VOL. XXXI.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., AUG. 22, 1896.
NO. 34
EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT
Digging and Storing Potatoes.
1st Premium.—The digging and storing
of potatoes by the average farmer is generally done in a very careless manner.
The etsential point is to retain the flavor
until used, and to do this they should
never be left exposed to the sun or air.
Karly varieties should be dug as soon as
tops are dead, or when the skin ceases to
slip from the potato. If early varieties
are left in gronnd they will sprout and
thus destroy the flavor. Late varieties
may be left in the ground until in danger of freezing. As soon as dug they
should be immediately stored in a dark,
cool, and somewhat moist, cellar. And
right here is where some may differ
with me, as some recommend a dry place
In which to store. If stored in a dry
place they will wilt and become strong.
I liave noticed potatoes that remained ln
tbe groand over winters that did not
freeze, that were as fresh and well flavored as when first matured. If stored
in a very dry cellar they should be covered with moist sawdust to keep them
fresh and exlude the air. Pitting is a
most excellent way; simply piling them
on well drained ground and putting on a
layer of straw and enough dirt to keep
from freezing. Care should be taken to
uncover aa soon as danger from freezing
toes stored in this way keep sound and do
not shrivel and wilt as they do in an ordinary cellar. It pays me the best to sell
most of the crop at digging time, as it
saves much handling, they are disposed
of and out of the way and one has the use
of the money. II. S. Blatchley.
Putnam Co.
REVIEW.
tatoes keep will depend in great part on
x "*    , *""■''*___**._ _._. ^_ ___ .. _. and afterwards.   Large or small mounds
removed. As to manner of digging, if five
acres or more are to be dug, it would
probably pay to use a potato digger, but
if less than that amount, the work can be
done with a four tined fork garden spade,
or plowed with common breaking plow.
Warrenton, III. C. K. II.
3rd Premium.—nigging should not be
begun until vines are thoroughly dry. If
weather is very dry potatoes will be as
well off dug late as early. Circumstances
rule however. Besides putting digging
off until late may expose them to a wet
spell and sprout them. They should not
be exposed to the bliBtoring sun any
great length of time, but placed under
shelter, open and free to the air. They
should be dry and very little heaped, especially during hot weather. As the
cold weather comes on the storing of
them may bo looked to. Perhaps a large,
airy frost proof .ce lar is the best place for
them, safest and most convenient, fn
the absence of suitable cellar an earthen
mound will do. A high and dry location
should be. selected. A slightly heaped
bed should be prepared. First boards
and then straw should be placed upon
this. Hereon placo the potatoes, well
heaped. Overspread with straw and
then cover well with dirt. Cover with
boards or thatch with corn fodder, l.e
sure to do this well, for how well the po-
and afterwards.   Large or
may be used as will suit best.
X. Y.
2d Premium. I dig and store potatoes
in various ways according to the amount
grown. When I dig only -a few bushels
for a near market I throw them out with
the spading fork and leave them on the
ground for a short time to dry out, being
careful not to let them get sun-burned.
When I dig my main crop in the fall I
use a potato digger, of which there are
several good kinds, which throw out the
tubers as fast as the team can walk, leaving them ln small heaps on top ot the
ground. These I let lay on the ground
for a few hours"*-to _;dry and then store
them, either in the cellar or in pits. When
I put them in the cellar I use bins slatted
on the bottom and Sides to give ventilation, and cover them with dry straw to
keep them from  exposure  to the light.
- This keeps them  dark  and  cool so that
their eating qualities are not injured.   If
'they commence, io sprout they are over-
- "hauled and moved a little which stops
their, sprouting. Potatoes which are kept
for. sale and to plant in the spring I put
in pits' on top of the ground. I select a
dry spot of ground where the water will
run off'and away from the pit, and on
this put dry straw about a foot deep. The
potatoes are piled up on top of this straw
in an oblong ridge from 25 to 50 bnshels
in the pile, and covered with more dry
straw abont a foot in depth. With a
spade I commence about a foot from the
bottom of the pit and thrust it into the
gronnd about a foot deep, making a circular ring all around the pit. Outside of
this ring I spade up the soil all around,
and cover tbe bottom of the pit some
three feet in height with the dirt, to the
depth of a foot. This I trample down
(irmly on the top and sides and then
throw on another ring of dirt to the top
and trample the whole down firmly, and
spat it with the back of thospade. I ventilate the pile by means of a pnmp tube
the Inner end resting on top of the potatoes nnder the straw and the outer end
extending outside some two feet or more,
the outer end the lowest to keep the rain
from running into the potatoes. This
lets the foul air and dampness out.   Pota-
As to digging potatoes I think that they
should be dug as soon as they are good
and ripe, but care should be taken not to
dig them until they are thoroughly ripe,
as they will be sure to rot. When the
time comes to gather the potatoes I take
one horse and the one horse turning plow
and turn the potatoes up on top of the
ridge where they can be easily picked up.
Potatoes should be got out before tho
weeds come in the patch too bad, as the
potatoes are so much easier to get. One
time to the row with the plow generally
turns out the most of the pottatoes, then
harrow the patch well, and if there be
any potatoes left ln the ground they can
now be easily got, and the ground is now
ln good condition to sow to turnips without any extra work. For sorting potatoes
I have a good dry cellar, and as soon as
the potatoes are dug I assortthem and put
the large nice ones in the cellar on
shelves made of plank, where they stay
until used. They keep well this way un
til late in the spring. I never have any
trouble with potatoes rotting, as some do.
I think that if they are handled right
there is but little danger of their rotting,
and they don't have to be handled like
eggs either. J. D. L.
Some people will dig their potatoes
too soon and put them in the cellar in a
geen state, and a good many times in a
wet state and then complain about their
all rotting. We pick peas, peaches and
berries a little green, because they will
not bear shipping too ripe. Hut it is not
so with potatoes. They should not be
dug while tho skin will slip on them or
we can not expect them to keep very
well. I dig my potatoes as soon as they
are ripe enough, so the skin will not
slip, and before the weed3 have taken the
patch. I go once in the row with a potato digger and pick them up, and put in
sacks and store them in my cellar; so
once handling leaves them in their winter quarters. Please bear in mind that I
do not dig them when the ground ls wet
enough to stick to tbe potatoes, but I
want them perfectly dry before I store
them in the cellar. I never lost a bushel
of potatoes in my life by rotting. After I
have dug my potatoes I harrow tho
gronnd and sow to turnips, picking np
the potatoes that have been missed.
Harrison Co. A IIoomikr.
As our Illinois correspondent gays "the
natural winter quarters for the potato is
where it grows." Naturally potatoes
never see the light from generation to
generation. But they grow in the fertile,
well drained mountain valleys far away
from swaggy places where water stands.
We all have theories on the subject and
among popular practices I see many traditions not well founded.
In storing artichokes iu pits we mix
moist dirt all through among them to
prevent wilting, and take them out in
the spring with wire shovels. Potatoes
do not wilt as rapidly, but will shrink
many pounds if ln a dry cellar as friend
Lemay says.
The best place I ever stored potatoes in
is my potato cellar, walled with brick
and built bedded iu a tough claybank.
The dirt about level with the top of the
wall aud the door on the down hill side
openB out to a level with the cellar bottom. This is covered with a Hat ceiling
with 18 inches of sawdust and a flat steel
roof.
We screen potatoes with a revolving
wire screen of my own invention, and
take out dirt and small ones to a mesh
one and one-half inch square, and carry
them in on a level with the wagon. No
up-stairs in loading for market. There
la occasionally water on tho collar bottom, but it runs out at the door. My bins
have" floors to guard against this wet bottom. The cellar is always quite damp
and very cold and absolutely dark.
We opened this cellar ono spring the
lirst week of May to cut seed and it was
so cold we had to wear overcoats to sit
and cut; we would get so chilled and stiff.
After cutting a day or two with tho door
open we dropped the overcoat. Tho seed
had not started and wo feared it was not
right, but it soon "brightened up."
A "dry collar" "under a warm kitchen"
is a good placo to keep bees, but not
"taters."
As to drying at digging time, wo like to
dig when the soil crumbles and it is a
dry air. But we pick up without further
waiting for drying. If external wet Is
oft as it will quickly be while handling
we are safe. Wo have a chimney ventilator to the cellar that draws from the
bottom and top. But I don't take much
stock tn there being "foul gases" in a
potato hill or cellar.
• I believe all our correspondents who
bury, pile on top of the ground or on
straw.   This is tradition.
We plowed and scooped out a long pit
on the brow of a knoll, extending
straight back instead of parallel with the
hill; Bnd the lower end of tho pit would
allow water if it got in tho pit to run out
down hill.
The bottom of this pit was 18 inches
wide, and c .vered with a wide plank to
scoop on. The sides sloped about iV) degrees, so the potatoes would seek the
scoop board. The pit was about two feet
deep. We pour the tubers right on the
ground, and when full wo ridge them up
as high as they will live. Then cover
with a foot of straw and four inches of
dirt, leaving a strip of bare straw along
the top till cold weather comes.
We do not put dirt down; it turns cold
better if left loose. We put a shed of
sawed plank above the hill. When
cold weather comes we cover about 18
inches deep at sides and six inches on
top with dirt, and then a layer of sawdust, four inches over all. Sometimes
chaff. Tbis is a wonderful protection
and does as much good In preventing
spouting in the early spring as preventing frost in winter.
About half of the sprouting of potatoes
in the hill is in the fall, and may be prevented by omitting the dirt cover as
long as possible. AVe never dig to store
until the middle of Sop tern. ier,an<l In this
climate I never knew potatoes to sprout
or take a second growth to hurt them before digging. In fact in the South, where
they grow two crops a year, they have to
dig the lirst crop and expose to the sun
to get it to grow the same year.
Howmany may wo store in one hill?
We increase the length of the hill as necessary. The break plow or shovel plow
are a nuisance to dig with. They waste
enough to buy a digger, antl It is slow
and costly picking.
The ordinary prong diggers are worse
yet: being too steep they pushdlrt and
all ahead aud roll it into the middle and
cover many tubers. The best cheap digger I havo used ls the Deering I believe—
at any rate it ls a shaker. A sprocket
wheel rolls under the platform of rods,
running back from the plow and shakes
lt up and down as you move along.
Wo plow out overy other row, and drive
a wagon along, picking up in tobacco
buckets or baskets. While this load Is
being screened and put away another
keeps tho wagon help employed. We
would often sell from the Held, as far
as   price is   concerned, bnt Indianapolis
Is liftoen miles away, and we don't want
to stop digging to send to town. Whenever they are ready "tho skin don't
lip," as two or more say, we hustle
them out, and sow wheat with a rush,
and then we can haul to market if we
wish. -•-. H. COLLINS.
No. IB, Aug. 2!).—Economical hog feeding for .market—{does not -itrc~iSdB-~bTevu-.
Ing. ' '• """•"   '      " •
No. 26, Sept. 5.—How do you cut, euro
and feed corn fodder? l.xperlonce with
corn harvesters.
No. 27, Sept. 12.—Do you support tho local and Stato fairs? In whatwaydo thoy
help you, and how may thoy bo Improved?
No. 28, Sept. I.e.—Tiio drainage. Practical methods of ditching.   Size of tile, etc.
No. isi,Sept.2(i— Describe a convenient
arrangement for keeping milk and butter
for family use.
If our friends will write as soon as you
can on any of these topics, your copy will
be filed away and be ready when tho
topic is published.
Weather Service Report.
The Agricultural Experiment Station at
Purdue University. A~o. JO, Weekly Crop
liulletin, Monday, Autj.17, 1KMJ, Central
Station, Indianapolis, Ind.
Warm weather with  numerous, heavy
local  rains continued,  except   In    the
southwestern portion of tho   State where
no rain has fallen for  sometime.    Corn
in the southern portion is maturing  fast
and some is nearly safe from frost, while
later planted will be in the beginning of
September;   inthe northern and central
portions corn is  maturing  moro slowly
because of much  rain  and  lt  is ln all
stages of progress; with less rain it will
be safe from September lst, to  15th,   although rain and damage ln localities by
inundation,   the  corn crop will   be exceedingly large. In the southern portion
threshing   is  done; in   the central    and
northern  portions,   because of frequent
rains,threshlng advanced only slowly and
much  wheat  and oats have been ruined
in  shock.   Clover  cutting  and   hulling
progresses; a good crop of millet is ready
to cut; the sorgum crop will be heavy in
localities; largo crops  of   tomatoes,cabbage and   beans   aro ln  good   condition;
the  gathorlng  of  tomatoes   continued;
buckwheat promises a good yield.   Au
unusual  largo  crop of  tobacco is being
cut; the season Is about  three weeks in
advance;   potatoes  will be a  large crop
although many are   rotting in   local ties;
pears, plums and grapes are very abundant; pasturage is in best condition; plowing for wheat, progresses only slowly because of wet weather, and in the  southwestern portion because it is too dry.
George Harris, a Big Four brakeman,
fell under the cars at Bolivar, losing both
legs.   He lives at Marion.