Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-07-16
ROT BY
 IMPROPER STORAGE
Storage Houses Should Be Built to Keep Your Sweet Potatoes To
 Best Advantage.
By J. s. Knox, Horticulturist, Exten' sion Division, U of A.

sion Division, U. of A.
 f Because of improper storage many of our farmers lost their whole crop of sweet potatoes this past winter. That this is true is evidenced by the fact that many bushels of rotten po- tatoes can be seen lying in the ditches near the farm homes. With our coun- try at war and possibility of food shortage facing us for the coming win ter, it is necessary that every possible effort be made to stop. this unneces- sary waste of this important food crop. In some cases this past winter individual farmers lost enough sweet potatoes to have paid for small stor- age house of 800 bushels capacity. Several of the farmers who built stor- age houses last fall have written the Agricultural Extension Division, stat ing that they had from 300 to 500 bushels of seed potatoes for sale. These sold easily for s2 per bushel and one farmer said he could easily have sold 1000 bushels at that price if he had grown the potatoes and stored them.
 It matters not whether you are a large grower of sweet potatoes or whether you have only an acre for home use, a small storage house of from 200 to 300 bushels capacity will easily pay for itself in a few years. It is true that, if properly cared for, potatoes can be stored successfully in small quantities in the bank or pit, but it is so hard to get this work done exactly right for all conditions of weather that it is considered by all authorities to be far better to build storage house where conditions such as temperature, moisture, etc., can be regulated as desired.
 The storage house alone will not in- sure our potatoes against decay, but we must also observe carefully the fol lowing factors: CD At the time of harvest use every possible care to avoid the bruising of the potatoes. Throwing potatoes to pile across several rows or other rough treatment is sure to break the skins on them in such way as to make the entrance of disease germs much easier. Early this spring the writer was in storage house where some 10000 bushels of sweet potatoes had been stored over winter. The storage man had han dled all of his crop carefully except those in one bin--with these he had used no special care to prevent bruis. ing. Potatoes in this bin had at least one-fourth of the potatoes with decay, while in the other bins not per cent were decaying. They had all been in the same storage house under exactly the same conditions. CD Do not store diseased potatoes. If any signs of dis ease can be seen at digging time it is far better to feed these potatoes to hogs or even throw them away than to place in storage with good potatoes. They will not only rot themselves but will cause others to rot. (3) See that the storage house is properly cleaned out and disinfected before placing new crop of potatoes in stor- age. Use strong formalin solution for this purpose and be sure that the work is done thoroughly. This should be done some time in advance of the storage season. (4) The temperature of the storage house should be at 80 to 85 degrees F. when the potatoes are placed in storage and held as near this temperature as possible until the pota- toes are properly cured. At the end of this time the temperature should be allowed to drop to 50 to 60 degrees F. and held about this point for the re. mainder of the season. (5) The ven- tilation of the building must be good, at least sufficient to carry off the moisture as it comes from the pota- toes. It is best to make the venti. lators large, then if only small circu- lation is desired the ventilators can be partly closed. (6) Do not make the bins too large. A bin that is feet by feet by feet is a very good size and has given very general satisfac- tion over the State.
 Build storage house. Write the Agricultural Extension Divi- sion, Old Statehouse, Little Rock, Ark. for information and plans.