ROOT CROPS. 237 



three feet high when ready for the earth. It is the usual prac- 

 tice to put a coat of straw next the potatoes, but I prefer to put six 

 or eight inches of mellow earth first, and then the straw. I think 

 this the better plan, because the straw becomes damp, and if the 

 frost reaches it, it is likely to penetrate it, and if there is a layer 

 of dry, mellow earth inside of this, there will be little danger. If 

 you are pitting a hundred bushels or more, it will pay to have a 

 team and plow to loosen the earth and turn it towards the pit. 

 It is not so hard a job as many imagine to bury roots, and I 

 think that I can put enough earth to protect them on a given 

 amount of potatoes with much less labor than I can carry them 

 in and out of the cellar. 



Do not take any risks and hope for a mild winter, but be 

 sure and have them protected against any possible temperature. 

 After freezing weather comes give an outside covering to the 

 pits. This may be of coarse manure, straw, or corn fodder. On 

 farms where there is plenty of fodder, the cheapest way to pro- 

 tect the pit is to build a rick of fodder over it, as it will be but 

 little injured and can be fed out the latter part of March or 

 first of April. 



When the potatoes are to be pitted it is customary to dig 

 and put in small piles, from fifty to one hundred hills to a pile, 

 till all are dug, or at least a sufficient quantity for a fair-sized 

 pit. The usual plan is to throw a few vines over these small 

 piles, and each year large losses are sustained from leaving them 

 in this way. A piece of work prevents the farmer from get- 

 ting back to the potatoes as soon as he intended, and an unex- 

 pected freeze catches them, a heavy rain soaks them through, or 

 the sun turns them green from their being insufficiently covered. 

 I recommend that whenever potatoes are to be left in the field 

 more than twenty-four hours that they always be covered with 

 a few inches of earth first and then with the vines. Less than 

 five minutes' work will be sufficient to put six inches of earth 

 over a pile of five bushels, and then they are safe until the time 

 they ought to be pitted. It is not safe to put potatoes away in 

 bulk when hot from the sun shining on them ; and when potatoes 

 are dug early, when the weather is hot and the sun shining 



