Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-10-25
Keeping Potatoes.

That veteran horticulturist and market
gardener. J. NJ. Smith. ought to be au-
thority upon all matter in his line. hence
we give the following written by him for
the Farmers Review" feeling sure that
no one who is situated as he can go amiss
in following his plans. He says: | have
tried different methods of keeping potatoes.
but have never found or seen any that
seemed to me to be quite equal to the
following. perfer early planting, and
crop to maturity during the month of
August "a few of our late growing varie-
ties excepted Very soon after they are
fairly ripened, and before any of the Fall
rains begin, we dig them, using for the
purpose our common, six-tined manure
forks. My soil is sandy loan, and when
the crop is as good as we generally hope
for and actually get, two men with these
forks will turn them out as fast as three
men can pick them up and sack them, or
put them into heaps and slightly cover
them, the work being about the same in
either case. prefer to dig during a cool
and pleasant day, and let the potatoes lie
about an hour before picking them up.
Then pick up only such as are to be put
away for Winter. There is no other time
as good for sorting them as this. Level off
little spot of ground, and put them in
heaps of twenty bushels to thirty bushels
each. Pile them up in snug heaps, and if
convenient throw a little course hay or
straw over them. If this is not handy.
use the potato tops for the first cover, and
then cover with two or three inches of
earth, leaving small vent hole in the
heap. prefer leaving them here until
near the setting in of Winter. Then take
them out from the heaps and put them
into secondhand barrels, which can gen
orally be obtained for few cents each.
Shake them down and fill as full as posi-
bic and still head up the barrel Haul
them to the cellar, and they may be rolled
up IN tiers against one side of it and oc-
cupy but very little room. We have gen
orally cut one or more small holes in the
sides of the barrel; still | am not certain
that 1t is of any bentft. If the barrels are
scarce or high | know of no reason why
common boot and shoe boxes would not
answer the purpose equally well They
may be taken down. one barrel or box at a
time, and opened and exposed to the light
and air all winter have no recollection
of ever losing peck of them during the
winter when put up in this manner. The
quality remains perfect until spring, pro-
vided they are kept at proper tempera-
ture; otherwise | do not believe any sys-
TEN of keeping will preserve them in good
condition. | have never experimental
carefully in regard to the best tempera-
ture, but doubt if we can do better than
to keep the cellar about 50 degrees. Even
if they are to be kept in open bins during
the winter, ] prefer to keep them and
cover them in the field for time before
putting them into the cellar When we
have large bins full of either potatoes or
other roots. as we sometimes do, we put a
ventiIating tube through the center of
each one which has a tendency to improve
the ventilation and preserve from heating
and decay After the nice potatoes are
properly put into heaps and covered, we
pick up the others and put them away,
and use them for feed during the winter
or the following spring.