Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1919-05-01
The Tunnel Method Of Keeping Sweet Po.
tdtoeS.

Mr.. u. M. GOfOrth, OF LenOlr,
who, for number of years, was
farm demonstrator for Caldwell
county, was in town last week,
and gave us the following from
his pen, that will be of interest
to many of our farmers:
I'm the summer of 1885 I dug
the first tunnel in Caldwell coun-
ty. My neighbors seeing me dig
ging asked me what I was doing.
l told them was digging a tun,
mel for keeping sweet potatoes. I
did not know that I was doing
something that was worth hun
dreds Of dollars to myself n d
thousands of dolla- 8 to the farm
ers of Caldwell county. Farmers
came from the country around,
and some from South Carolina,
to see my tunnel.
Almost every farmer in Cald-
we'll now has his potato tunnel
and of course they have spread
over a much largerterritory. The
information l am giving in this
article will be worth thousands
of dollars to the farmers who
read it.
Location, etc: Select the stee.
pest place you can find 50 that
when you tunnel the dirt will be
deep enough to form a natural
shelter, though if you have not
such place you canmake a shell
ter over the tunnel, as many have
done in this county. Mr.. Dock
Hartley, near Lenoir, has a ce.
ment tunnel that is worth hun
dreds of dollars to him, he tells
me.
i prefer tunnel on a south
ern exposure, though this is not
essential, as mine opens ON the
4 west. Dig as narrow asyou can,
just so that a farmers wheelbar-
row will pass up in it, the mar
rover the tunnel the more self
supporting it is. Dig side tunnels
to store the patatoes in. These
should be four feet wide. on each
side of main tunnel, not allowing
two to face each other; have asol-
i'd bank opposite the mouth OF
each side tunnel to make it self
supporting. Before storing the
potatoes. burn sulphurin the tun.
mel freely, also after you have all
the potatoes in. This will disin.
feet the tunnel and kill any fun.
gus on the potatoes. Green ap'
: pies and cabbage heads cut up
and smoked with sulphur will
keep if put in jars without being
sealed air-tight.
Dig potatoes, or rather plow
them up with two.horse plow
when the ground is as dry as pos
sible, preferably before the vines
are killed by frost. Dig in the
morning and let them sun all you
can in order to get them stored
in afternoon of same day. Pick
the potatoes up in lard tubs, sep
arating the large from the small
also take out the cut ones for hog
feed. Have as many tubs as you
can haul on wagon without emp
4 tying until you get them in the
tunnel, only handling one time
= and as carefully as you would
: eggs. After you have the pota
+ toes in tunnel, as I said before
= burn some sulphur in tunnel al
so sprinkle air slack lime freely
over the potatoes after they arr
stored. can keep the cut pota
e toes by smoking them with sui
phur and then dust them will
i lime. Surely anyone could keel
I the potatoes not cut or bruised
Il For the first three weeks afte
8 storing keep the tunnel door opel
: on dry days and closed at nigh
n and on wet days, then close tigh
g except ventilator at top of door
o something like ten inches square
l. If a very small tunnel, this nee,
H. not be so large. Do not bothe