HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PRACTICAL VEGETABLE 



STORAGE 



There are two principal reasons why 

 we should have plenty of vegetables in 

 winter. In the first place, a supply of 

 vegetables will mean a great saving in 

 the grocery bill. The foods we are 

 obliged to buy in winter are of an ex- 

 pensive type. Secondly, the body soon 

 rebels at a diet which does not include a 

 variety of vegetables. There are few 

 substitutes and they are costly. 



There is much garden produce which 

 can easily be saved in addition to that 

 which has been canned. 



Green tomatoes and peppers are usually 

 hanging on the plants when the first se- 

 vere frost ruins them. Their season may 

 be prolonged. Before frost wrap the 

 large tomatoes in paper and lay them on 

 a shelf in an outer building where they 

 will be cool but above freezing. They 

 will ripen as do southern tomatoes, which 

 being picked gi'een, ripen in transit 

 north. They will not be so high in quali- 

 ty as they are in normal season, but will 

 be good eating, nevertheless. Pepper 

 plants should be pulled up with consider- 

 able earth adhering to them, and stood 

 on the earthen floor of a barn or shed. 

 The fruits will remain fresh a long time, 

 particularly if a little water is poured 

 upon the roots occasionally. 



Onions and squashes must be fully 

 mature. They should be kept in a dry 

 well ventilated room above freezing. 

 Dampness and low temperature will cause 

 their decay. The cellar is no place for 

 them. 



The Root Cellar 



Many vegetables may be stored out- 

 doors in trenches, pits and root cellars; 

 but the most convenient arrangement for 

 the home supply is the indoor storage 

 room. This avoids the inconvenience of 

 opening a snow covered, ice bound trench 

 or mound in mid-winter. The slight labor 

 and expense incidental to separating a 

 compartment of the cellar from the heat- 

 er, is justifiable, when we consider the 

 purpose. 



A wall of masonry is best, but a double 

 thickness of boards with an insulating 

 space between will do. The size of the 

 room will vary with the amount of veget- 

 ables to be stored. The conditions es- 

 .sential to successful storage are a tem- 

 perature just above freezing, good venti- 

 lation and sound vegetables to begin 

 with. A window, hinged at the bottom, 

 will provide for proper temperature and 

 ventilation, if it is manipulated according 

 to the weather. A two inch space under 

 the door will permit an outlet. 



The root crops, .such as beets, carrots, 

 turnips, winter radi.shes and artichokes 

 can best be stored in the root cellar by 

 covering them with clean, moist sand. 

 Earth will cause them to rot. 



Celery should be dug as late as possible, 

 but before severely frozen. With plenty 

 of earth adhering to the roots it is placed 

 upright in the cellar bottom in a corner, 

 preferrably ,and packed closely together. 

 A board can be used on the open side to 

 prevent the stalks falling over. The 

 foliage must be dry when stored, and 

 kept so. A little water applied only to 

 the roots occasionally will insure long 

 keeping. Unblanched celery will blanch 

 in storage and the hearts will continue 

 to grow. 



Cabbage should be placed on a slatted 

 shelf in the storage cellar. Crates or 

 barrels will do nearly as well if they are 

 open enough to permit circulation. The 

 air must not become too moist or the cab- 

 bage will decay. 



Potatoes, placed in a slatted bin will 

 remain firm, with little tendency to de- 

 cay, provided they were sound when 

 stored. 



Parsnips and salsify may be left in the 

 ground until spring, as freezing only im- 

 proves their flavor. Should a supply be 

 desired during the winter, however, they 

 may be dug in late fall, stacked in an 

 open shed and covered with just enough 

 earth to prevent their drying out. They j 

 may be pried off the pile as needed, and 

 thawed in cold water. | 



Rdji M. Koon. j 



CHECK UP ON YOUR 



FRUIT TREES 



This is the best time of the whole year 

 in which to check up on the fertilization, 

 pruning, and spraying of orchards. Have 

 you pruned enough? Did you do a good 

 job of spreying? Are the trees well fed? 

 The trees at this season tell the whole 

 story. 



The old notion that trees to be pro- 

 ductive must be half stai-ved has been 

 upset by careful experimental work. Vig- 

 orous trees produce the most fruit and 

 the best fruit over a period of years. Oc- 

 casionally we find a young tree in a hen 

 yard or similar location which is growing 

 too fast to come into bearing, but we 

 don't find commercial orchards in that 

 condition. They might be over-fertilized 

 but they aren't, and the danger of over- 

 fertilization is much less than we used to 

 think it was. Whole orchards are fail- 

 ing to produce as they should, solely be- 

 cause they haven't quite enough plant 

 food to do their be.st. 



If trees need more fertilizers than they 

 have been getting they show it in yellow- 

 ish leaves, especially toward the end of 

 the summer, and later on they drop their 

 leaves earlier than trees in good condi- 

 tion. Anything which tends to check the 

 flow of sap may produce the same effects 

 and devitalized trees should be examined 

 for cankers, borers, collar rot, girdling 

 by mice, and similar troubles, which 

 might make fertilizers ineffective. 



Mark the weak trees for fertilization, 

 but don't fertilize them until spring. 

 Some day we may know enough to help 

 devitalized trees through the winter with 

 fertilizers but we haven't yet discovered 

 the way. Ne.xt spring give those trees 

 an application of some highly nitrogenous 

 fertilizer such as Nitrate of Soda, Sul- 

 phate of Ammonia, or well stored poultry 

 manure, and put it on when you are 

 feeling generous. 



The object of pruning bearing trees 

 is chiefly to enable them to mature good 

 apples on all bearing parts of the top. 

 In late summer when sunlight is so im- 

 portant in coloring apples the trees, 

 weighted down with fruit, have a shape 

 entirely different from that in winter or 

 spring when pruning is done. How do 

 they look now? Did you do your prun- 

 ing in the right place? Where will you 

 prune next time? 



The cull barrel will tell any fruit grow- 

 er how effective his spraying campaign 

 has been. Every pe.st leaves its dis- 

 tinctive mark on the apple it spoils. 

 What made most of the culls this year? 

 Did you have that fellow in mind during 

 the spraying season, or did you center 

 your efforts on apple scab while red bug 

 and curculio, without much interference, 

 tried to make cider stock out of the whole 

 crop and pretty nearly did it? Most im- 

 portant of all what are you going to do 

 about it next year? 



Prof. R. E. Van Meter 



IDLE LAND AND 



COSTLY TIMBER 



Under the caption "Idle Land and Cost- 

 ly Timber" the United States Department 

 of Agriculture has issued a Farmers' Bul- 

 letin numbered 1417. Although in ad- 

 ministration within this State foresh-y 

 is handled by the Department of Conser- 

 vation rather than Agriculture, many 

 and probably most of the forestry prob- 

 lems of Massachusetts are those of the 

 farm. The State is doing much through 

 the Forester to promote tree planting, 

 reforestation and proper handling of 

 wood lands. While most of the timber 

 in Massachusetts is gone, most of the 

 forest land remains. There is an increas- 

 ing amount of land that has once been 

 cleai-ed that is reverting to the wild. But 

 for the most part the ".second growth" 

 timber thus far produced in Massachu- 

 setts and for that matter in the whole 

 United States has, like blueberries or 

 raspberries, been a wild land crop. Na- 

 tional habits in the use of land change 

 slowly. Nevertheless Massachusetts is 

 making a fair start in forestry. 



The bulletin which inspired this w'rit- 

 ing summarizes in this way. 



A real timber shortage already exists 

 in the United States. It is due to idle 

 Continued on page 11, column 1 



