VEGETABLES — DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 285 



digging around it a circular trench. On this put pine 

 straw two or three inches thick, or dry leaves, on which 

 place the potatoes piled in a regular cone. If the weather 

 is good, cover them only with pine or other straw for two 

 or three days, until the potatoes are well dried, before 

 their final earthing up. Let the covering of straw be 

 three or four inches thick ; then cover it over with large 

 strips of pine bark, commencing at the base, and cover a a 

 shingling unto the top, leaving a small aperture. Cover 

 four or five inches thick with earth over all, except this 

 aperture, which must be left open for the escape of the 

 heat and moisture generated within. — (Peabody.) 



Some cover this opening with a piece of pine bark, to 

 keep out the rain, but a board shelter is preferable. It is 

 well to protect the hills from rain by a temporary roof of 

 plank. When the weather gets warm, in the spring, take 

 up the potatoes, rub off the sprouts, and keep on a dry 

 floor. If put up with care, they will keep until July. 

 One important step toward their certain preservation is to 

 gather them carefully from the ground, as the least bruise 

 produces rapid decay. 



For Seed, some of the finest roots of the most produc- 

 tive hills can be packed in barrels, and covered with sand, 

 in a dry, warm place, free from all exposure to frost. A 

 small garden crop is best kept in barrels with dry sand or 

 leaves ; if the latter, a layer of leaves at the bottom, then 

 a layer of potatoes, then a layer of leaves, and so on until 

 the cask is filled. Use dry leaves, and store in a dry place. 



Use. — This root is deservedly a favorite at the table, 

 and the most wholesome grown. In nutritious properties, 

 it excels all other roots cultivated in this country, except 

 the carrot. Weight for weight, it contains more than 

 double the quantity of starch, sugar, and other elements 

 of nutrition, that are found in the best varieties of Irish 

 potato. For feeding stock, three bushels are equal to one 

 of Indian corn, yielding, on the same land, five or six 



