450 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



(2) The roots must be subjected to a certain degree of 

 drying or evaporation, which may be induced either by 

 ventilation alone while the potatoes are kept in the shade, 

 or by exposure to artificial heat, combined with ventilation. 



(3) Rats and mice must be carefully excluded. 



(4) The potatoes must not be allowed to become so 

 much colder than the air coming in contact with them 

 as to cause the latter to condense or deposit its contained 

 moisture upon the cold surface of the potatoes. 



428. Banking. The method in common use in the 

 cotton states by those who store potatoes for home use, 

 or in small quantities for market, consists in keeping 

 them through the winter in conical banks or mounds, 

 each containing 10 to 25 bushels. 



To make a potato bank, cut a small circular trench around a 

 well-drained, somewhat sheltered spot. With the excavated 

 earth, slightly build up the ground on which the heap is to stand. 

 Place a layer of straw over this, and on it build up a cone-shaped 

 heap of potatoes around a central ventilator, made of several 

 poles or boards. Cover the potatoes with pine needles or with 

 clean, dry straw. Over the straw or leaves, place a layer of corn- 

 stalks to support the weight of the outer covering of soil. A 

 few weeks later, after the potatoes have gone through a sweat, 

 and before cold weather, place a layer of soil over the corn stalks ; 

 and in cold weather, stop the ventilator with a capping of hay. 

 The whole is best inclosed under a cheap shelter of boards, 

 though sometimes the bank is left with no covering except a 

 few boards placed over the ventilator. 



429. Keeping potatoes by the kiln-drying process. 

 Where sweet-potatoes are extensively grown for marketing 

 in winter, they are stored in houses of special construction. 

 These are much more satisfactory than banks in all regions. 



