124 THE POTATO. 



same ground. If they are included in a store they will 

 quickly spread disease and rot to the sound tubers sur- 

 rounding them ; and in this way disease often spreads like 

 wild-fire through large clamps or stores. In the case of a 

 badly-diseased crop it is impossible to detect all that are 

 affected, as the trouble is not always developed sufficiently 

 to be externally visible; but it will develop afterwards in 

 the clamp. To guard against this, experiments have been 

 made in the use of various preparations with w r hich to 

 coat the potatoes, and considerable success has attended 

 the use of quicklime for this purpose. The lime is dusted 

 over the potatoes before storing, and carefully mixed with 

 them, so that each tuber is coated. However, this plan 

 is not likely to commend itself much to growers, except 

 perhaps for seed, on account of the trouble of cleaning the 

 potatoes before they can be fit for marketing, though the 

 lime is said to shell off easily. 



Clamps, Pits, or Graves. The most usual way of 

 storing potatoes is in clamps, pits, or graves, and the 

 process is much the same as the clamping of mangolds and 

 other farm roots. A glance at the illustration on p. 125 will 

 make the appearance of a clamp fairly plain. The posi- 

 tion for a clamp or pit should be a dry one, if possible, as a 

 low, wet situation encourages rot and the spread of 

 disease, besides which, where moisture or drainage water 

 penetrates frost is likely to follow. For this reason the 

 clamp should be made on the surface of the soil, the base 

 being not more than nine inches below, just to make a 

 good foundation, and to keep the tubers from rolling down 

 whilst being heaped up. The first operation, then, is to 

 dig out this foundation, making it about three feet wide, 

 and as long as may be thought necessary. The width may 

 be made five feet if preferred, and this is perhaps more 

 useful when the clamp is to be a large one. The potatoes 

 are piled up on the base of the clamp in a long ridge-shaped 

 heap, and the height is regulated by the size of the base, 

 the tubers being heaped as high as they will lie naturally. 



