32 
Colorado Experiment Station 
Potato cut by digging machine and infested with dry rot in storage 
Most of the cellars have ventilators placed at the roof, and 
few, if any, have an intake or ventilator opening at the floor. 
When only one set of ventilators are provided there is no 
circulation of air, and the condition of the air in the storage is 
not changed. Few storages or cellars have floors. Proper ventila¬ 
tion of the storage will, to a large degree, eliminate the dry rot, 
and most cellars can, with slight modification, be properly vent¬ 
ilated. An extra intake or ventilator should be provided for either 
at the base of the door, or at the side of the door, one in each 
end of the storage. These ventilators should be' so constructed 
as to permit the operator to close them when not needed. When 
a large quantity is stored, the bins should have the false floor, 
so as to permit a circulation of air from below. There should 
also be ventilators made of slats in the shape of tiles, but per¬ 
forated so as to permit a circulation through the middle of the 
bins. If proper ventilations are provided for, the disease is not 
apt to make much of a progress. 
More care should be exercised in the sorting of the potatoes 
before storing, since the dry rot affects potatoes injured or bruised 
and the grower should eliminate potatoes that are cut in digging, 
so as not to infect the sound ones. Potatoes infested with the 
dry rot should not be used for planting. The disease is believed 
to be a native of the soil, and may be perpetuated from year to 
vear though sound tubers taken from an infested cellar mav be 
])lanted. Cellars in which potatoes are infested with dry rot 
should be fumigated before another crop is stored. 
