186 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



but it is impracticable here. However, even in Minnesota, 

 potatoes may be safely kept over winter in trenches or pits 

 made below the ground, although a good cellar is a far more 

 desirable place. For this purpose, the pit should not be 

 large: a good size is four feet wide and deep and not more 

 than six feet long. It should be filled heaping full with the 

 potatoes and covered with six inches of straw and eighteen of 

 soil. Ventilation is given until cold weather sets in and the 

 potatoes are cooled off. The whole pit should then be covered 

 with enough litter or manure ( generally about two feet ) to 

 keep outthe frost. Such pits can only be opened in mild weather. 

 If this work is well done, the potatoes will be in fine condition 



Fig. 97.— Potatoes pitted for winter. 

 in the spring, but beginners are very apt to fail of success in 

 this method of storing, and they should attempt it only on a 

 small scale. It is better to make several pits close together 

 rather than one large one, since in a large one the potatoes 

 are likely to sweat. Potatoes should always be kept in a cool, 

 dark place. The sunlight should not be allowed to shine on 

 them for any length of time, since it causes them to turn green 

 and develops a poisonous substance in them. If kept in a 

 cellar, the bins are improved by having slatted floors and 

 sides, so that there may be some circulation of air through 

 them to prevent heating at the bottom. The bins should not 

 be large nor more than five feet deep. There is a great differ- 

 ence in the keeping qualities of varieties; as a rule, the early 



