A STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING THE YIELD OF POTATOES 1269 



TYPES OF STORAGE IN THE FOUR REGIONS SURVEYED 



Since Appleman (1912) has shown the importance of low temperature 

 in proper potato storage, it is of interest to note the types of storage used for 

 the crops concerned in these studies. In no case was any grower's crop 

 kept in a refrigerated storage. The proportion of the total stored crop in 

 each region which was stored in various types of storage facilities is given 

 in table 92. The reason for the larger number of farms indicated in Steuben 



TABLE 92. TYPES OF POTATO STORAGE IN THE FOUR REGIONS SURVEYED 



and Monroe Counties than were actually visited in the survey, is due to 

 the fact that a number of the growers in these regions stored their crop in 

 more than one type of storage. 



Practically all of the Franklin and Clinton County crop of 1913 was stored 

 in the house cellar. In fact, this was the principal type of storage, tho 

 to a lesser extent, in the other regions studied. The next most popular 

 type of storage was the barn cellar. As a rule, both house and barn 

 cellars were constructed with stone walls and dirt floors. Wherever a barn 

 cellar was used, it was generally in close proximity to the stable, advantage 

 being thus taken of the animal heat therefrom to prevent freezing. This 

 was not considered a safe practice in Franklin and Clinton Counties because 

 of the greater severity of the winters in that region. A number of special 

 storage houses were found on Long Island. Since only a small proportion 

 of the Long Island crop is held for. more than a few days, these special 

 storages were built not so much to store the harvested crop as for a place 

 of storage for the seed .supply brought in from the North to be held until 

 planting time. 



LENGTH OF STORAGE PERIOD 



In determining the length of time that the crop was held by the growers 

 in each region, the actual date of sale of all or of parts of the crop was taken 

 as an indicator of the storage period. It was found that a large part of 

 the crop in all four regions was marketed either directly from the field, or 



