190 The Sweet Potato 



the one herein illustrated and described known as the 

 government sweet potato storage-house. It is now con- 

 cluded by some experiment stations that any house hav- 

 ing a capacity above 5000 bushels should be heated by 

 hot water or some other system which will give an even 

 distribution of temperature in all parts of the house. 

 Various commercial concerns have endeavored to make 

 improvements on these large houses, and several patented 

 curing processes are now being promoted with some 

 success. 



A sweet potato storage-house should be located on a 

 well-drained spot. If a commercial house, it should be 

 near the railroad and as convenient to the field as 

 possible. If for home use, it could be conveniently 

 situated in the back yard, so as to be readily accessible 

 at all times. 



Details of the construction of the sweet potato stor- 

 age-house are reprinted from Farmers' Bulletin 9Y0: 



" Sweet potato storage houses may be built of wood, 

 brick, hollow tile, cement, or stone. Wooden houses 

 are preferable, because they are cheaper and easier to 

 keep dry than the other types. It is difficult to keep 

 moisture from collecting on the walls of a cement, stone, 

 or brick house. Where such houses are built for sweet- 

 potato storage they should be lined with lumber, so as 

 to keep the air in the house from coming in contact with 

 the masonry walls. It is best to build sweet-potato stor- 

 age houses on foundations that allow a circulation of 

 air under them- The " dugout " or house built partly 

 under the ground, is not satisfactory for storing sweet 

 potatoes in the South, because it is practically impossi- 

 ble to keep this type of house dry, and moisture in the 

 storage house will cause the crop to rot. 



