170 Our Farming. 



By opening cold nights and shutting up days I have succeeded 

 pretty well, though. A cold storage room with ice would be a far 

 better plan, however, if a few neighbors would go into it together. 

 The potatoes might stay in the cellar part of the winter, say until 

 about March i . Then but little ice would be required to keep 

 them two months, and not a very expensive building . 



Late years I have kept potatoes fully as well as in the cellar 

 with less trouble by burying them. It may not be as safe, but I 

 have never lost any yet. This is the way : Put in the cellar when 

 dug until the temperature of earth gets down near freezing. It is 

 cooler on bottom of cellar than when buried in September, or 

 perhaps, October. About the first of November, perhaps, will 

 be the proper time. We draw them out and pile on top of ground 

 about three feet wide, as long as necessary and high as we can. 

 One hundred bushels make a pile about thirty feet long. This 

 should be made, of course, in a place where no water will stand, 

 and a cool place on north slope will be best. Next I cover with 

 straw, say, four inches thick after it is settled, putting a layer of 

 forkfuls around base of pile, and then another above and lapping 

 over the first, and so on up. This may be so carefully put on as 

 to shed water. I never had any get wet, but do not know as it 

 would hurt them, as the potatoes on the earth that are damp all 

 winter keep perfectly. The object of a long, narrow heap instead 

 of a large one is that they may cool quicker. After the straw is 

 put on we cover with three or four inches of earth. Then, when 

 this is frozen, and before it gets cold enough to run any risk of 

 injury to potatoes, I put on another layer of straw in the same 

 way and same thickness, and about eight or ten inches thick of 

 earth, topping out well so as to shed water. I would like the 

 pile well cooled through before this is put on, and then it should 

 keep cold, or near freezing point, and very uniformly so, with 

 two air spaces of straw. I put in no ventilators. Tried them, 

 but they are not needed. If potatoes were stored from the field, 

 they might be needed. From the cellar they are cool and dry. 

 No use to let air in. Want to keep it out. When you hear farmers 

 talking about covering too deep, because the winter proved an 

 open one, ask them why not cover deep and have two air 

 spaces, so as to keep warm air out and prevent sudden changes? 

 I never had any covered too deep. I don't believe it can be 

 done under the above conditions, the potatoes not fresh dug from 

 the field. But we are not through. All right so far for the 

 winter in this latitude. Along about first of March, when the 

 ground over the pile is frozen solidly, we draw out a load of 

 straw, or two of them, and cover all over and around two feet 

 deep, and keep it frozen. You know how a mulch will keep 

 frost in. It keeps the sun off, and the rain, mostly. The 

 straw catches the rain and dries out mostly, perhaps, before 

 another. Of course, the warmth from below will gradually take 



