STORE YOUR SURPLUS FOR WINTER 25 
Fig. 1 — This suggests an arrangement for storage in a cool cellar. An earth floor is best, as it gives off some mois- 
ture. If the floor is of concrete it should be covered with 2 or 3 inches of sand and this should be sprinkled with 
water occasionally. In the drawing a pane in the upper part of one window is shown to be missing. This 
is to allow the escape of heated air. In severely cold weather close these openings. The stove pipe fitted into 
the place for one of the lower panes admits cold air. Instead of a stove pipe a wooden flue, made of old boards 
or parts of boxes, may be used. Bins and boxes should be placed on slats to lift them from the floor and allow 
circulation. For this same purpose bins and boxes should be at least one or two inches from the wall. Air holes 
bored in sides and bottom of bins and boxes help circulation. Protect glass jars from light. 
pipe inserted through one of the lower 
panes of the window, to admit cold air and 
indicates the removal of one of the upper 
panes of glass to allow the escape of warm 
air. This affords constant circulation. 
An earth floor is desirable, but this is not 
always possible, as most city and many town 
and country houses have floors of concrete. 
In a cellar with a concrete floor the concrete 
should be covered with two or three inches 
of sand, which should be sprinkled with water 
from time to time. 
In this room may be stored Beets, Car- 
rots, Cabbage, Celery, Parsnips, Salsify, 
Turnips and Potatoes. (Special attention is 
given Potatoes on page 28.) Put them in 
bins or in boxes, baskets, slat crates or bar- 
rels. It is best to use movable containers 
and small ones. Bins should not hold more 
than two or three bushels apiece, as the 
larger bulk brings danger of heating and 
consequent decay. There should be full 
protection from mice. 
The vegetables should be harvested when 
the ground is dry, if possible, and should 
lie outdoors a few hours until any surface 
moisture on them has evaporated. Remove 
the tops, leaving an inch or so, from beets, 
turnips, carrots and salsify. To leave an 
inch or so of top prevents bleeding and dry- 
ing out. Sort vegetables according to size 
and condition. Imperfect or bruised ones 
should be selected for immediate use and 
only sound vegetables should be stored. 
In cellar storage beets, turnips and carrots 
may be buried in slightly damp sand to good 
purpose. 
Cabbages may be stored in the cellar in 
boxes or barrels of earth or sand, or they may 
be placed in a cool cellar on the floor with 
roots up. 
Celery, to be stored in a cellar, should be 
allowed to stay in the garden until there is 
danger of severe freezing. In order to pro- 
long the period of keeping it outdoors the 
plants should be protected from frost by 
banking them with earth to within two or 
three inches of the tops. On cold nights 
protect the tops with paper, burlap, mats, 
straw or other covering. The importance of 
not harvesting at the first appearance of frost 
arises from the fact that this period is likely 
to be followed by warm weather, which will 
cause decay by creating too high a tempera- 
ture in the place of storage. With the arrival 
of steady cool weather, which will freeze the 
plants, dig them, leaving some soil adhering 
to the roots. For cellar storage place the 
plants upright, covering the roots with three 
or four inches of sand or light soil. (Fig. 2.) 
Earth may be banked around the stalks but 
this is not necessary. Water the soil oc- 
casionally, being sure to keep the leaves and 
stalks dry to prevent decay. 
Celery may also be stored in cellar boxes, 
following these same directions. 
The cellar storage room may also be used 
for the storage of fresh fruits and for canned 
goods, preserves and dried vegetables and 
fruits. Fig. 1 shows a suggested arrange- 
ment for shelves for canned and dried articles. 
If the shelves are not protected from light 
by doors all canned goods in glass should be 
wrapped in brown paper, to prevent bleaching 
