The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1917-09-21
STORING VEGETABLES
FOR WINTER

Apples and many garden vegetables
can be satisfactorily preserved for win
ter use by burying them in pits. This
mehtod is simple and economical, and
when the work is properly done the
contents of the pit keep solid and in
good condition as long as may be de-
sired. Usually also they are found
to have a better flavor than they would
if stored in the ordinary cellar.
Most farmers and experienced gar
deners know all about digging and
preparing such pits but this year there
are many amateur gardeners who have
produced a surplus and are wondering
how they can best preserve it until it
is wanted. For these the hints that
follow will doubtless be of value.
1t is not advisable to store these pro-
ducts until late in the fall, though of
course the work must be done early
enough to avoid freezing. If buried
too early or when the weather is still
warm there is danger that they will
heat and thus be more or less injured.
Vegetables to be stored in pits should
be pulled when properly matured and
then allowed to dry thoroughly.
Apples should be buried by them
selves as in that way they will be
cleaner and there is no danger that
they will bsorb undesirable flavors.
Potatoes, beets, carrots and turnips
may be buried in the same pit if de-
sired, but some provision should be
made for locating each when wanted
for use. Onions, cabbage and celery
should be buried or stored separately
for obvious reasons.
Make a shallow excavation, say four
4, or five inches deep, on high, porous
ground. Put down a layer of straw
eight or ten inches deep and on the
straw pile up the apples or the vege-
tables in the form of a one Cover
with a layer of stray ten inches or
more in thickness, according to the
severity of the climate and on this
pile earth dug from a trench or moat
surrounding the pit. This should be
five or six inches in thickness.
Cabbages should be pulled up by the
roots and allowed to dry for a short
time. The hard, solid heads will keep
several months if hung up in
the cellar head downward and separat-
ed from each other. To store in an out
door pit set them on the ground, heads
down, close together, in three or four
parallel rows Of whatever length is
necessary or convenient. A layer Of
straw and over this a covering OF
earth may be placed, or they can sim
ply be covered without any straw as
freezing does not injure them unless
they are subjected to alternate freez-
ing and thawing. f..
Usually it is better to have several
small pits than one large one as in that
way the entire contents of a pit can be
taken out and stored in the cellar
when the pit is opened in cold weather
When a large pit is opened in freez-
ing weather it is necessary to close II
up carefully in order that the remain
ing contents may not freeze.
Parsnips are not injured by freez-
ing, in fact many consider that it i'm
proves them. They are simply left
in the ground and dug as wanted.
Sweet potatoes keep best in a dry
place from which the air can be ex-
cluded and where there is no danger
of freezing. Onions should be stored
in a dry place where the temperature
is neither excessively high nor low.
Squash should be put away in a dry
comparatively warm place. Pump
kins should be kept where it is dry,
and the temperature should be low,
yet they must not freeze.
You can have celery all winter by
transplanting it to soil in boxes in the
cellar or by storing it in moist sand in
a cool part of the cellar. 1t may also
be kept by covering the plants where
they grow with straw. If rhubarb
roots, after a second year growth has
frozen to the ground, are planted in a
box of sand in the cellar they will grow
and produce rhubarb all winter.
A cellar with a dirt floor is better
than a concrete foored n for storing
vegetables. For best results the tenn
perature should be kept constantly as
near as as possible. Usually it is bet
ter to put vegetables and apples that
are to be stored in the cellar in box
es resting on supports a few inches
above the floor. All products to be
kept for winter use must be handled
carefully to avoid bruising, as bruises
or breaks in the skin often provide a
foothold for decay.
SURGEONS agree that in cases OF