50 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
in the spring, because it is at this point that most heating and 
sprouting occurs. 
Side Chutes vs. Inside Unloading. —Wide cellars require drive¬ 
ways ; narrow ones do not, unless for ventilation. Inside unloading 
means a vast deal of lugging and stowing away, which in practice 
involves tramping upon potatoes and rough handling of sacks. By 
arranging an inclined driveway about over the side walls, chutes 
may be used, that, with a considerable saving of labor, will permit 
cellars up to 40 feet wide to be filled quickly from above. Such 
chutes should be square, about 15 in. x 15 in., set at an incline, and 
fitted with a slip-over cover of wood, iron bound, but unhinged. If 
sacked potatoes are to be stored for a time, chutes 22 inches square 
are required, smooth inside, with a smooth inclined trough below 
and a table to receive the sacks and of height convenient for the 
man who piles them up. 
Unloading through Chutes. —The wagons should drive within 
two feet of the chute. A tapering trough, with slatted bottom made 
of large quarter-round running lengthwise is leaned against the 
wagon, and is made to fit against the top of the chute. Two men 
on the wagon handling half sacks of potatoes from the field can 
keep a continuous stream of potatoes going down into the cellar. 
Removing Dirt from Potatoes is important both for appearance 
and because dirt stops the inter tuber spaces, prevents ventilation 
and so causes heating, sprouting and rot. Sorters used in the field 
are the quickest way to sack potatoes, separate the small ones and 
remove the bulk of the dirt. The slatted trough removes a further 
per cent., but there will still be some left. When potatoes are 
dumped inside from sacks, the dirt is well distributed. 
Use of a Canvas. —When chutes are used, ten to twenty-five 
feet of irrigation canvas can be used to let potatoes down without 
bruising them. The outer end brought up through the chute' is 
turned over and fastened with laths and shingle nails, while a man 
holds the other end to ease down and distribute the stream of pota¬ 
toes. 
The Leveling of the Top of the potatoes over the whole cellar 
can be done largely by the canvas. This leveling is best because the 
projecting parts of uneven piles condense so much moisture upon 
them, and the top potatoes become so much discolored in the best of 
cellars, that a perfectly level top is desirable, to have the least pos¬ 
sible exposed surface, consistent with proper depth. 
Ventilation of the Pile of potatoes is sometimes promoted by 
using a heavy false bottom of 2x4’s with half-inch cracks between 
the pieces. Others take two 8-inch boards and nail cleats across 
them close together thus making air shafts for use in the parts of the 
potato pile deepest or farthest from the side walls. 
