Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1902-10-08
How to Save Sweet Potatoes.

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Courier The time is near at hand
when the sweet potato crop will be
harvested, and, as usual, put away to
spoil. Perhaps there is no crop that
spoils upon the farmers hands equal
to the potato crop. 1t is safe to say
that half of all the potatoes put
away for winter and spring use spoil,
either by rotting in winter or sprout-
ing. and drying out too much in
spring.
Such heavy losses on this valuable
crop put me to thinking and expert
menting. OF course, success did not
come the first year, but it did come,
and now do not lose one per cent
OF my potatoes, and / believe can
keep them in an absolutely perfect
condition until August.
1t was thus that came to make
my discovery ] noticed that when
put away my potatoes that those
nearest the bottom of the pit, lying
on the damp earth, in contact with
no straw or other foreign matter,
kept better than those that were pro-
tected (?) by straw or other covering,
and l reached q conclusion that
should / put my tubers deep enough
into the earth, keep out all rain and
cold, that the problem was solved.
This have proved beyond any
doubt.
AS soon as the first frost in Octo-
Der nips or bites my potato vines 1
put in ploughs and hand rakes and
harvest my crop. ! dig pits three
feet wide, six feet long and five feet
deep, fill in with potatoes to within
two feet of the top. Any kind of
clean, dry stuff, such as hay, fodder,
rice, oat or wheat straw may be used
to fill in the remaining space up to
the surface, then roof of boards is
made to shed off the rain, and upon
this roof is thrown two or three
inches of earth to keep out the cold.
Potatoes thus put away will not
rot, or lose one pound per bushel in
weight, or sprout until midsummer.
And they sweeten and get softer as
they age and mellow in their sepul-
chrsl-like receptacle.
Just here am led to think that
this method would be an ideal one
for keeping apples, late peaches,
pears, grapes f; in fact, all kinds of
fruits and vegetables, perfectly fresh
from one season to another.
| Fruits and conserves were ex-
humed only a few years ago at
Pompeii and other buried cities of
the East just as fresh as they were
when put away in cans and Jars
nearly two thousand years ago. And
from this discovery the great canning
industry of to-day sprung.
In putting away potatoes in pits
there are simple rules that must be
followed
Dig or harvest potatoes before
hard frost. Frost bitten potatoes
will not keep, and, even could they
be kept, they are not edible.
| Do not dig your pit deep enough
for the water to sipe (seep) into the
pit. On high elevation you may
dig the pit as deep as you wish, but
on very low lands do not 90 80 deep.
do not put any straw or any for.
elgn substance on the bottom of your
pit. Put the potatoes on the cool,
damp earth.
Use no "sidings" of anything
against the walls of you pit. Let the
tubers be in contact with the cool,
damp earth.
DO not make your pits too large.
Three feet wide, six feet long and
five feet deep will give good results
on high land. On low lands three
feet wide will be deep enough fill
half full of potatoes when the pit is
three feet deep.
If the top filling of straw is not
sound and dry, free from all mould
or rot, use no straw at all.
BE sure that the roof of the nit
does not leak. Use boards free from
holes or sun cracks. A leaky roof
means rotten potatoes.
Keep all cold win out of the pit
by putting earth upon the roof and
around the gables. Allow no water
to get into the pit.
BY following these simple rules
you can have delicious potatoes on
your table the year round. The
longer the potatoes stay in the pit
the better they-get.
Prof. j. S. Newman's plan of dry
ing potatoes will not compare at all
with my plan. To use street slang
Prof. Newman is not Gin it," Why
use dried potatoes when you can
have fresh ones all the time
There are great economic agricul-
tural problems to solve and, like any
other problems, they can be solved ;
at least all finite questions have an
answer; those infinite have none
and we have neither time nor busi-
ness in questioning them. But all
the mysteries making doubtful the
way of progressive man will be
cleared up as the sunlight banishes
the morning mists and the crooked
ways made straight and the pathway
made plain. And the great philoso-
pher, Shakespeare, when he said :
There are more things in Heaven and
earth, Horatio,
Than are dreampt of in your philosophy,
was divining a truth broader than its
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