84 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October, 1917 



suitable for others. Sweet potatoes will decay 

 in a very short time under conditions in which 

 ordinary white or Irish potatoes would keep 

 perfectly; while Irish potatoes would get soft 

 and begin to sprout if stored where sweet 

 potatoes would keep. 



Where and How to Store 



pHE best and the most convenient place 

 for storing most of these things is a cel- 

 lar. Cellars, however, vary greatly. To keep 

 most of the vegetables to be stored properly the 

 cellars usually made nowadays are not so good as 

 the more old-fashioned ones, which were more 



The outdoor pit as it should be 



completely underground and consequently re- 

 mained at a more even temperature, and were 

 dark. While too much moisture in a cellar is 

 likely to increase the chance of things spoiling 

 by decay, a cellar in which the air is kept dried 

 out by artificial heat is almost as bad. Stone 

 walls and a good dirt floor in a well-drained 

 position seem to furnish just about the amount 

 of moisture necessary to keep vegetables sound 

 and plump without stimulating moulds, mil- 

 dew and the various forms of decay. 



Such a cellar is not commonly available now- 

 adays, however. The problem is, therefore, 

 to do the best that can be done with existing 

 conditions, which are likely to mean a small 

 one-roomed cellar with enough small windows 

 to keep it well lighted, a concrete floor, and a 

 hot air or a steam furnace. With a cellar of 

 this kind it is next to impossible to keep the 

 temperature low enough or the air moist 

 enough to have vegetables keep as well as they 

 should. Usually, however, there is space 

 enough to partition off" a small room to be used 

 for vegetables alone, where conditions can be 

 controlled independently of the rest of the 

 cellar. This need not involve a great deal of 

 expense. Rough pine 2 by 4's run from the 

 floor to the ceiling, spaced 32 inches apart to 

 centres and then covered inside and out with 

 "wall board" which can be obtained in strips 

 32 inches wide, and in any length desired up to 

 12 feet or so, will give a substantial partition 

 with a 4 inch dead air space that will effect- 

 ively keep out the heat from the part of the cel- 

 lar in which the furnace is situated. If the 

 strips of wall board are bought of the right 

 length there will be little or no sawing and 

 fitting to be done and necessitate not more than 

 a day's work in putting up the whole thing. 

 Double doors should be placed at the most 

 convenient point in the partition. These also 

 can be made of wall board on light wooden 

 frames; or secondhand doors which can usually 

 be obtained at a very reasonable figure. 



Ventilation is an important point. That 

 part of the cellar or other room which you 

 plan to use for storage purposes should be 

 provided with at least one and preferably two 

 windows. They need not be large, but one of 



them at least should be well up to the top 

 of the cellar or room. These windows also 

 should have double sashes or be provided with 

 wooden shutters, especially in sections where 

 the temperature goes much below zero. In 

 case only glass is used, a substantial shade or 

 curtain of burlap or some other material 

 should be supplied by which the room can be 

 kept perfectly dark. 



If there will be more than a few bushels of 



such bulky things as potatoes, beets, carrots, 



turnips, etc., to be stored for the winter it will 



be advisable to provide bins of suitable size and 



so arranged that the boards on the front sides 



will slip into place loosely and can be removed. 



Substantial shelves over the bins will give 



practically as much space for putting barrels, 



crates, boxes, etc., as would be had without 



them. By making preparations of this kind in 



advance to utilize all the space available, a 



very generous winter supply of vegetables can 



be put into a small space. 



|i A room 8 or 10 feet wide 



ft by 12 or 15 feet long will 



wi«t>ow4 J accommodate enough of 



:j all of the vegetables men- 



j I tioned above to see the 



average family through 



the winter. 



STORE 



Eoon 



The cold room will keep most crops 

 No Cellar! Then What? 



TN MANY cases, however, there will be no 

 ■*■ cellar available. The best substitute is a 

 small room or a large closet, which can be used 

 exclusively for a store room for this purpose — ■ 

 if possible the coldest room in the house, and 

 on the north or west side. , If necessary a 

 partition (like that already described) can be 



GLASS SASH - 

 WOOD SHUTTE.R- 



A hot bed can be pressed into service 



put in with little trouble. Make provision 

 for ample ventilation and for keeping the room 

 dark. If it can be provided with a window or 

 a small door through which things to be stored 

 can be taken in directly from the outside in- 

 stead of being hauled through the house, that 

 will of course be a great advantage. A few 

 steps or a short ladder against the outside of 

 the house will often make it possible to utilize 

 this means of bringing things in. 



The Time-Honored Pit 



l^VEN where there is no cellar and no room 

 *-* available in the house which can be used 

 as a storeroom, provision for keeping a good 

 supply of vegetables can be made without a 

 great deal of trouble. A "vegetable pit" 

 may be made in any well drained position. 

 This is often so arranged as to form a com- 



bination vegetable pit and deep hotbed. As 

 the winter supply of vegetables will be pretty 

 well used up by March or April the frame can 

 be used after that date for starting the spring 

 supply of vegetable plants. 



Where even a frame pit of this kind is not 

 available or there are more of the bulky 

 things than there is room for in the cellar or 

 store room, a good many of the vegetables may 

 be kept in a simple trench or pit made in the 

 open ground and given suitable protection. It 

 is, of course, essential that good drainage be 

 given, as any water collecting and standing in 

 the bottom will mean sure ruin to the things 

 stored. 



CEILING TiAFTER.5 



STORE ROOM 



WALL OP. COMPO BOARD 



P 

 2X4- UPRIGHT 



l^ 



CELLAR TLOOR 



Detail construction of the store room 

 Putting Away the Foods 



' I ''HE vegetables easiest to store for the 

 ■*• winter are potatoes, onions, and cabbage. 

 Potatoes may be kept either in bins or tight 

 or slatted barrels, or if more convenient, 

 in bags. They should be well dried off before 

 being put into storage, but not exposed to 

 direct sunshine even in bags for more than half 

 a day or so after digging, as they will very 

 quickly "green up" and become bitter in taste. 

 To keep them at their best maintain a temper- 

 ature at as near 34 to 36 degrees as possible. 

 For some weeks after storing, when the outside 

 temperature will average a good deal higher 

 than this, the windows or ventilators should be 

 kept closed during the day and opened at 

 night. In this way the average temperature 

 of the cellar or store room can be kept 10 de- 

 grees or so lower than the temperature outside. 

 Onions, (which are harvested in August or 

 September considerably before potatoes usu- 

 ally are dug) are best not put into winter 

 quarters until danger of hard freezing weather. 

 After harvesting store temporarily in some 

 open shed or other sheltered place where they 

 can get all the air possible while being pro- 

 tected from rain and early frosts. After the 

 tops are thoroughly dried they are cut off and 

 the bulbs stored in regular onion crates or in 

 slatted barrels which permit free circulation of 

 the air around and through the bulbs. This is 

 highly important, as otherwise they will 

 "sweat" and either sprout or rot, in either 

 case being unfitted for going through the 

 winter. While potatoes will keep as well or 

 even better stored directly on a dirt floor, 

 onions must be kept away from any source of 

 moisture. The white varieties of onions and 

 the extra large or "Spanish" type, such as 

 Prizetaker, Giant Rocca, Denia, etc., are not 

 as good keepers as the medium size yellow and 

 red sorts, such as Yellow Globe Danvers, 

 Southport Yellow, and Red Globe and Red 

 Weathersfield. The former therefore should 

 be used first if one has both types to store. In 

 putting up onions for storing it will pay to 

 look them over individually before putting 

 them into winter quarters and sort them out, 



E lacing the most perfect and firm specimens 

 y themselves and using the others first. 





