Natural Winter Storage of Vegetables in the Home 
IN order that householders may utilize spare time 
during the summer to put their cellars in shape 
for the winter storage of the surplus vegetables 
which will be grown on the home gardens that have 
been planted this year, or that they may make plans 
for other methods of natural storage, the United 
States Department of Agriculture has prepared the 
following discussion on the storing of vegetables. 
It is comparatively easy to keep such vegetables as 
potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, salsify, turnips, cab- 
bage, celery, onions, sweet potatoes, dry beans, and 
dry lima beans. Some of the crops may be stored in 
the cellar under the dwelling, in pits or banks, or in 
caves or outdoor cellars. Others can be kept in any 
dry place such as the pantry or attic. 
Many houses are heated by a furnace in the cellar. 
The pipes are as a rule carried under the joist, thus 
warming the cellar to some extent. For this reason 
it is best to partition of¥ a room in one corner of the 
cellar to serve as a storage room for potatoes, beets, 
carrots, parsnips, salsify, and turnips. If possible, this 
room should have at least one window for the purpose 
of regulating the temperature. The floor should not 
be concreted, as the natural earth makes better con- 
ditions for the keeping of vegetables. Bins may be 
constructed for the various products, or they may be 
stored in boxes, baskets, or barrels. The vegetables 
to be stored should be harvested when the ground is 
dry, allowed to lie on the surface long enough for the 
moisture to dry ofT before placing them in storage. 
The tops should be removed from beets, turnips, car- 
rots, and salsify before placing them in storage. 
Outdoor pits or banks are very generally used for 
keeping potatoes, beets, carrots, turnips, parsnips, cab- 
bage, and salsify. Select a well drained location and 
make a shallow excavation, some six or eight inches 
deep, and of suitable size. This is lined with straw, 
leaves, or similar material, and the vegetables placed 
in a conical pile on the material. The vegetables are 
then covered with straw or similar material, and final- 
ly with earth to a depth of several inches. The depth 
of the earth covering is determined by the severity of 
the winters in the particular locality. It is well to 
cover the pits with straw, corn fodder, or manure dur- 
ing severe weather. Such pits keep the above vege- 
tables very well, but have the objection that it is hard 
to get the material out in cold weather, and where the 
pit is once opened it is desirable to remove the en- 
tire contents. For this reason several small pits 
rather than one large one should be constructed so 
that the entire contents may be removed at one time. 
Instead of storing each crop in a pit by itself, it is bet- 
ter to place several vegetables of similar keeping qual- 
ity and requirements in the same pit, so that it will 
only be necessary to open one pit to get a supply of all 
of them. In storing several crops in the same pit it is 
a good plan to separate them with straw, leaves, or 
other material. The vegetables from the small pit 
may be placed in the basement storage room where 
they can be easily secured as needed for the table. 
Cabbage may be stored in a special kind of bank 
or pit. The excavation is made long and narrow and 
about the same depth as for the other vegetables. The 
cabbages are pulled and placed in rows in the pit with 
the heads down and roots up. The whole is covered 
with dirt, no straw or litter need be used. T-hese pits 
are made as long as desired, as it is possible to remove 
portions of the stored product without disturliing the 
remainder. Cabbage need not be covered as deeply 
as potatoes, as slight freezing does not injure the cab- 
bage. The heads of cabbage are sometimes stored in 
banks or pits in a manner similar to potatoes, turnips, 
etc. This method is open to the same objection as 
when it is used for potatoes ; it is hard to get at the 
material when it is needed. Another method of stor- 
ing cabbage consists in setting the whole plant in 
trenches side by side with the roots down and as close 
together as they can be placed. Dirt is thrown over 
the roots and against the stalks to the dejsth of sev- 
eral inches. A low fence is built around the storage 
place and rails, scantling, or other supports laid across 
the top. About two feet of straw or other material 
is then piled on top of the storage pit. 
Celery may be stored in a modified type of outside 
pit, or in the row where it is grown. When stored in a 
pit or trench the plants are taken up and set side by 
side in a shallow pit as close together as it is feasible 
to pack them, and wide boards set up along the out- 
side of the pit. Dirt is banked against these boards, 
and the top covered over with corn, fodder or similar 
material. When celery is kept in the row where it is 
grown the earth is banked up around the plants as the 
weather gets cold. When freezing weather occurs the 
dirt should be brought to the tops of the plants and 
the ridge covered with coarse manure, straw, or fod- 
der, held in place by means of stakes or boards. 
Outdoor caves or cellars are superior to banks or 
pits in many respects. They require no more labor to 
store the vegetables than an indol^r cellar, vet give a 
uniform and low temperature during the entire year. 
They possess practically all the advantages of the bank 
or pit, yet may be entered at any time during the win- 
ter for the removal of any portion of the stored prod- 
uct without endangering the keeping quality of the 
material that remains. These storage cellars are us- 
ually made partially under ground, although in the 
southern portion of the country they are usually en- 
tirely above ground. In sections where severe freez- 
ing occurs it is well to have the cellar partially under 
ground. In order to avoid steps down to the level of 
the floor, with the consequent extra labor in storing 
and removing the vegetables, a side hill location is de- 
sirable for the cellar. An excavation is made into the 
hill of the approximate size of the cellar. The dirt 
from this excavation may be used for covering the roof 
and for banking against the sides of the structure. A 
frame should be erected by setting posts in rows in 
the bottom of the' pit near the dirt walls, sawing these 
ofif at a uniform height, placing plates on top of the 
posts, and erecting rafters on these plates. The whole 
should be boarded up on the outside of the posts, with 
the exception of a space for a door in one end. The 
whole structure, except the door, is covered with dirt 
and sod. The thickness of the covering will be de- 
termined by the location. The colder the climate, the 
thicker the covering. The dirt covering mav be sup- 
plemented b)' a layer of manure, straw, corn fodder, 
etc., in winter time. Outdoor cellars are usually left 
with dirt floors as a certain amount of moisture is de- 
sirable. These cellars may also be made of concrete 
brick, stone, or other material. Such cellars are to be 
found in many sections of the countr}-, and provide 
almost ideal storage facilities for potatoes, beets, tur- 
nips, carrots, parsnips, salsify, and celerj-. 
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