418 



GARDEN FARMING 



Careful handling is the keynote to the successful storing of the 

 winter squash, for no matter how fully equipped the house may 

 be for maintaining the proper temperature, if the squash has been 

 injured by frost or through rough handling, it will not keep. 



Storing. The extremely hard, resistant shell characteristic of 

 most varieties of the maxima group makes it possible, by proper 

 storage facilities, to keep them from harvest time until as late as 

 the following March or April. For family use and in a small way, 



FIG. 156. Interior of squash storage house, showing method of placing the fruits 



this type of squash keeps fairly well in a dry, comparatively dark 

 cellar, the temperature of which ranges from 38 to 45 F. Where 

 this squash is grown on a large scale for market purposes, specially 

 designed storage houses are constructed. Such houses are usually 

 built entirely aboveground, of dimensions adequate for storing the 

 acreage grown. The walls of the house should be constructed so 

 as to give good insulation, that is, so as to prevent rapid changes 

 of temperature between the inside and outside. The houses are 

 often built with double walls of paper and matched lumber, with 

 an air space between them. The inside construction is such as 



