STORAGE FOR HOME USE 



309 



Beets, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, kohlrabi and Irish pota- 

 toes can also be stored in outdoor pits, but they must be covered 

 sufficiently to prevent freezing. One of the best ways of handling 

 these crops is to place them in a conical pile and cover first with 

 six or eight inches of hay or straw, then with earth to a similar 

 depth (Fig. 186). If extremely cold weather is expected, a layer 

 of manure should be placed outside of the earth. In getting 

 vegetables from pits of this kind in midwinter, the manure is 



Fig. ISC. — Outdoor pit of beets openefl up in March. 



removed slightly from one side of the pit near the bottom and a 

 hole about a foot square chopped through the frozen earth with 

 an old ax. Sufficient hay is then pulled out, by means of an iron 

 hook, to enable a person to thrust his arm into the opening and 

 reach the vegetables. Enough are taken out to last a few days 

 and the hole through the dirt then stuffed with hay, the manure 

 being replaced if necessary. 



Celery may be stored in various ways, but one of the most 

 satisfactory methods for home use is to dig the plants with the 

 roots on and plant them in moist earth placed on the cellar floor, 



