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lime and flowers of sulphur will help to keep down disease, for 

 which it is well to be on the watch during late autumn, A 

 good protection from frost is formed by throwing old sacking 

 over the bags. In very severe weather, extra covering should 

 be put on at night. In many houses there is a space beneath 

 the roof which makes a good potato store in the absence of 

 more convenient accommodation. If this is used, potatoes 

 should be kept in boxes placed upon the rafters and protected 

 with old sacking and several lavers of crumpled newspaper. 

 Cellars will also answer as potato stores, provided they are 

 thoroughly dry and well ventilated. If the floor is damp the 

 potatoes should be placed in boxes raised on bricks. 



To store large quantities of potatoes out of doors, the best 

 medium is the " clamp," which should be in the dryest part 

 of the ground. A strip, 3 ft. G in. wide and long enough 

 to take the potatoes, is marked out. After grading, the 

 potatoes are piled in a heap, the two ends of which are 

 triangular and upright. The sides and ends are covered with 

 a layer of long wheat-straw, reaching almost to the top of the 

 potatoes, and at the bottom well pressed down to the ground, 

 as it is along the edge of the clamp that frost most easily enters. 

 The ridge may be thatched over with a cover of long straw 

 ( wheat or barley, not oat") so that the ends overlap the straw 

 covering at the sides. Rain will thus run off, and not into the 

 clamp. At the approach of winter the heap is finished, except 

 along the middle of the ridge, by covering it with a thick coat 

 of soil dug out along the sides. This digging forms a drainage 

 trench, from which an outlet should be cut to allow water to 

 escape. Six inches of earth wiii give protection against 

 moderate frosts, but it is advisable to put an extra three inches 

 on the colder side. A thick layer of short litter should be 

 placed upon the ridge. Unless decay occurs, the clamp may 

 be left undisturbed until February. 



Clamps of similar construction may be used for the storage 

 of spring-sown beet, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, parsnips, 

 salsify and celery. Turnips are best left in the ground, but 

 may be dug up at the approach of severe weather and 

 " clamped " or buried in sand or ashes in a cool shed. Leeks, 

 kohl rabi, Brussels sprouts, savoys, kale and spinach-beet 

 should be left in the ground until required. Autumn-sown 

 onions may be tied in ropes and slung in a cool, ventilated shed 

 or laid two or three deep on battened shelves in an airy room. 

 Tegetable marrows, if cut just before they are ripe and hung 



