Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-11-03
Gathering and storing Potatoes.

LILO 4NO" AOIhOA OdySs LILO ROObUO
crop is an important one in many Sec
tons, and now that the price has open
ed SO low, and there is scarcely mar
ket at any price, in some places farmers
who have ten, twenty or thirty acres are
puzzled what to do with them. Early
digging implies twice handling, while
it seems to be necessary in order to get
the bulk of tho crop harvested before
cold weather sets In. It is certain,
however, that early potatoes should not
be stored in hot weather unless fully
ripe. Their skins are tender, and If
pitted in the field in warm weather
these unripe potatoes speedily
heat and rot. We have known
where potatoes covered in the field
have become total loss within two
weeks after pitting. AS the weather
becomes cooler this danger lessons,
partly from the fact that t1bers are gen
orally ripper. Even when piled in rail-
road cars these unripe potatoes are
dangerous handling. Almost every
year some dealers are badly bitten early
IN the season from loss in shipping un-
ripe and decaying potatoes. 1t is this
danger and frequent loss which general
~ "breaks the potato market early
in the season, from which it sometimes
does not recover until late in the fall
It would be better for grocers, dealers,
and all parties If no potatoes could be
marketed before the last of September
except to supply demands from day to
day for immediate consumption. Any
attempt to store stock of these early
potatoes is pretty certain to result in
loss.
Storing potatoes for winter is in
northern ATTITUDES almost equally risky
business. The experience of hundreds
OF farmers during the past two Or three
very severe winters has been disastrous,
Frost penetrated open ground not coz
cred by snow last winter as deep as four
feet. Of course most potato heaps were
frozen into and their contents destroy
ed. But not all. It is possible with
proper care to cover potatoes SO that
frost cannot get in. What is needed
is one or two extra layers of straw or
other material to hold confined air be-
tween the potatoes and the outer cold.
This is the use of the straw or potato
top covering over the heap before the
earth is put on. This confined air is a
much better non conductor of heat, than
earth, and is the best reliance for pro-
lection. To make it more sure, after
covering the heap with five or six inches
more of earth, add another covering of
straw, and then earth this as before.
This double wall of earth with spaces of
confined air between is much more eff
fective than solid body OF earth to ax-
clude frost. We know potatoes which
were uninjured last winter when thus
protected, while it would have been al
most impossible to cover them deep
enough to insure protection.
It was difficult last winter to save
pototoes in many cellars. Frost pene-
trated where it never was known be-
fore. Aside from frost, there is a iurth-
er difficulty in storing potatoes in many
cellars which are too warm and dry
toward spring, causing the shoots to
start and the potatoes to shrivel and
lose substance and favor. This is
especially true of potatoes of early vari-
cites, or those kept late for seed.
We learned this hint from finding early
rose potatoes which had lain on the
bare ground In q cellar, to the LIST OF