POTATO CULTUKE. 135 



all the facts and the whole truth about the digger. Be sure 

 you read carefully, and remember all I say, and then study 

 out for yourself what is best for you. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Storing, Sorting, and Sprouting. 



As we are situated, storing over winter to sell in the spring 

 is not wise, no matter how high they may promise to be. 

 We believe in selling at the best price we can get in the fall. 

 I have never seen a fall when I could not sell for a living 

 profit. 1 have known prices to go down in the spring so a 

 carload in the city would barely pay the freight. I will not 

 take such risks. In the spring, it is now or never ; in the 

 fall, there is a long time before the new crop comes in, and 

 ruinous breakdowns in price are not as likely to occur. 

 Again, there is shrinkage, extra labor, interest on capital 

 lying idle, danger from rot, frost, fire, etc., to take into ac- 

 count, where potatoes are kept over. And with us a more 

 serious matter would be the marketing in the spring on soft 

 roads, and when we ought to be at work at our farming. 

 Do not imagine that the writer has not tried the wrong way 

 as well as the better one, and lost by it. Those who are near 

 good markets, where they can go in and retail their loads, 

 may be able to sell partly in the spring to advantage. We 

 are not all situated alike. We prefer our money to be in the 

 bank before freezing weather. Again, one near enough to a 

 station, where potatoes were bought for shipping, so he 

 could move them in safely in very cold weather, when there 

 was a scarcity in market, or who could load a refrigerator 

 car and go with them to market, might make holding pay. 



Growers must often store temporarily in the fall before they 

 can market their crop. The simplest way is to put about 50 

 bushels in a round heap, and cover with straw deeply enough 



