The Potato Industry of Colorado. 51 
Dirt Floors Rot Sacks that rest on them if left for more than a 
week or two, no matter how dry the floor. Therefore floors other 
than dirt are required for storage in sacks. 
Excavations for Cellars should be made deep enough so that 
sufficient dirt is secured for use about the bulkheads, sides, and 
roof. Three feet will usually supply this dirt, and this depth makes 
the slope of the driveway about all that can be covered by the vesti¬ 
bules. Where water comes too close to the surface, cellars must be 
built upon the surface and dirt found elsewhere to cover them, or 
sods and adobe brick are used. The cost of excavating the station 
cellar with the use of day help and teams was 13-8/10 cents per 
cubic yard, including the piling of the dirt about the hole where it 
would be handy for covering the roof. A farm level should be used 
to level the floor of the excavation. 
A Knoll is the Best Place for a potato cellar, where available, as 
the cellar can be placed well into the earth, and still have the slope 
away from the doors, for surface drainage. Situations should be 
avoided where water may collect and run into a cellar; and a porous 
soil without floor is desirable to quickly let away any chance water 
in the cellar. The worst possible place for a cellar is secured when 
it is set into a side hill, and especially if set in endwise. If a knoll 
is not available, the level ground without shelter is the best place. 
Side Walls of Cellars are usually required. Some soils stand 
up firm enough to use for walls without reinforcement, and will 
carry the plate and rafter ends. Caveins of side walls are disastrous, 
however, to cellar, crop and life, and it is seldom wise to trust to the 
earth alone. The cheapest practical construction requires good posts 
set deeply next the side and carrying the plate on the tops. Planks 
on the outside of these posts next the dirt are an improvement 
usually essential, or poles may be laid in. Reinforced concrete is 
the most permanent side wall, and appeals to those who can afford 
the best. 
Light is Important* and ventilators should serve also the pur¬ 
pose of windows. Darkness is demanded for table stock, because 
greening by light develops the acrid taste characteristic of exposed 
potato tissue. On the other hand, light combats disease in seed 
potatoes, toughens the skins, and is a check to excessive sprouting. 
Cellars should have light in the spring without warmth. 
Vestibules should be long enough to leave no sloping driveway 
outside. Some of the slope can be run within the cellar if required. 
A good roof and double doors well fitted are needed. A bar will 
keep out stock when the doors are open, or half doors can be used 
for this purpose. With good door sills, it is best to fasten the doors 
♦See elsewhere in this bulletin the discussion of Greening of Seed. 
