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How to Store Vegetables for Winter Use 



The old saying that "the way to have is to keep," applies to vegetables and fruit as well as to money, 

 and there is no doubt that good economy requires that everything grown beyond what is wanted for 

 immediate use should be kept for consumption in winter time. 



Vegetables and fruits begin to decay in most cases shortly after picking. This is due to the attacks 

 of certain bacteria, which immediately start the process of decomposition. 



In canning and preserving these bacteria are destroyed by heat sterilization, and similarly vegetables 

 may also be kept for use in winter by drying or by storing under conditions similar to those required for 

 their growth. The best and easiest method of keeping vegetables is by storing in cellars or in pits in the 

 open ground, and on this page we illustrate several ways in which this may be done. 



A low temperature, evenly maintained a little above freezing, and a ventilated, slightly moist atmos- 

 phere is the desideratum for keeping most vegetables through the winter. There are, however, exceptions 

 which are detailed below. Store only sound, well-matured specimens. When one has a ventilated cold cel- 

 lar in the house, the cold-storage problem is simplified, but in many homes the heat from the furnaces 

 renders it impossible to keep vegetables for any length of time, so that outside stotage must be resorted to. 

 The simplest outdoor storage is "pitting" the suitable vegetables. The Outdoor Pit. An excavation or 

 excavations are made in the garden a foot or more in depth, and of shape and size proportionate to the 

 quantity of products to be stored. These are piled heaping full, forming a mound or cone over which straw 

 or hay should be placed to a depth of G or 8 inches to protect from early frost. Just before freezing nights 



begin to throw an inch or two of soil over the straw and add a 

 __ _ _ few more inches of soil before winter 





Storing Cabbage in Pit Covered with Boards and Mulched with Straw 



board roof is sufficient protection until severe freezing weather, when hay 

 straw or leaves are thrown over the roof and a few inches of soil added. A door 

 should be provided at one end, for convenience. On account of the amount of 

 air contained in a cellar of this kind very uniform conditions are obtained. Not 

 onlv may the hardy roots be stored in it, but also Celery, Cabbage, Brussels 

 Sprouts, and Leek plants may be placed upright, roots on the ground, and will 

 keep in prime condition. 



"ROOT CROPS," including Beets, Turnips, Carrots, Rutabagas, Parsnips, 

 Salsif v and Winter Radish. These are all easy to keep in either cellar or pit and 

 require more moisture than Potatoes. So they are best packed in sand, light 

 soil or spaghnum moss moistened. They should be dug before severe frost. 

 Cut off the tops to within an inch of the root, but leave the roots on. Parsnips 

 and Salsify may also be left out where they grew and dug for use when the 

 ground thaws out. 



BRUSSELS SPROUTS. Pull the plants after frost, leaving roots on. 

 Stand upright on soil in the outdoor cellar. 



CABBAGE requires to be kept in moist cold. Pull the plants, leaving all 

 leaves, stems and dirt on. Place close together, heads down in a trench 1 foot 

 deep. Cover with 6 inches of straw and before freezing weather add 3 or 4 

 inches of soil, and before winter sets in increase the soil, covering to a foot in 

 thickness. Cabbage may also be stored in the outdoor cellar, standing them 

 upright, the roots on soil. 



CELERY requires to be kept as cool as possible without freezing. For early 

 winter use, it should be partially blanched in the garden; but for later winter 

 use, it should be put away green. Store as late as possible, but before freezing. 

 One method is to dig a trench as deep as the Celery is high and as narrow as 

 possible to pack the Celery snugly in an upright position, roots on the soil. 

 Cover with straw, hay or leaves, then add 6 to 8 inches of soil. In the outdoor 

 cellar it is stood up with roots on moist soil. In the house cellar store the Celery 

 in narrow boxes or barrels not quite the height of the plants. A few inches of 

 damp soil or sand is placed in the bottom; pack the celery in upright with roots 



sets in hard. Vegetables keep 

 splendidly when properly pitted, 

 the only objection being they are 

 difficult to get at in severe weather; 

 for this reason an outdoor cellar is 

 preferable. The outdoor cellar is 

 made by digging an excavation 

 about 2 feet in depth and of 

 dimensions suited to the re- 

 quirements and location. The 

 sides of the excavation are 

 kept in place by boards on 

 edge, held in place by stakes; 

 the upper edge of the boards 

 should be a little higher than the ' 

 level of the ground to permit the 

 laying of boards to form a gable roof, 

 the center resting on a ridge pole, held 

 by posts 4 to 5 feet high, or the boards 

 may be placed directly across without 

 a ridge pole, making the roof flat. The 



in contact with the sand 



Cabbage or Celery May be Stored in Trenches 



pack moderately tight to exclude the air so the Celery 

 will not wilt. The moist sand at the roots will sustain it. The soil should be 

 watered as often as needed to keep it from drying out — but water throug! holes 

 about 8 inches apart bored through the boxes just above the soil or sand — do 

 not wet the foliage or stalks. Thus packed and the boxes placed in a cool cellar, 

 Celery will blanch and be fit to use in four to seven weeks, according to the 

 variety. 



CUCUMBER. Treat in same manner as Tomato. 



EGG-PLANT. Treat in same manner as Tomato. 



KALE. Stands right out in the garden. Pull leaves as required. Frost 

 improves the flavor. 



LEEK. Store green; leave roots and leaves on; place close together, stand- 

 ing with roots on soil or sand in the outdoor cellar or trench, like Celery. 



ONION. Cool, dry air is best. When thoroughly cured remove tops and 

 store on slatted shelves or in trays in a cold, airy, frost-proof loft or room. 

 Damp air causes Onions to sprout. 



PEPPER. Treat in same manner as Tomato. 



POTATOES, if dug in mild weather, are best left on the ground in a heap and 

 covered with straw or hay to keep the sun off. Before freezing weather store 

 in dry, cold cellar or pit. 



PUMPKIN, SQUASH and SWEET POTATOES keep best in the dry at- 

 mosphere of a loft or room at about 45 degrees. If warmer they lose weight; if 

 moist they rot. Gather before frost and leave the stems on. 



SALSIFY. Follow directions given to Parsnip. 



SPINACH, WINTER, remaining in the garden should be covered, after the 

 ground has lightly frozan, with straw or hay to a depth of about 6 inches to 

 check successive freezing and thawing. Corn Salad may be treated in the 

 same way. 



TOMATO. Gather the large, unripened fruits before frost and lay without touching 

 each other on excelsior, hay or straw, to permit circulation of air about them. Place 

 in the shade in room of moderate temperature 



will continue to ripen and 

 sometimes lasting until 



and they 

 color up, 

 Christmas. 

 A well-known tomato grower, 

 5 says that the best waj of pre- 

 serving 



FOR 



/MTIUATIOtV 



DRAIN AT 



BACH SIDE 



A Cool Cellar Will Keep Most Crops 



Tomatoes 

 for win- 

 ter use is 

 to place 

 ripe and 

 sound 

 fruits in a 

 stone crock and 

 pouroverthem cold 

 very strong brine. Cover 

 the crock with a cotton 

 cloth held in place by an 

 inverted plate. They will 

 keep from four to six months 

 if they are treated in the manner 

 above described. 



-_ Jr 



>DRAirslAGE ': 



The Making of an Outdoor Pit 



HENDERSON'S GARDEN GUIDE and RECORD 



revised, rewritten and brought up to date, price 25c. SIN 1 KllEE 

 with every order for $2.00 and upwards, if asked for when ordering. 



