The Glenwood post., 1904-04-02

lucHes-elSHt lncnes most every one
plows-, turning that heavy green
growth under. That rots very rapid
ly, so that the ground is in condition
to plant by the Goth of May on to the
1st of June. That is cur best ground
for planting potatoes We of course
harrow; use both walking and riding
plows; seldom do fall plowing, pre-
ferring to get that green growth, we
do nearly all our breaking in the
spring. Our experience with fall
p!owing is that the ground gets very
dry, so that it is hard to get it in
shape, while in The spring you turn
it under wet and the ground is in
good shape; harrow it down and pull
verize it on top. 1t will dry down
of course an inch but the dust blanket
holds your moisture underneath. We
usually grow two crops of potatoes
and get it back to alfalfa as quickly
as we can, following it with wheat
or some kind of grain. Some plant
the alfalfa the first year while some
wait until the second year. We get
it back as soon as we can so we have
about one third of our ground in po-
tatoes all the time and six years TO-
tation, which gives the best result.
Q.-Why don't you crop it longer =?
At dom pay.
E. H. GRUBB
IN Stnrora
Gentlemen: If this was legisla-
tive body and | wanted an appropri-
alton from you, | would take you up
and show you the cellar which would
be better than all the words | can
say. but l will try and tell you how
l constructed cellar and why.
In 1888 neighbor of mine at 10, 600
feet altitude, Tourtellotte Park, stored
ten sacks of potatoes in October for
the use of miners and they stored
them in tunnel some two or three
hundred feet from the surface, all that
distance from the mouth of the tunnel.
The tunnel had an air shaft which
gave ventilation that was controlled
by pieces of canvas and where those
potatoes were placed it was dark, dry
and cool. 40 degrees temperature.
For financial reasons those people
didn use those potatoes and two
years later they informed my brother
and me, who dIdn have any money
or potatoes either, that if those pota
toes were there and of any use to us.
we were welcome to them. So one
day when we hadn't anything much
else to do we thought we would &c
and see, expecting to find lot of rot
ten potatoes.
Q.-How long between the times
A. A.-Something like eighteen
months.
We found those potatoes just as
they were put in there eighteen
mouths previously, possibly two years.
They had not shrunk perceptibly, had
neither grown nor decayd nor an eye
swelled nor was there any indication
of termination.
Now when we can keep potatoes
that way, we have solved the problem
of storage of potatoes and that is
what l tried to do when l built my
storage cellar year ago last Septem
ber. l get current of cold dry air,
carrying off the excessive heat and
moisture they had when taken into
the cellar. How well | have succeed
| ed you would have to come and see.
My potatoes were dug in October,
rather muddy and dirty; were sacked
in the field and stored in the cellar n
sacks, nearly 10, 600 sacks. We have
examined them since from time to
time and they are in perfect condition
today. Those that were cut in the
machine that were sacked have healed
over and dried no dry rot, no growth,
but possibly some percentage of
shrinkage, owing perhaps to the ex-
cessive use of currents of air through
that cellar.
To make sure of their keeping, they
have been kept at as near a tempera-
ture of 35 degrees as we could do it
by opening the doors and the use of
tested thermometers and oil stoves.
The cellar is dug possibly five feet
deep, having framework of timbers,
about 10 inches of willow brush,
somewhere from 12 to 1s inches of
straw and to 10 inches of dirt, with
large number, three rows of venti-
lators two feet square, abundantly
large to carry off the moisture and the
heat, and the cellar is built so that
the currents of air of the valley can
pass through. There is really only
one other cellar, possibly two, in all of
the Roaring Fork tnat has been built
lengthwise of the valley. All other
cellars have been built crosswse of
the current of air to such an extent
that some of INV neiuhhors were com