No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 765 



covering- of earth is held in it throughout the winter, giving a very 

 good and cheap cold storage until time for early planting. Farther 

 north, the more complete protection by pits is desirable. Storage of 

 seed in ordinary cellars does not give good results in warm winters. 

 A cold-storage building may be provided, having warm walls, and 

 good means for ventilation in cool nights of spring and for exclusion 

 of the warm air of mid-day. and potatoes may be kept unsprouted 

 thus without any ice until quite late in the spring. Make the walls 

 double, with dead-air si)ace between them, have the floor proof 

 against rats and water, and admit the cool air through chutes under 

 the bins, letting the warm air pass out through a ventilator. When 

 the room has been filled with cold air, close tightly. The temperature 

 should not be permitted to drop below thirty-five degrees Fahren- 

 heit for any great length of time. That is near enough the freezing 

 point for safety. Chilled seed is as unsafe for planting as heated 

 seed, and either incite loss and disappointment. Darkness is es- 

 sential to the proper keeping of potatoes for seed or eating. 



Shrinkage in Storage. — Potatoes lose in weight rapidly for a few 

 days after the digging, either when left in boxes or put into piles in 

 field or cellar. The greatest product is gotten by immediate market- 

 ing. After the sweating they undergo in the bin or pile, the loss is 

 not great until a tendency to sprout manifests itself. Then shrinkage 

 occurs either through the S])routing or the stirring given to prevent 

 sprouting. The amount of shrinkage is so dependent upon variety 

 and kind of storage that no figures of special value can be given. 

 Koughly speaking, the shrinkage in cellars from storing time until 

 spring is eight to fifteen per cent. In cold pits it may be less. In 

 warm cellars the loss, including normal decay of cut or bruised 

 tubers, sometimes exceeds fifteen per cent, by the first of May. 



POTATOES AS FOOD. 



Professor Storer, in his valuable work on Agriculture, remarks 

 that "it has been said that the famines which formerly devastated 

 Europe became much less frequent after the potato was cultivated 

 as a field crop. Before the introduction of the potato it happened 

 constantly, every six or eight years, that somewhere on the continent 

 of Europe the inhabitants of large tracts of land suffered from dearth 

 because their grain crops had failed." 



According to Dr. Langworthy, the potato is ju'obably a native of 

 Chile, being introduced into Europe between 15S0 and 1585, and into 

 our country about the same time. Its food value was quickly appre- 

 ciated, and it is a staple article of diet. From the year-book of the 



