The Canadian Horticulturist. 431 



STORING VEGETABLES FOR WINTER. 



NE of the first requisites for the successful wintering of many vege- 

 tables is protection from hard frosts during the latter days of 

 October. This is especially true of carrots and beets. These 

 should be pulled during the month of October, taking only dry days 

 for the work. Pits for their keeping should be narrow and deep, 

 not over two feet wide and three feet deep, if pits are very wide the 

 vegetables may be spoiled by heating. In pitting, cut off all surplus 

 TOOts and tops and form the heap above the surface of the ground, so that when 

 covered the water will readily escape. 



All vegetables stored in pits should be thickly covered by straw for a first 

 •coat, then apply two or three inches of dirt, to be followed by six inches more 

 when winter promises to set in. The usual method of burying cabbage is to 

 place it in a shallow trench heads down ; running the rows east and west is 

 preferable, as during the winter it can be taken out easier, the south side of the 

 row not being apt to be frozen hard, incline the roots to the south side of the 

 row to facilitate getting the heads out. In storing celery for winter, dig a trench 

 a few inches deeper than the length of the celery and as narrow as can be dug 

 with a spade, pack the celery close in the trench in an upright position, and 

 cover each root with earth to keep it from wilting, cover the tops with straw or 

 leaves, over which place two boards nailed together in the form of an inverted 

 trough, then cover with earth. Potatoes to be kept in first-class eating condi- 

 tion should be excluded from all light. The bins in which they are placed may 

 be kept covered with blankets, and the windows of the room darkened. 

 Turnips and rutabagas may be kept in the same manner as beets and carrots ; 

 salsify and parsnips may also be kept or packed in barrels of moist sand in the 

 cellar. For spring use salsify and parsnip should be left in the ground where 

 grown as kept in this way it is of superior flavor. Winter radishes should be 

 kept in boxes of moist sand in the cellar. — Gardening. 



Old, Well Rotted Cow Manure.— "What soil do you use for those 



chrysanthemums ? " asked a visitor here the other day. " Sod loam and some 

 old cow manure," we remarked. " Good," he replied, " that's just what I want 

 to see. I've been trying to get old, well-rotted cow manure since a couple of 

 years, and have the greatest difficulty in finding it, so I would like to see what 

 yours is like." We lifted a handful of the soil with some lumps of manure in 

 it and showed ii to him, when a painful look of disappointment spread over his 

 face. " Why," he exclaimed, " I can get lots of stuff like that. I thought it 

 had to be dry, earthy fine, many years' old stuff ! " No, no, that idea is wrong. 

 Cow manure is old enough for potting or other compost purposes, as soon as it 

 is free enough to handle, to chop up and mix up with soil, without being pasty ; 

 just as soon as it loses that wet, sticky nature of fresh manure, it is old enough 

 •or garden pot purposes. 



