November, i p i 5 
37 
did not prove to be the case. During long, soaking 
rains the earth would become water-soaked. In 
places it would drain through seams in the felt roof¬ 
ing and drip through the concrete, leaving the cellar 
damp for several days. 
It was also found necessary to have a separate 
place in which to sort and pack potatoes. It was de¬ 
sirable to have a space where a team could drive in 
to load and unload. With this end in view, a shed 
was erected by the entrance to the cellar. This has a 
tile chimney for use with a wood stove when the 
weather is cold and work has to be done there. It 
has doors which open to allow a team to drive 
through. The roof is covered with a patent roofing. 
This roof is allowed to run back over the entire cel¬ 
lar to keep the earth over the cellar dry. As it could 
not come right to the ground, 3" of side wall is 
hoarded, leaving inch air spaces between each board 
to assure proper ventilation in the air shafts which 
run up under this roof. The extra 
room makes a good place to store 
crates and boxes. A partition sepa¬ 
rates it from the main shed in front, 
so that the work room can be easily 
heated. This addition has made a per¬ 
fect working unit of the cellar. 
The cellar holds 1,800 bushels of 
potatoes in bins, or 1,200 bushels in 
crates. 
A warm winter is harder on stored 
crops than a cold one. One can, with 
ordinary care, arrange to heat a cellar 
and keep things from freezing in extra 
cold snaps, hut it is impossible to keep 
them cool in a warm spell except with 
good conditions. 
Our first winter with the cellar was 
a season of thaws. During a hot week 
in January, when the thermometer 
startled us by climbing up to 70° one 
afternoon, the temperature of the cel¬ 
lar did not get above 34°, nor did it 
get below 30° during zero weather. 
The potatoes did not rot or sprout. 
April came, and they were not 
sprouted yet. As planting time ap¬ 
proached the cellar door was left open 
to get the crop in shape to grow. 
When they were planted, the last week 
in May, many of them were just be¬ 
ginning to sprout. In August we were 
still using the old potatoes because 
they were better than the new ones on 
the market. We kept King apples in the cellar until 
February with perfect success. All in all, we feel 
that, while some of the expense of roof building 
seems now to have been superfluous, the satisfactory 
end has justified our care in its construction. If we 
were going to build another now we would cover it 
with the concrete roof and dispense with the felt 
roof, adding the earth over the concrete to preserve 
the uniform temperature and counting on the shed 
roof to keep out the rain. This would take about 
$50.00 from the cost of construction. As it stands, 
the cost was as follows : 
Digging cellar. $44.00 
Stone walls, laid. 131.79 
Drain tile . 11.92 
Cleaning out debris. 3.50 
Concrete roof . 94.45 
Steel rods . 53.80 
Patent roofing (felt and tar). 41.45 
Freight and drayage. 21.94 
Lumber . 86.39 
Other material. 11.28 
Covering with earth. Grading. 53.75 
$554.27 
Material and labor on extra shed. . 229.51 
Meadow rivulets are lively creeks in the spring, 
hence the culverts with heavy stone caps 
In the hollows the road was built high 
above the field-a mile of it 
The air is changed by two airshafts 
that run up through the roof and are 
provided with sliding drafts. These 
are screened to prevent the entrance 
of little animals. 
The dirt floor was made with a 
slight incline to the lower corner, 
where it was drained with a tile. A 
flat concrete roof, reinforced with steel 
bars, was used to cover the cellar. For 
fear this concrete would sweat, and 
render the cellar damp, it was covered 
with a five-ply felt roofing, with a 
coat of hot tar between each layer. 
Both operations were done by experts 
in their lines, who came from the city 
some distance away to do the work. 
Over this felt roofing 3' of earth 
were piled. This earth leveled the top 
of the cellar off with the slope of the 
hillside, leaving the doorway opening 
out toward the south. 
When the work was finished it was 
pronounced waterproof by the men 
who were supposed to know. This, 
despite their sworn protests, however, 
At this juncture the road bed was ready for the dirt, which was laid on a foot 
thick-a costly item in the bill 
Total expense 
$783.78 
