Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-21
Jack Frost
Is Coming

how to store your war garden prod
ucts so as to insure them most eff
fectively against decay the follow
ing suggestions will help.
The cellar is the best place for
potatoes, bects, turnips, carrots, par
snips and satisfy but they should be
protected from dry air and furnace
heat. To provide this protection u
storage room should be made and
both sides of the partition covered
with felt paper. The material III
the cellar floor is important. If 1t
is cement occasional moistening of
the sand covering the vegetables is
desirable. An earth floor is usually
! damp enough to make this unneces-
Sary, but il the floor is very damp 1t
| is better to provide a Slated floor
about two inches from the earth.
Excessively damp air can be reduced
| through ventilation
A few hooks in the ceiling of the
store room will be found useful, also
some built-in bins. A load of build
ers sand to cover roots like carrots
and beets and few slat boxes and
old bags-and you are ready to
store anytime.
What vegetables will you store in
your cellar? Potatoes, beets, tur-
nips, carrots, parsnips and satisfy
are the best for such a place. Squash,
pumpkin and onions should be stor-
ed in the attic. Cabbage is better
stored outside in a straw-lined, we'll
ventilated pit. AS the weather
grows colder add more coNSrings of
straw and earth.
Potatoes should be dug, left in
the ground a short time and then
stored in a dark place. The ideal
temperature is 80 degrees to 35 de-
grees F.
Celery may be kept outside in
trenches or inside in boxes with the
roots covered with soil. When kept
inside, it is important to keep the
roots moist and the leaves dry. Take
up the celery before it is injured by
frost. Darkness is desirable. In
outside storage, trenches are made
about the depth of the celery and a
foot to sixteen inches wide. The
trenches should be made on a side
hill or a we'll drained spot. Stand
the plants upright in the trench and
leave until the leaves are touched by
an early frost. This reduces their
moisture content. Then cover with
leaves. One end of the trench should
be left open in order to get at the
celery as it is required for use. When
brought into the house place in cold
water to bring out the frost. 1t will
then freshen up.
Beets, turnips, carrots may be
stored like potatoes, but keep in bet
ter condition if they are covered with
sand. Conditions of the place of
storage and of the roots themselves
should determine whether to use
the sand dry or slightly moist. If
they start to shrink, moisten the
sand
Parsnips and satisfy may be left
in the ground. Freezing does not
hurt.
When boxes are used little damp
sand should be placed in the bottom
OF thu hcxes. then alternate layers
of vegetables and sand. When piled
on the floor g. covering with sand Is
generally sufficient. In drying beets
the tops should be twisted off and
not cut off with knife, as this will
cause bleeding" loss of color and
very often decay.
Onions before being stored in the
attic should be dry and thoroughly
well cured outside. Dampness causes
decay. They will keep well in slat
boxes or shallow trays.
Squash and pumpkin require a
slightly warmer temperature. Placed
in barrels or boxes and packed in
straw or excelsior and in a part of
the cellar near to the furnace they
may keep for some time. They
should be carefully handled so as
to avoid bruising. Sort over fire.
quently for spoiled ones. Others
may be laid out separately and plac-
ed in the attic as a temperature of
about so degrees is better for them.
One of the best and most recent
methods of ripening green tomatoes
in the late autumn is to wrap each
vegetable in paper and place in a
closed box or drawer located in a
warm room. Another method is to
pull the vine before any signs of IN
jury from frost and suspend from
the ceiling of a warm room or the
cellar. In some cases, IL conditions
are suitable, the fruit will go on rip
ening until Christmas. A dark place
is preferable and a temperature of
30 degrees to 65 degrees suitable.