48 THE POTATO CROP. 



The potato being a more valuable crop than the ordinary 

 root crops of the farm, should receive even more atten- 

 tion in storing than is bestowed upon them. Indeed, 

 it is advisable to go carefully over all the potatoes at the 

 time of storing, and to take out all that exhibit any 

 appearance of disease; these should be pitted by them- 

 selves, or kept apart in a dry place for current use. The 

 small-sized tubers should at the same time be separated, 

 as being generally immature ; they are more liable to heat 

 and injure the mass; while, owing to their smaller size, 

 they pack up the interstices, and obstruct the ventilation so 

 necessary for the healthy state of the heap. The composi- 

 tion of the potato, containing as it does a large percentage 

 of starch, and a comparatively small percentage of water 

 (see page 68), would indicate that it possesses in itself keep- 

 ing properties superior to those of the root crops, and pro- 

 bably this would be found practically to be the case, were 

 they both constituted alike. The carrot or mangold pos- 

 sesses only a single germ ; whereas, in the potato tuber, 

 some four, or five, or six are frequently found, and as 

 each of these becomes at the proper season a centre of 

 disturbance, the condition of the potato, notwithstanding 

 its more stable composition, is more influenced by storing 

 beyond a certain time, than either of the roots referred 

 to. Another matter, too, that no doubt of late years has 

 exercised a great bearing upon the keeping properties of 

 the potato, is the disease by which it has been so seriously 

 injured; and as it is generally supposed that most if not 

 all of our tubers are more or less affected by it, it be- 

 comes a matter of vital importance to the potato that we 

 should secure to it such conditions in the store-heap as 

 would arrest rather than develope any germs of disease 

 that might naturally exist in its tissues. The two most 

 important points to secure this desirable end are dry- 

 ness and ventilation, and these are attainable by the 



