1913. 
A'l-ihC KUKAL NEW-YORKER 
179 
Storing Winter Beet*. 
AN you tell me how to keep beets so 
they can be cooked fresh same as in 
Summer? I have tried putting them 
in dirt and sand, but they are so tough 
it takes six hours or more to cook them, 
and the flavor is poor. M. s. E. 
Harriman, N. Y. 
I am firmly of the opinion the trouble 
you speak of is with the beets, not with 
the manner of storing. They were prob¬ 
ably large and toughened by age when 
they were put away, and when beets have 
reached that condition, no amount of 
cooking will render them as sweet and 
tender as they were when only three 
inches or so in diameter. Beets are at 
their best when from two to three inches 
in diameter (assuming of course that 
they occupy good congenial soil, some 
soils never produce good beets), and 
beets intended for Winter uses must be 
young and tender at the time of storage. 
If such beets are kept plump there will 
be no fault to find with their cooking 
qualities, tenderness or flavor. Storage 
beets for Winter use should not be left 
out later than Nov. 15, as frosts are be¬ 
coming more or less severe by that time, 
and too much frost will render the beets 
pithy in the exposed portion. When 
there are only a few bushels to store, 
there is no better place for ttft* purpose 
than a cold frame. With a garden hoe, 
pull the soil from the center of the frame 
to the sides, making a sloping trench 
about one foot deep in the center, into 
which place the beets, filling the trench 
up to the general level of the surface of 
the soil in the frame. Cover them four 
or five inches deep with damp soil, and at 
the approach of Winter fill the frame 
with hay, straw or leaves, and put on 
the sash. When stored in this way the 
soil that was pulled to the sides of the 
bed with the hoe, will protect the beets 
from being frosted from the sides, and 
the covering of soil and litter together 
with the glass will prevent frost from en¬ 
tering from the top, and at the same 
time prevent snow and rain from inter¬ 
fering with getting them out when want¬ 
ed, even in the worst days of Winter. 
When a cold frame is not available, 
or when there is a large quantity to 
store, select a place where the natural 
drainage is good, dig a trench three feet 
deep and three to five feet wide, into 
which place the beets in sections of two 
feet or so wide, filling in between the 
piles with six or eight inches of soil up 
to the top of the pit. The advantage of 
pitting in sections lies in the less danger 
of decay than when stored all in a con¬ 
tinuous pile, and in the taking of them 
out in Winter, as but a single section is 
exposed at a time. When the trench has 
been filled to the top as directed above, 
about 18 inches of soil should be placed 
over them, rounding the top so it will 
shed the water, and at the approach of 
real Winter, a further covering of a foot 
or so of straw or other litter should be 
added. This will prevent the ground 
freezing hard, and admit of getting at the 
pit quite easily at any time during the 
Winter. Either of these methods of Win¬ 
ter storage will apply equally well to 
other root crops. k. 
Good Corn in New Jersey. 
HERE is no use taking a long trip 
to the West if you want to see big 
corn. All along the Atlantic slope may 
be found fields of corn which will rank 
with any that the Mississippi Valley can 
produce. For example take the picture 
shown below. Here is a cornfield 
grown by Mr. A. Campbell of Bergen 
County, N. .7. This is only a few miles 
from New York City and the country 
round about was never considered ideal 
farm land. It is mostly hilly and rough, 
with here and there level meadow land 
that is better suited for crops. Mr. 
Campbell took a meadow of about three 
acres; it was plowed in Spring and plant¬ 
ed the last of May. No fertilizers of any 
kind were used, but there is no doubt 
that the corn had good culture. It was 
well cared for from the start to finish. 
We see the result in the picture, for the 
corn stood at an average of 16 feet. This 
corn had good care, and did not suffer 
at any time of its growth, but the point 
we want to make is that New Jersey 
and the Eastern States generally possess 
soil which can be made to produce big 
crops when a careful farmer takes hold 
of it. 
The Soil for Alfalfa. 
I HAVE been much interested in the 
articles on Alfalfa in your issues 
of Dec. 12 and Dec. 19. It seems 
to me, however, that comment should 
be made on them, as they are in one 
or two particulars, misleading. I do 
not mean that they are not exact, or 
that the facts given are not true as 
stated; but it must be remembered 
that what is true of one section or 
of one soil, is not true of another, and 
that this is particularly so with Alfalfa. 
Many people reading these articles and 
not understanding the conditions might 
easily get a wrong impression of how 
Alfalfa may be grown generally, and 
perhaps through this be led into making 
serious mistakes when trying to grow it 
under their conditions. Quite evidently 
the author if the articles visited the sec¬ 
tions lying south and west of Syracuse 
and the facts as he gave them are true 
of that section. To the south of Syra¬ 
cuse for several miles and to the west 
for 20 or 30 miles is a limestone soil. 
In fact, the higher land lying to the south 
of the great valley in which are the New 
York Central R. R. and the Erie Canal 
are called generally, “the Limestone 
Ledge.” As the author says, “In this 
section Alfalfa makes itself very much 
at home.” 
This is far from true of our soils. Any¬ 
where north of the great valley it is not 
an easy matter to get a good stand of 
Alfalfa. In fact, even with the very best 
of preparation, the use of lime and in¬ 
oculation, it is far from a sure thing. 
Many farmers in this section to the north 
west of Syracuse have been experimenting 
with Alfalfa for several years. There 
have been many failures. 
Many different methods have been 
tried, but all agree on the essentials that 
very careful preparation, including the 
use of lime and inoculation, are neces¬ 
sary to insure a good stand of Alfalfa. 
As to methods of seeding, there is a wide 
variation. Some have seeded with a 
nurse crop, usually oats, in the Spring, 
but the most successful method seems 
to be to seed alone early in August. In¬ 
deed, one of the best small pieces in this 
section was seeded on wheat stubble 
which was harrowed many times after 
wheat harvest, limed, inoculated and seed¬ 
ed about August 15. j. n. odell. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
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§j THE MAPES FORMULA & PERUVIAN GUANO COMPANY |g 
; Central Building, 143 Liberty Street, New York Branch, 239 State Street, Hartford, Conn. pS| 
