212 



The Potato Crops 



111. Fruit 01- berry of potato (X %). 



Growers commonly prefer to dispose of the potato crop 

 before winter^ as it is heavy and bulky to store and shrink- 

 age is likely to be heavy. If the crop has been grown free 



from disease and well 

 matured, however, it keeps 

 well, in ordinary cool nn- 

 heated cellars, in pits or 

 in houses constructed for 

 the purpose. Houses 

 should be certainly frost- 

 proof and capable of main- 

 taining a temperature of 

 approximately 40 degrees. 

 Some of the forms of storage pits are shown in Chapter 

 XIX. The illustrations show types of storage structures 

 as described by Wil- 

 liam Stuart in Farm- 

 ers' Bulletin 847, U. S. 

 Department of Agri- 

 culture. Fig. 108 is a 

 cross-section of a po- 

 tato pit insulated with 

 layers of straw and 

 earth, showing the 

 perforated ventilator 

 in position and the 

 potatoes piled in in- 

 verted V-shaped fash- 

 ion. Fig. 109 is Maine type of potato storage-house, with 

 central driveway into the basement part. Fig. 110 is a 

 good outside potato cellar. 



Cluster of potato flowers (X 2/5). 



