THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 197 



only during the summer, but in the winter as well. Many 

 vegetables may be stored in a cool, dry, well- ventilated 

 cellar where the temperature does not fall below freezing. 

 A cellar containing a furnace will be too warm and dry and 

 vegetables stored in it will wilt. If the cellar is warmed, 

 a corner may be partitioned off for storing these vegetables 

 and ventilation procured through a cellar window. 



Some vegetables such as parsnips and oyster plant may 

 be frozen without injury, indeed they may be left outdoors 

 all winter and dug up when needed. Other vegetables such 

 as potatoes, beets, carrots, and turnips require a temperature 

 above freezing, from 35 to 45 degrees, and the last three will 

 keep better if buried in moist sand. If the cellar has a dirt 

 floor, a very simple way of storing root crops is to dig a 

 shallow, broad trench and place in it beets, carrots, turnips, 

 parsnips, and salsify, and then cover them with the dirt 

 that has been excavated. Potatoes will keep better if placed 

 in the dark. 



Vegetables, like pumpkin and squash, will keep better at 

 a slightly higher temperature than that required for root 

 crops, about 50 degrees, and the air should be moderately dry. 



To store celery secure boxes about a foot wide and as deep 

 as the celery is high. Cover the bottom with two or three 

 inches of wet sand. Dig up the celery plants, roots and all. 

 Stand them on the sand, packing them close together. Cab- 

 bages and onions may also be stored in a cool cellar. Even 

 tomatoes may be kept here for a few months. Just before 

 the time for heavy frosts pick the largest green tomatoes and 

 place them on straw in the cellar. 



Cleaning up the garden. In the fall when the products 

 have all been harvested, the weeds and old plants should 

 be pulled up and buried, so that the garden is all ready for 

 the next spring. This gives the garden a neater appearance 

 and kills some insects found on the weeds that might make 

 trouble in the garden next season. 



