Sharp County record., 1918-07-26
POTATOES 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

| slon DnVlslon, u. OF a
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 DO
tatoes can be seen lying in the bitches
near the farm homes. With our coun-
try at war and possibility Of food
shortage facing US for the coming win
Ter, 1t Is necessary that every possible
effort be made to stop this unnecss-
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 500 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 800
bushels Of seed potatoes for sale.
These sold easily for 81 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.
1t 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 few years.
1t is true that, If properly cared for,
potatoes can be stored successfully In
small quantities in the bank or pit,
but 1t is so hard to get this work done
exactly right for all conditions Of
weather that 1t 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: ~ 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
ID 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 a storage
house where some 10000 bushels Of
sweet potatoes had been stored over
winter. The storage man had han.
died all OF his crop carefully except
those in one hn--with these he had
used no special care to prevent bruls.
ing. Potatoes In this bin had at least
one.fourth Of the potatoes with decay,
while In the other bins not 1 per cent
we're decaying They had all been In
the same storage house under exactly
the same conditions. (2) Do mot store
diseased potatoes II any signs Of dis
ease can be seen at digging time It 10
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 a 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. az The temperature
Of the storage house should be at so
to S5 degrees +, when the potatoes are
placed In storage and held as near this
temperature as possible until the pota.
toes are properly cured, Al the end
OF this time the temperature should bo
allowed to drop TO so to 60 degrees #,
and held about this point for the re-
mainder OF the season, (b) The ven.
tilation OF the building must be good,
at least sufficient TO carry of the
moisture as II comes from the pota
toes, II Is best to make the venti'
lators large then II only small eireu
lation Ia desired the ventilators can
be partly closed, te) DO not make the
bins too large, A bin that is 7 feet by
4 feet by 4 feet Is very good size
md has given very general eatisfac.
tIon over tho State,
Build storage house. Write
the Agricultural Extension Divl.
sion, Old Statehouso, Little Rock, Ark,