilation and Temperature are most important. The potatoes must be kept cool, about 33° F. · being a favorable temperature. If possible, lead air through a deep underground drain-tile into the cellar; the length of the tile should be sufficient to warm the air a little in winter, and the outside end of it should be covered to prevent the entrance of vermin. ventilator on the roof will remove warm air. raised board floor in each bin and a ventilator running from it up through the tubers at intervals. Have double doors at the entrance and the shoots, and keep the place dark. Darken the windows if there are any. A small cellar can be made if desired, but make the roof high enough to work in-say, 8 feet. Purchase a reliable thermometer and hang it in the cellar, an oilstove and radiator, and, if the temperature is going down too low, warm the place. It is folly to have potatoes freeze to save ten cents worth of kerosene. The advantages of a cellar are:

I. You can see how the crop is keeping.

2. The conditions can be controlled.

3. The potatoes can be sold at any time.

Losses in Storage.-Potatoes suffer loss in weight in keeping in addition to any loss due to disease or insect attacks. At Cornell University, during the past winter, the variety Sir Walter Raleigh, stored in crates in a cool cellar, lost 12 per cent. in weight between the date November 6, 1903, and April 27, 1904, a period of 173 days, while the variety Carman No. 3 lost nearly 10 per cent. Neither variety had sprouted at all. This seems to show that in this district the latter is better for storage, and growers have noted this. Sir Walter Raleigh seems better adapted for selling from the field than for storage. No doubt other varieties vary in the same way, and the same variety will vary under differing conditions. At the Michigan Experiment Station a barrel of potatoes stored September, 1893, had lost 5 per cent. in weight by March 28, and 11.5 per cent. by May 1, 1894. Research shows that these losses are influenced by temperature and the state of moisture of the air. The higher temperature increases the loss, while the higher moisture content diminishes it. Light seems to have little influence upon the loss of weight, but is injurious because it diminishes the selling value of the potato. The average percentage losses of twelve varieties of potatoes carefully stored in a cool cellar at a temperature of 42° to 51° F. during seven months, as recorded by E. Wollny,' are: October, 2.02 per cent.; November, 1.18; December, .50; January, .50; February, .81; March, .41; April, .50; the total loss aggregated, on an average, 6.17 per cent. In every case the losses were

1 E. S. R., III., p. 493.