764 ANNUAT^ REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



a louj,^ platfoi'iii thill will lioUl tweiit}^ or more boxes in a single tier. 

 The home-made box is nsuallj less satisfactory. It is made rarely 

 of the best light material, and when one takes into account the num- 

 ber of times the boxes must be handled, he may see the advantage of 

 having the very best. Manufacturers furnish solid boxes that weigh 

 only seven pounds, are exact in size, trim in appearance, and will 

 last for fifteen or twenty years, if cared for properly. Other boxes, 

 slatted on ends and sides, are furnished" at a less price, and are less 

 substantial. The boxes, bought in crates of a dozen, cost about 

 eighteen cents a piece for the solid ones and fourteen cents for the 

 slatted. 



The potatoes are picked up after the digger and placed into the 

 boxes, the unmerchantable tubers being left on the ground. When 

 a load is ready, the boxes are handed up to the driver of the wagon, 

 and) while he takes the load to the car, cellar or other place of stor- 

 age, another load is made ready by the pickers. Eeturning, the 

 driver puts his empty boxes out, takes on his load of full ones, and 

 the work proceeds with a minimum amount of handling. If the po- 

 tatoes are drawn directly to consumers, neat boxes for handling them 

 are a good advertisement as well as a means of saving labor, time 

 and injury to the stock. 



When good seed, cut to two eyes, has been planted in good ground, 

 and the tillage has been right, the number of unmarketable potatoes 

 usually is small, and many years we do not pick them up. It is the 

 practice of some growers to pick up all sizes together and then to sort 

 out those that are not merchantable, using the best of these for plant- 

 ing and the remainder for stock feed. As has been said in another 

 place, the small tubers are not the most desirable for use as seed. 

 If there is a considerable proportion of the crop that is too small for 

 market, it should be gathered from the ground after the merchant- 

 able potatoes have been taken up. 



Storing Potatoes. — Winter storage should not be provided until 

 the weather is cool. If the potatoes are put into large bulk in cel- 

 lars, pits, or piles on the ground in hot weather, they will sprout 

 quickly in a warm winter. In the case of seed potatoes, I have found 

 it well to store temporarily in cellar in the fall, moving them outside 

 for burying when the weather is cold. A good plan is to scatter 

 some straw over the ground intended for their burying, and then 

 wait for a freeze. Remove the straw when the temperature is above 

 freezing, and put the potatoes into narrow ricks on the unfrozen 

 ground. Cover to a depth of six inches with dry straw, and then put 

 on six inches of earth. This covering of soil will freeze quickly in 

 cold weather, and then another covering of straw should be added, 

 and on this soil manure or corn-stover may be placed. With this 

 method, the potatoes are cool when buried and the ice in the under 



