POTATOES 



369 



In barn cellars and root cellars the tubers are usually stored in 

 bulk, for there is less shrinkage and greater economy of space and 

 storage equipment when the crop is so stored. Storage warehouses 

 are constructed at distributing points either in the city or at an 

 important railroad point in the growing region. These buildings 

 are of varying capacity but are usually built entirely above ground, 

 either beside the railroad, as shown in figure 138, or with a track 

 running into the building. In construction these houses are mod- 

 eled after the refrigerator in order that the rooms may be made as 

 nearly frost proof as possible. This 

 can be most economically accomplished 

 in frame construction by the use of 

 sheathing, building felt, and dead-air 

 spaces, as suggested in figure 139. 

 The tubers stored in these houses are 

 carefully assorted and sacked, and the 

 sacks piled in ricks of convenient 

 height and width. As an added pre- 

 caution, however, a walk should be left 

 between the outside wall of the build- 

 ing and the outermost rick of sacks. 



Temperature of storage rooms. The 

 temperature of the storage pit, cellar, 

 or warehouse is important for two 



reasons. Too low a temperature may . 



J riG. 139. Wall construction for 



a frost-proof building 



destroy the life of the tuber, rendering 

 it unfit for seed and undesirable for 

 food, even if it does not rot it. Tubers which have been held at 

 too low a temperature for a long time become sweet and unpala- 

 table. This sometimes occurs without causing the potato to break 

 down and rot. On the other hand, too high a temperature causes 

 heavy shrinkage, through excessive loss of moisture, premature 

 sprouting, and consequent lowering of vitality and quality. Ideal 

 storage conditions for cellars or pits are moisture conditions which 

 will prevent excessive shrinkage, good ventilation, provisions for 

 excluding light, and facilities for maintaining a temperature be- 

 tween 34 F. as a minimum and 45 F. as a maximum throughout 

 the entire storage period. 



