1458 Tue Vecetaste Inpustry In New Yor« State 
spring as bright and green as when they went in, without any 
signs of yellowing. 
Plants stored in cellars are troublesome to handle, because it is 
difficult to secure proper ventilation and control the temperature. 
The heat and moisture are likely to cause yellowing, if not down- 
right decay. Such conditions also favor the white mold (Alter 
naria brassiae (Berk.) Sace.) the most dreaded of all storage 
troubles. Once it has a foothold it destroys swiftly and surely. 
The sprouts near the base should be removed, for they usually rot 
if left, and sometimes cause the stump to rot. 
Sheds with the floor about two feet below the surface of the 
ground are found to be desirable for storage. One grower has 
such a house 12x 65 feet, the walls being insulated with a six- 
inch layer of seaweed. In setting the plants a path is left through 
the center. Since so many plants are handled, this grower does 
not take time to trim off anv of the leaves, but finds it necessary 
to pick off the vellow leaves about the first of March, or earlier if 
the weather has been warm. 
The plants can also be wintered in trenches. It is the practice 
to dig a trench a little wider than a spade, and deep enough so 
that the plants will come just flush with the ground when stood 
up in the trench. The plants are then packed in it in a double 
row, so that the trench is completely filled. No covering is put on 
at any time. One grower who recently stored about fifty plants 
this way brought only about half through to actual seed-bearing. 
Cold frames are also successfully used for storing. 
Setting out. As soon as the ground can be prepared in the 
spring (usually from the first to the tenth of April) the plants 
are set out in rows about three and one-half feet apart, and about 
two and one-half feet apart in the row. The sprouts soon expand, 
and a few of the large ones near the base will produce flowering 
shoots, but the chief growth is made from the terminal bud. A 
tall, branching flower stem is thrown up from this bud, and the 
first mature seed pods appear in the latter part of July. The 
ripening is uneven over the field, and even on the same plant, so 
that no method of gathering is feasible other than picking by 
hand. The seed-stalks are clipped with small shears and crowded 
into a barrel which the picker carries along. This receptacle is a 
little cumbersome, but effectually prevents any waste by the in- 
