, 1864-01-16
Preservation Of Potatoes.

aDOuL preserving ~ VIII HO" oS s''5
Potatoes, as every one knows, are very
palliative and very nutritive, but in autumn
become less so as the season advances. In
deed, as they are generally kept, they lose
so much of their pleasing taste and nutrl'
tiveness by May, that few would make use
of them were it not that they have become
a sort of household dependence, so that we
prefer those in bad condition to none.
The American Agriculturist says: A
liberal amount of earth collected With them
is rather beneficial than otherwise in their
preservation"
Oddly as the above may sound in the
ears of some, it is strictly true. Taking
it as q sort Of text, but allowing ourselves
the usual liberty Of departure for accomo
dation's sake, we propose to discourse, at
exactly this season, on the essential condf
tions for the preservation OF the potato in
something like its original goodness.
Supposing, then. that we have potatoes
of desirable quality-not your wet, soggy
things, grown on land containing little or
no alkali, and therefore good for nothing at
first, and hardly worth preserving; but
those grown on land rich in lime and pot.
ash, or made so by special manuring for
this crop, what is to be done to preserve
those qualities which rendered them the
praise of all paIates in October, till June
Of the following year?
Every one must have noticed that If q
potato be left in the hill over winter and
then plowcd out in the next May, IL pos.
sesses precisely the same qualities 1t had
the previous OctOber-has undergone no
change whatever, but is as dry, mealy, and
ready to crack open in boiling as ever.
Now, let US see why this is SO: The
suns warmth, air and light ore essential
conditions for growing the potato and
bringing it to perfect maturity; but these
same forces, if allowed still to operate,
carry it on beyond maturity, that is, to de.
cay.
The excellence of the ripe tuber consists
in its starch. But the starch In q potato
Is most abundant the moment IL Is ripe,
and Il diminlshes from that time onward,
just about In proportion as It Is exposed to
the sun, air and light The same influences
which improve its qualities TO the time Of
ripening, deteriorate them. The first step
in the destruction of the potato is change
Of its starch into sugar. This commences
with ripeness, II the suns warmth, in con-
junction with air and light is permitted to
operate.
To exclude these influences is the grand
secret Of preserving the potato In all its
original excellence. BY the proper time
for digging potatoes, in October or Novem.
ber-for those to be kept should not be
dug till late-the ground has become cold I;
the earth has settled firmly around the
tubers; the air and light are mostly ex
cluded, and the tubers, If the soil Is Of the
right character and in tho tight condition,
are sure to be kept pretty uniformly moist.
These being the conditions by which po-
tatoes, left in the hill, arc SO finely pre-.
served, whenever they lie so deeply as not
to be badly frozen, we insist that analogous
conditions should be sought for their pre-
servation. Nature here, as IN many other
cases, Is teacher not to be despised. Let
potatoes for the next summers use be dug
late-no matter how late II only they cs-
cape being frosted expose them to the
sun as little as possible, and carry them as
soon as may BE- to their winter quarters.
There let them be packed in cold, moist
soil; or, as the AgTicalturist Expresses il,
saliberal amount Of earth collected with
them i rather beneficial than otherwise" /"
Il Is decidedly so for these reasons:
First, the earth, at late digging, will be
cold and moist just as Il should be to pre-
vent the leaak heatln0 Second the nlnra