304 
CRANBERRY RAKE. 
thick, without leaving any air hole at the top, 
as is frequently the case. A temporary shelter 
should then be made over the cone, so as to 
prevent the rains from washing off the earth. 
This may be done by setting in the ground 
near the base of the pile, four forked stakes, on 
which rails or small poles may be placed, to 
support a covering of bark, rough boards, or 
thatch. Potatoes can be preserved in this man- 
ner until June, nearly as fresh as when new. 
~++ 
CRANBERRY RAKE. 
This is an excellent article for gathering 
cranberries, and saves the labor of many per- 
sons. After raking, the berries are spread until 
the chaff is dry, and then winnowed as grain. 
Cranberry Rake. — Fig. 78. 
HARVESTING AND STORING- ROOT CROPS. 
Carrots, sugar beets, and mangold wurtzel 
should be well secured before the occurrence 
of heavy frosts. They should be perfectly ma- 
tured, before they are pulled, which may be 
known by the yellowish color of some of their 
leaves. If allowed to remain unharvested be- 
yond that time, a new elaboration of the juices 
takes place, and much of the saccharine princi- 
ple, which is the fattening one, is destroyed. 
Turnips and parsneps may be left in the 
ground until there is danger of freezing, and 
the latter, if not wanted for winter use, are all 
the better for remaining unpulled until spring. 
In this case, all the water must be carefully led 
away from the beds, otherwise, they might rot. 
Potatoes, for winter keeping, should never be 
dug before they are ripe, whichT may generally 
be known by the decaying of the vines. 
All kinds of culinary roots, after digging, 
should be protected from the sun, by throwing 
over them some leaves or straw, and as soon as 
the dirt attached to them becomes dry, let them 
be carried, at once, to the cellar or pit, where 
they are to be stored. They should be kept 
from the air by putting them in barrels or bins, 
loosely covered with straw; and it would be 
still better for them to sift in between the in- 
terstices some fine, dry sand, or powdered, air- 
slacked lime. Such as are stored in the fields 
may be put in pits, where the ground is sandy 
and dry; or they may be piled up in conical or 
long heaps above the surface, at any height re- 
quired. A coating of straw should first be laid 
over them, in the manner of thatching the roofs 
of buildings, in order to shed off the rain. In 
parts of the country subject to heavy frosts or 
snows, the heaps should be covered with a 
layer of earth, sufficiently thick to prevent the 
roots from freezing ; but care must be observed 
not to expose them, if possible, to a tempera- 
ture above 38° or 40° F., as they then would be 
liable to heat, grow corky, and probably rot. 
The earthy covering for winter need not gener- 
ally be completed until quite late in the season ; 
as, by leaving the straw partially bare, the 
escape of moisture and heat from the roots will 
thereby be facilitated, which is all-important, 
immediately after they are thus stored. When 
finally covered over for the winter, a hole should 
be left at the top of the heap, or several, if the 
pile be long, in each of which a whisp of 3traw 
should be placed, for the escape of moisture 
and gas. If the ground be stiff and clayey, the 
heap should be surrounded by a ditch, at least 
a foot deep, so as to carry off all water that 
might accumulate from rain or melting snow ; 
otherwise the lowermost portions of the heaps 
would become wet and spoil. 
.-♦-. 
IMPROVED HARROWS. 
Of all the implements used by farmers, I think 
the harrow has been the most improved. Mem- 
ory carries me back, when the only one used 
by me was made from the crotch of a tree, with 
twelve or fifteen clumsy, wooden teeth ; and as 
cheap as the improved harrow is, with an iron 
clevis and steel-pointed teeth, many of the farm- 
ers in this section of this state, use no others 
than those with wooden teeth. 
Now, if a wooden-toothed harrow can do as 
good work, and pulverise the ground as well 
as an iron-toothed one, and last as long, then 
it is just as well, and a great deal better ; for the 
wooden harrow is the cheapest. But we have 
yet to learn that such is the fact. The common 
crotch harrow, it is true, if it had a suitable 
number of iron teeth, will generally do very 
good work. Harrows of this sort, ho we ver, are 
very clumsy, and require two men to load one 
on a cart. 
The square-hinged harrow, with thirty iron 
teeth, is much neater, more easily handled, and 
at the same time, does very good work. But 
the best implement I have ever seen and used 
is Geddes patent, triangular, folding harrow, 
with its thirty iron teeth, which runs through 
the ground much more freely, and is less liable 
to clog than the square kind. While, at the 
same time, a boy can put it together, or take it 
apart, leaving the implement in two parts, which 
can easily be loaded on a cart by a single man. 
It makes good work, pulverising the ground 
well, and for harrowing in seed, it has no supe- 
rior. L. Durand. 
Derby, Ct., Feb., 1850. 
