Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-10-26
Digging and Storing Potatoes.

As Tule, we do not believe in allow
ing potatoes TO remain in the ground
long after they are ripe They are
more liable to rot, while those near the
surface are exposed to the air, become
green and bitter, and unfit for use. The
dying of the stalk indicates that the
tubers are ready for the harvest, and
they shOHld be-dug when the soils dry
they are then clean and bright and
ready either for the market.or to be put
away under cover Ii dug in rainy
weather, or when the soil is very heavy,
the dirt will adhere to them, they are
much more liable to rot and not -neafly
n marketable. Go into the vegetable
market, and you will notice that the
smooth, dry and clean potatoes will al
ways be selected first. ~ So
Dug in fair weather, potatoes will
soon become dry, and when they are SO,
they can not be gathered up and put
into the shade too quickly. ENposureto
the sunlight very soon prodlicesc a
chemical-change which renders the
tubcr unfit for use. Tho starch, Is
changed to grape sugar, the tuber be-
comes green, looses its crispness,
and when cooked is neither meaIy nor
agreeable to the taste. 1f-dug early, II
may not be best TO store them in the
cellar. ut once, lest they gather moisture
and rot->They may be spread in 4 cool
shed or barn, and covered with straw
until the weather becomes cool enough
TO put them in the cellar with safety.
The shrinkageof potatoes between the
time OF digging and the following
spring amounts TO from ten to twenty
per cent, and this should be taken
into account in marketing them.
Freshly dug potatoes are threc-fourths
water, but evaporation slowly takes
place during the winter and spring, re-
dueing the watGry portion, and render
ing the tuber of greater relative yalhe
rs food. ? The old method of storing
potatoes in pts is nearly abandoned,
though itmay still be practiccd in new
lySett!ed portions of the country. We
can we'll remember when the. Hpotato
hole" was an institution on almost
every farm, and it was regarded rs a
good method IF keeping them through
the winter. II well stored, they al
ways came out nice in the spring, but
that was before the DAYS of the potato
rot, and the system might not prove as
satisfactory nov.
A good potato cellar should be dry,
capable of being made perfectly dark
md Of being Quickly and thoroughly
ventilated. 1.-THE cellar is thoroughly
dry. the tubers night be stored upon
the ioor, but this is not generally the
ease, and it is usually best to5 censtruct
bins whose floor is raised somewhat
abova-tasee lar bottom. Board parti-
tons maybe used to separate varieties;
there isniuch less, danger ofrpt-insthis
arrangement, and ~agreater oppeFttmity
is given u. pick them over in case, rot
ting shonld begin. -'-femperatIre is one
Of tho factors in keeping q potato. Tho
germinating power>of potato Is in
iureds il not destroyed, when exposed
TO temperature below thirty asgrces,
and 1t commences'tog grow at a temper
allure above fifty Degrees Then a ceL
lar ihttsceuld be Kept within this range,
on better still, from thirty-two TO forts
degrees. ought to furnish sound potd.
toes until spring. and that wonldsprorfi
freely Alight sprinkling Of lime upof
potatoes when stored is y preventivt
against potato rot. Potato rot il a par,
lssitic fungus, and the lime DESTROYS the
germ.-Mdin. Fdrssser.