Part II.] STORAGE OF FARISI PRODUCTS. 135 



House and Cellar Storage. 



Storage to be successful requires suitable moisture and tem- 

 perature, proper ventilation of the storage chamber and suffi- 

 cient maturity of the fruits and vegetables stored therein. The 

 conditions vary somewhat with different products, but most of 

 them may be stored successfully in a well-drained cellar or cave 

 properly ventilated, where a temperature between 32° and 40° F. 

 may be maintained during the winter. 



Most dwelling houses to-day have cellars, and the cellar 

 always has been the chief storeroom for fruits and vegetables. 

 In some parts of the State many farmers have no cellar worthy 

 of the name, and there are some old houses in southeastern 

 Massachusetts that are provided with only a mere pit lined 

 with brick, or a hole in the ground. Many, however, are 

 heated by means of a furnace or other heater situated in the 

 cellar, and such are unfit for the storage of vegetables and 

 fruits, as heat and lack of moisture tend to dry out or rot such 

 products. For this reason many people have given up storing 

 fruit and vegetables in recent years, and have bought these 

 articles in small quantities from week to week at excessive cost. 

 As a matter of economy this practice should be given up. As 

 the cellar is the most convenient place, it is important to pro- 

 vide adequate facilities for storage therein or connected there- 

 with. 



Storage in or near Heated Cellars. 



The chief objection to the storage of vegetables in the house 

 cellar is that disagreeable if not unhealthful odors arise from 

 decaying material. This trouble may be avoided by proper 

 ventilation. Every cellar wall sJiould he proof against rats. 

 Walls made of properly tempered concrete are rat-proof, and if 

 such walls extend 3 feet underground rats will not burrow be- 

 neath them. On side hills, however, where one end of the 

 cellar wall is exposed, it is necessary to have a concrete floor 

 underlaid with 6 inches of gravel to prevent rats burrowing into 

 the cellar. Rat-proofing of cellars and buildings is fully de- 

 scribed on page 33 of Economic Biology Bulletin No. 1, "Rats 

 and Rat Riddance," published by the Massachusetts State 

 Board of Agriculture. 



