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Saturday, August ?, 1912.]HOW TO KEEP SWEET POTATOES.A Cheaply Built Shelter That Does the Work.THERE are two main things to guard against to keep potatoes— don't let them freeze and don’t let them get too hot. Either of these will surely rot them. Some people have one way and some another to keep them, and each with equal success, but these two facts are what you want, to keep in mind. I have seen potatoes picked up in the mu;l and put up that kept perfectly. I have seen them sunned and put up and they all rotted. I have seen a man just dig a hole, put the potatoesalong, dig out between them and then plank up and cover, with a door in one or both ends, if it is very long, so that I can go into the house or hill with baskets—and the house will stand from year to year. Since I have been growing potatoes (20 years), I have never lost any of any consequence till the past winter, when I was away from home and a freeze came and caught them uncovered, spoiling those on top.Some who saw how well my potatoes kept, tried what they thought was the same way, without talking to me, and said their potatoes rotted. They covered them up deep as soon as put up and they got hot and rotted. They didn’t have these two main points in mind: to keepTWO CROPS AT A TIME.Read Mr. Jeffers9 Article on This Page.in and throw some vines or trash ver them and they kept. I have seen hem put with the utmost care d they all rotted because they ze or got too hot.’After trying various ways, I have ome to the conclusion that the heapest and best way to store them s to dig a hole in the ground and ut some kind of cover over it, cover-g the potatoes very lightly at first, f the weather is cold, and not at all f warm. When hard freezes set in, ut on more cover. I used shavings from planer mill, but pine straw, leaves, cottonseed hulls, sawdust, and, or most anything will do.I used old cross-ties set on edge and placed about five or six feet apart, laying them north and south, :nd made the house or hole about 50 feet long. Between the cross-ties I dug out about 18 inches or*two feet :f earth, throwing it out on the sides, piling up level to top of crossties which were ten or 12 inches wide, making the bole two to three feet deep and 50 feet long. This I ut up with partitions into sections about square, for convenience in storing different sizes and kinds, and overed it with old plank boards and anything handy. I made an A-shaped roof, by letting the top ends come together and the bottom rest on the rossties to which they were nailed. This roof leaked in many places, but ho potatoes kept in this perfectly ntil new potatoes came in. Some-imes, when the leaks were too bad, t would make the potatoes sprout.I built the hill north and south to ven up the temperature, for if it ere built east and westft the sun0,‘-d shine on the south side all day n'1 get it hot, and in cold w'eather It °!’ld get very cold and freeze onnorth side. There may not be ay thing in this, btt that was the f- 1 of building it north and south.1,s was a little inconvenient as Ito Tear off OQe top to*° the Potatoes, so when I build am going to set up posts allfrom freezing and keep from heating.Build your hill this summer and have it ready.PAUL HOFFMAN.Waverly, Ala.“Toting Twice.”That is what all the Virginia trucking lands are* made to do, and plenty of such land carries three, and some of it four crops each year. The same is true of the lands in the trucking section of North Carolina, and the entire South for that matter. The photo shows two crops on the same piece of land at the same time—peas and cucumbers. The peas were planted in February, the cucumbers, March 20- The peas were thoroughly cultivated until March 20, and then the cucumber seed was sown in a continuous row, half way between the pea rows. Small-footed mules, with narrow implements kept the ground stirred until the peas got too large, and soon thereafter the peas were picked and marketed.This photo was secured May 18, when the last picking of the peas was being made. After removing the pea-vines, the cucumbers were thinned out to proper intervals in the row, and cultivated. In June the crop was marketed, in ample time for corn, cowpeas. soy beans, or some other crop. Or if left until August, kale could be sown; or spinach in September- At all events the truckers find it best to keep the soil busy. Idle land is a “hotbed for the growth of weeds.” A. JEFFERS.It may seem an “impractical” thin* for a farmer to fix up hia door yard with trelt;s and bushes and flowers In proper arrangement and keep it nice looking all the sea- ! son, but you could hardly make any one who has tried ~4t believe that this work doesn't make as satisfactory returns as any- | thing: on the farm.—Farmers' Voice.. I would now like to thank you for r book, Mr. Poe's travels. I read it ihrou in three days and can say it woke me to know the number of people that li Sn so small space. I would not take twi what I gave for It.—L. L. Spence.St •
Newspaper Details
Birmingham Progressive Farmer And Southern Farm Gazette
Birmingham, Alabama, US
Sat, Aug 03, 1912
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
AL, USA 24 Jun 2021
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