THE BEST STORAGE FOR ROOTS 



AS severe weather approaches the vege- 

 table grower must attend to the har- 

 vesting and storing of his root crops. Light 

 frosts do not damage them much, especially 

 if there is a covering of heavy foliage, but 

 if sufficient frost comes to freeze the ground 

 there is danger of injuring the keeping 

 qualities. Parsnips will stand more frost 

 than beets or carrots. The harvesting cf 

 these crops entails considerable work. Dif- 

 ferent means can be adopted to lessen this 

 labor. Special care must be taken not to 

 injure the crown of the beet. The best 

 plan is to twist the tops off. If a knife is 

 used many of the roots are liable to be ct?t 

 and rot soon sets in. With carrots and 

 parsnips it matters little whether the roots 

 are cut or not as far as affecting the keep- 

 ing quality is concerned. When labor is 

 scarce many growers take the tops off with ■ 

 a sharp hoe and then plow out the roots. A 

 better plan is to plow along the row as 

 closely as possible and then pull the roots 

 and cut the tops off with a large knife. 



Most growers leave part of the parsnip 

 crop in the ground over winter. The ob- 

 jection to this method is that they cannot 

 be dug before the frost is out in spring and 

 by that time there is a meagre demand. 



Where large quantities are grown the 

 storing is usually done in pits. They must 

 be kept cool. If put in a cellar where we 



air is dry :... .s wUt and become corky 

 unless they are covered with earth or sand. 

 Most growers recommend leaving them out- 

 side in pits with scanty covering until severe 

 w eather sets in. A temperature near the 

 freezing point suits best- 



" I generally leave about one-third of u:y 

 parsnips in the ground over winter," said 

 ^Ir. Wm. Naismith, Falkenburg, to The 

 Horticulturist. " These can be dug in tte 

 spring as soon as they b^in to sprout. I 

 put them in a pit and put enough earth over 

 them to keep them dark. If the light gets 

 at them tiiey turn yellow and become of 

 poor quality. 



" Frost will not hurt parsnips, and ^s 

 there is not room enough in the cellar I 

 leave them outside in pits. Only a light 

 covering of earth is necessary. I leave an 

 opening at each end of the pit to carry off 

 the moistinre due to evaporation. Hiey 

 keep well in cellars if covered with sand. A 

 good plan is to barrel them in sand. 



" Carrots and beets will stand consider- 

 able frost when in the ground, but none 

 after they are pulled. Cellar storage, the 

 same as for parsnips, suits them." 



" I store beets, carrots and parsnips in ^n 

 ordinary cellar," remarked Mr. Chas. Plun- 

 kett. ^^"oodbridge- " The addition of a lit- 

 tle sand around them keeps them as fresh 

 as if they were in the ground." 



STORING THE CABBAGE CROP 



TV/f ARKET gardeners near towns and 

 i J cities generally find cabbages a 

 profitable crop. There is always a good 

 sale during the summer for the earlier varie- 

 ties and in late fall for later varieties, but 

 the large growers have to winter over con- 

 siderable quantities in order to have a sup- 

 ply for filling orders during the winter 

 months. Ever>- grower should aim at get- 

 ting rid of the more mature heads or those 

 which are nearlv readv to burst, in the fall. 



as they do not keep as well as those which 

 are less mature. 



Many experienced gardeners claim that 

 a few degrees of frost does not injure the 

 keeping quaUty of cabbage, but it does 

 them no good, and severe freezing is ver>- 

 injurious. Most growers aim to have them 

 stored before frost comes. If stored when 

 in good condition good keeping varieties 

 can be held over until spring. 



Manv methods of storage have been test- 



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