4387 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, SOS 
A ----- 
case of bad smells, a little erode carbolic acid 
should be sprinkled around. 
Let the poultry have some place of refuge in 
their yards from the cold north and westerly 
winds. If there are no sheds, put up a few 
boards to form a screen. They will then do 
better than if compelled to take refuge in their 
house at all times. 
Look out for rat holes about poultry-houses. 
Broken glass crammed into them before cov¬ 
ering up the boles will assist to keep out the 
vermin. 
HANDLING SEED POTATOES. 
Sprouting seed potatoes weakens vitality; 
littlf or no sprouting in the far north ; ar¬ 
tificial sprouting for an early crop ; pre¬ 
serving potatoes—in pits, in cellars, in 
barrels , in bins, and spread out on floor; 
a dry, uniform temperature, somewhat 
above freezing point, indispensable; spec¬ 
imen pit ; increase of protect ion with in¬ 
crease of cold; variations in tendency to 
sprout wider similar conditions and in¬ 
different varieties; sprinkling with lime; 
slightly scalding. 
Seed potatoes promise to be higb next spring. 
It will be sound economy to pay close attention 
to the keeping of those ou hand. Good, 
strong seed next spring will lie worth more 
than for several years. Most good potato 
growers agree that sprouted seed potatoes are 
inferior to those kept so that uo large sprouts 
appear before planting. We are sat isfied that 
any farmer who will take the trouble to test 
this matter will convince himself that when¬ 
ever he plants badly sprouted seed he injures 
liis chance for a good crop. We publish the 
following notes for the purpose of impress¬ 
ing this fact upon the minds of farmers at 
this important season, so that they may take 
some steps to preveut their seed from sprout¬ 
ing. Mr. T. B. Terry has earnestly advocated 
the erection of cold-storage houses for the 
proper preservation of seed potatoes. His 
idea is that the farmers of a neighborhood 
could combine and erect a cold-storage house 
iu which they could store their seed potatoes, 
fruit, butter, and other perishable produce. 
A Grange or farmers 1 club could handle such 
an enterprise well. This plan promises well, 
but it will be wiser for farmers to let those 
who have money to lose experiment with these 
storage houses tlrst. The hints contained in 
our notes will be serviceable. The practices 
recommended are cheap and simple and those 
who state them are practical men. 
FROM WILL W. TRACY. 
A great many experiences, rather than tests 
made for the special purpose, have convinced 
me that, potatoes are greatly injured for seed 
purposes by sprouting. In one case a few tu¬ 
bers of a new sort were put iu a bed and 
sprouted like sweet potatoes, and 1 think I got 
five sets of plants, but, whatever the number, 
the first plunts were markedly the best and 
yielded the most. My plan of keeping seed po¬ 
tatoes is shown at Fig. 472. When the pota¬ 
toes are dug they are not allowed to lie in the 
sun more than two hours, after which they 
are put in a pit covered with straw or corn¬ 
stalks for n lew days, and then they are cov¬ 
ered with boards and earth, the ends of the 
pit being left open. Later on the ends are 
closed and a very small amount of ventilation 
is afforded by menus of a whisp of straw 
which extends up through the center of the 
covering to the open air. Care should betak¬ 
en to leave a space of at least eight inches (bet¬ 
ter 12) between the top of the potatoes and 
the covering of the pit, which should be five by 
eight or 10 feet—not larger. The first covering 
of six inches of soil is uot put on until danger 
of frost makes it necessary, and the remaining 
coverings are added as the weather demands. 
.1 represents a pole supporting the boards; 6, 
six Inches of soil; e, eight inches of strawy 
manure; d, six inches of soil; r, eight inches 
of manure;/, n straw ventilator, and y, a 
space of eight inches between potatoes and 
boards. 
Detroit, Mich. 
FROM O. W. P. JERRARD. 
1 plant my seed potatoes fresh from my 
cool cellars when they are nearly as dormant 
as when dug m the autumn before. 1 Hud 
they come through the ground with a big, 
vigorous shoot and maintain a superior vigor 
all through the season. Seed potatoes from 
which sprouts have been removed once or 
more, lack vitality as compared with fresh 
ones. I store my potatoes in deep, cool cel¬ 
lars in bins four feet Wide and S' , feet deep, 
one above another, two high, with a floor ami 
air-space between them. They have plenty of 
air in the fall, but not iu the spring, and they 
do uot sprout uutil June. 
Aristook Co., Me. 
FROM O. H. ALEXANDER. 
I certainly believe seed pototoes are weak¬ 
ened by sprouting. To prevent this they 
should be kept in a cool cellar, and no warm 
air should be allowed to reach them in spring. 
They should rest on the cellar floor and be 
well spread out 
Chittenden Co,, Vt. 
FROM T. H. HOSKINS M D. 
Unquestionably potatoes are weakened and 
much injured by being allowed to sprout be¬ 
fore planting. I think one reason why pota¬ 
toes are so much more prod active grown far 
north is, that they do not sprout much before 
they are planted. If preserved by pitting, 
they do uot spoil at all before the time of 
plautmg, iu Northern New England. Borne 
deep, dark cellars preserve them equally well. 
For an early crop it is quite customary to 
spread them on the floor of a warm room, say 
over a kitchen, with plenty of light. This 
makes a stout, stocky sprout, which, when 
the seed is planted in rich, light soil, with 
a southern slope, comes forward very rapidly, 
and if the crop escapes the frosts of May will 
give marketable potatoes in July. Farther 
south I should advise pitting the seed potatoes, 
choosing the lee side (say east) of the fence, in 
order to get the protection of snow as much 
as possible. 
Orleans Co., Vt. 
FROM JAMES J. H. GREGORY. 
I believe that seed potatoes are weakened 
by sprouting, to such a degree that these 
sprouts cannot be utilized as part of the tuber 
at the time of planting—which is practically 
saying that all sprout-growth beyoud the mere 
starting of the sprout, is a loss. I helieve that 
burying iu the soil is the best course to pre¬ 
vent this. I And that rot only do cellars, ap¬ 
parently equally damp and of equal tempera¬ 
ture, differ in their capacity to check sprout¬ 
ing in potatoes, but that when the conditions 
are apparently just about the same, different 
in this respect. I find, also, that the tendency 
to sprout as spring opens is uot to be measured, 
where other conditions are the same, by the 
earliness of n vuriety: for instance, the Early 
Ohio I find less liable to sprout thau some 
later sorts. 
Marblehead, Mass. 
• FROM W, W. RAWSON. 
There can be uo doubt that sprouting before 
planting injures the vitality of seed potatoes, 
unless they are exposed to air and light, so 
that the sprouts will become green and stocky. 
To avoid sprouting, the tubers should be kept 
in a dry, cool cellar at an eveu temperature. 
Boston, Mgss. 
FROM E. J. BROWNELL. 
I have long been of the opinion that pota¬ 
toes are greatly weakened by sprouting, and 
during the past year I have become more 
thoroughly convinced than ever before of the 
correctness of this belief. A friend of mine, 
one of the best farmers in Delaware County, 
planted, last spring, potatoes which had 
sprouted to an unusual extent, having been 
wintered iu a cellar wanned by a furnace 
used for heating his house, aud the season af¬ 
ter they were planted being rather unfavor¬ 
able for starting the seed, a considerable pro¬ 
portion of it had not sufficient vitality to 
enable the tops ever to appear above ground, 
nearly or quite one-half the hills beiug va¬ 
cant. This man is a close observer and heat- 
tributes the failure largely, if not entirely, to 
the weakening effect of the advanced sprout¬ 
ing. To obviate this difficulty, 1 would store 
potatoes in barrels or small boxes in as cool a 
pluce in the cellar as possible, yet avoiding 
frost, and by early planting—which as a rule 
I believe best for this crop—aim to get them 
in the ground before sprouts are much started. 
Delaware Co., N. Y. 
FROM ALFRED ROSE. 
If seed potatoes are much sprouted they 
will be weakened for planting. To keep 
them from sprouting, l cut them up for plant¬ 
ing just at the time they show signs of bud¬ 
ding. This will keep them from sprouting 
for three to four weeks if they are stirred over 
often: for they will sprout sooner when not 
stirred, so that a person can guage the time 
for planting. My best crops ha ve been from 
“seed” planted through July. Many variet¬ 
ies will keep from sprouting until July fol¬ 
lowing and be as sound as when first dug. 
The simplest way of storing is to put them in 
bins of 400 to fiOU bushels each in the cellar 
on the ground, first sprinkling plenty of lime 
ou the ground, and kept in this way they will 
be better eating potatoes in July than new 
potatoes. 
Yates Co., N. Y. 
FROM GEORGE E. WARING. 
We should not forget that potatoes are na¬ 
tives of high regions iu the Andes, where the 
temperature is very equally and moderately 
warm, with a humid air. They suffer from 
high temperature, and are best, both in crop 
and quality, iu cool summers and in regions 
where the seasons are commonly so, as in 
Maine and Nova Scotia. Dealers prevent 
them from sprouting by giving them a slight 
scald. While we all know that a low temper¬ 
ature prevents their sprouting, it is uot so 
generally known that cold much below 40° 
and quite above freezing, will permanently 
impair their power of germination. Seed po¬ 
tatoes should be kept with much care iu this 
respect, at a few degrees higher than is best 
for winter apples, aud never too low, eveu but 
for a short time. 
Blair Co.. Pa. 
FROM PROF. L. H. BAILEY. 
I have never performed experiments to de¬ 
termine the value of sprouted potatoes for 
planting as compared with those which have 
not been allowed to sprout. My impression 
is. however, that the sprouting weakens and 
injures the potato. A low, uniform tempera¬ 
ture is essential to keep potatoes from sprout¬ 
ing. A good cellar, well ventilated, with the 
bins raised three or four inches from the floor, 
will usually keep them without much sprout¬ 
ing. 
Ingham Co., Mich. 
FROM JOHN A. THOMAS & SONS. 
We find it a very difficult, matter to prevent 
seed potatoes from sprouting. We store them 
in cellars, making the layers four feet deep or 
deeper if the room is scarce. About January 
15, we begin at one side, aud shovel the whole 
pile over, thus preventing them from matting 
and settling too closely together. After that 
wo shovel over the pile once a mouth until 
they are planted. A man can move a thou¬ 
sand bushels in a day. and he can work at it 
when the w eather is too bad Cor outside work. 
This is the best plan we know' of. It gives 
them air and they keep better, but they will 
sprout somewhat. 
Topeka, Kansas. 
COLORADO POTATO CROP AND STOR¬ 
AGE DUGOUTS. 
-t large crop of excellent size and quality; 
heavy shipments at good prices; holding 
for higher figures; a costly, but profitable 
dugout; mode of building; great conveni¬ 
ence in handling and marketing. 
In this part of Colorado, where the potato 
crop is very large and snaps of freezing 
weat her may be expected in early November, 
dugouts for the storage of root crops become 
a necessity, the warehouse cellars of the town 
being inadequate to the demands upon them. 
Some of our farmers planted as high as 100, 
aud even 150 acres of potatoes, and when the 
digging season commenced employed 10 to 15 
men. Great numbers of meueame from less 
favored portions of the Slate to obtain work, 
many carrying their beds upon their hacks 
after the maimer of new countries. Our one 
railroad found it difficult to transport the pota¬ 
toes that were offered—although iu one week 
120 carloads were sent out—and there w us also 
considerable trouble in getting a sufficient 
supply of sacks. The admirable quality and 
good size of our potatoes have given them a 
name throughout the country. The prices 
paid at the cars have varied from 75c. to ',15c. 
per 100 pounds. Although so many have 
been shipped away, the storage places are still 
full, and many great dugouts have been made 
this fall, some with a capacity of several 
thousand sacks. Many of our farmers num¬ 
ber their sacks, containing two bushels each, 
at from 1,000 to (1,000, 
The belief seems to be quite general that 
potatoes will bring much better prices further 
along in the season; hence good storage dug- 
outs are in great demand. The problem is to 
make dugouts so dry, dark and cool that the 
tubers will neither sprout, heat, freeze nor 
lose color. Some of our fanners have re¬ 
duced this dugout business to a science. I 
have in mind oue of these structures near 
town which cost $800, aud saved its contriver 
that amount iu storage the first season. It is, 
perhaps, the most elaborate in this vicinity, 
and has a capacity of several thousand sacks. 
The ground was first plowed and the loose 
earth scraped out to make a bank until a 
deep, wide trench, some six to 10 feet deep, 
had been made. Heavy posts were now set 
aud spanned by timbers strongenough to bear 
up a great weight of earth. The firm clay 
subsoil made good banks that would not cave. 
Ou top of the timbers were spread, first, a thick 
layer of willow brush, then two feet of straw, 
and, lastly, about two feet of earth, the struc¬ 
ture being so firm that the earth was scraped 
on with a pair of horses. Ventilators were 
put in at intervals, being simply six-inch 
board chimneys. Btoves were also put in to 
make the atmosphere more eudurable when 
very cold weather came, or the men were en¬ 
gaged in sorting or handling the potatoes. 
Many dugouts have openings on top, into 
which the farmer empties potatoes from his 
wagons; but the oue under consideration has 
a track running through the entire dugout, 
and loading platforms at each end. The 
trucks are pushed up to the platforms, and 
when loaded with a dozen or more sacks are 
quickly and easily pushed to the required 
place. In cold weather the doors at the ends 
are shut down aud covered well with straw. 
It seems quite romantic on a cold, bright 
winters day to enter one of these immense 
caves aud find men at work by lantern light, 
topping onions with sheep shears aud sacking 
them by the carload. 
My owu dugout, recently completed at a 
cost of $150, is 05 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 
SV.j feet high inside, with a capacity of 1.000 
sacks. It has two rows of stout posts between 
which we run in wagons for unloading and 
loading. This cellar is well stored with 
market garden produce, including a bin of 
packed celery. It is very pleasant these cold, 
frosty mornings to throw open the great 
bulkhead doors, and. leading iu the horses, 
hitch to a load of market produce, aud drive 
it to its destination. Upon returning the 
wagons are quickly run into the cellar to be 
reloaded at our convenience, secure from sun 
and frost. o. h. 
Greeley Colo. 
WHY, IF NOT HOW, IRISH POTATOES 
DEGENERATE. 
B. F. JOHNSON. 
The widespread failure of potatoes makes 
room for the introduction of more vigor¬ 
ous varieties; nine reasons why varieties 
degenerate; seven precautions needed in 
planting potatoes. 
There has never been perhaps so wide¬ 
spread aud general a failure of the Irish pota¬ 
to crop east of the Alleghanies and north of 
the Ohio River as in this year of drought— 
18S7. Drought for the most part would have 
done the business without the aid of the Col¬ 
orado beetle, but as that pest lent a ready 
hand, the result has been so disastrous that I 
doubt if the yield for the entire acreage planted 
in the dry regions equaled five bushels per 
acre—and poor tubers at that. This whole¬ 
sale failure of a leadiug crop over half the 
cool climate States, will raise a loud call for 
seed the coming winter and spring. This seed 
will have to be supplied from those few nar¬ 
row areas where the potatoes wore all the 
way from good to bad, aud very bad or per¬ 
haps indifferent. 
Formerly Champaign, Ill., aud other coun¬ 
ties in its neighborhood exported potatoes on 
a considerable scale; but this year, there was 
not five per cent, of a crop, and we have to 
go abroad for a supply. We have them from 
New York by many carloads; less rrom Da¬ 
kota aud other portions of the farther North¬ 
west;!! tew from Missouri and Nebraska and 
a county or two in the south part of this 
State. The New York potatoes are mostly 
Burbanks, large and coarse, and they have 
already beguu to rot; the Missouri coutiugents 
are of good size, but of all colors, soft to the 
touch before cooking, aud soggy aud waxy to 
the tougue aud taste after. The best come 
from the regiou of Pembiua aud St. Vincent, 
Minn., aud except that they are too large, 
finer pctatoes were never seen—especially the 
J- c- vel, tf {ra-i ij-i. t 
<rf Pit 
orratAs coven*/ Jiorro# o At/ - 
.%*.**£. •'$£*-cwr/4 
STORING POTATOES. Fig. 472. 
bins in the same cellar will differ strikingly 
