IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME XII 

 No. 139 



Editor-J. W. Besant 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



SEPTEMBER 

 1917 



The Vegetable Harvest* 



Root Storing. 



The storing of roots is as important an operation 

 as the growing of them. Carelessness in this may 

 lead to quite a big loss, and, as there are 

 thousands of allotment holders in Ireland 

 obviously ignorant of the various methods of 

 storing, a few seasonable hints may prove 

 helpful to the novice. By roots I mean the 

 edible fleshy stem of all vegetables, be they 

 bulbous like the Onion or tuberous as in the 

 Potato. 



The Potato, rich in nourishing matter, pro- 

 bably takes first place in vegetable roots, and 

 maincrop varieties will be ripening now, the 

 dying down of the haulm ancl the fully finishd 

 ripe growth of the tuber will denote the proper 

 time to lift. Choose a fine da}- for lifting, when 

 the soil is free and dry ; under these conditions 

 the Potatoes will turn up clean and can easity 

 be sorted into their different classes — small and 

 diseased to be used at once for pig or poultrj^ 

 foo:l, greened and seed size to be saved in boxes 

 for next year's seed supply, and the large sound 

 ones stored in pit or shed for human food : 

 where a dry, dark shed with earthen floor is 

 available this may prove the best means of 

 storing, as the tubers can be turned and kept 

 clean at any time during the winter, and in all 

 weathers ; but everyone has not got such a store, 

 and a pit or clamp is then necessary. Proceed 

 by cutting to the clepth of one spade spit a space 

 of 3 feet to 4 feet wide by whatever length you 

 lind necessary for your quantity. Gather the 

 Potatoes in baskets, after they have thoroughly 

 dried in the open air, and only when dry place 

 them carefully into the pit, maldng sure that 

 none are bruised in the operation; raise them to 

 a sharp ridge and cover with straw — wheaten 

 preferred — to the dej)th of 9 inches or more. 

 Cover with soil taken out from a trench running 

 parallel with the pit itself, leaving a ridge of 



straw uncovered, to permit of the Potatoes 

 drj'ing out, as when placed together a certain 

 sweating or heating takes place. The covering 

 may be fully completed in a Aveek or so to a total 

 depth of 18 niches ; finish smoothly by clapping 

 with the spade. A line of turf with the grass 

 side down makes a nice finished ridge besides 

 being thoroughly weatherproof. If several 

 varieties are pitted in one pit they may be 

 separated by layers of straw. The Potatoes 

 stored in a dry, well-drained site under a deep 

 non-conducting layer of material, such as straw, 

 bracken, leaves or peat moss, covered by an 

 outer coat of earth, will keep well into the spring, 

 months without any need for examination, 

 until the growing season, when they should be 

 overhauled periodically and the pushing growths 

 removed carefully. Storing for food naturally 

 applies to maincrop varieties, but I have known 

 early and second early sorts, such as Sir John 

 Llewellyn and British Queen respectively, to 

 come out as a perfect food in March, April and 

 May. 



The Onion, an equally favoured and valuable 

 food, must be treated in a different way. By 

 September the crop will have ripened com- 

 pletely, and of all the methods I know, stringing 

 is the best. This can be best done by taking a 

 strong piece of cord, three or as many feet long 

 as one cares to have it, sort out the coarse thick 

 necked or split bulbs for immediate use, keeping 

 the fine thin-necked ones for late keeping ; 

 these are generally better finished and ripened, 

 and, if strung together quite closely, will form 

 a neat rope of Onions, which can be cut from as 

 required without disturbing the other bulbs. 

 Hang the rope by a nail in a dry shed, lumber 

 room, coal cellar or scullery even, or if these 

 places cannot be had, then under a board, to 

 keep the rain off, against a wall will be found 



