Some vegetables such as onions, squashes, sweet potatoes and pumpkins can be stored in the attic in crates which allow free circulation of air. They must be absolutely free from bruises and must be well ripened and cured. To cure the vegetables expose them to the air for a few days in the shade. Remove the tops of onions before storing. The attic is much better for storing onions than the bas.e.m.e.nt. Squashes are susceptible to cold and moisture, so are suitable for the attic.

Be very careful in handling the squashes to prevent breaking the stems off. Watch pumpkins and squash carefully and at the first sign of decay, use immediately or can.

SAND BOX STORAGE

Sand boxes in cellars, pits or caves are desirable for beets, turnips, kohl-rabi, carrots, winter radishes and rutabagas. The sand keeps them cold and prevents evaporation. Kohl-rabi should be tender when stored.

PANTRY STORAGE

Where there is no attic or where it is inconveniently reached, the products that are adapted to a very dry place can be stored on the pantry shelves or in a dry cellar near the furnace. They are onions, squashes, pumpkins and sweet potatoes.

The keeping qualities of all these vegetables, no matter what storage is used, depends chiefly upon their condition when placed in storage.

All products to be stored must be mature, but not overgrown. Root crops should be dry while the ground is in good working condition. All vegetables should be allowed to become surface dry before placing them in storage.

White or Irish potatoes, especially, should not be exposed to bright sunlight any length of time. Only vegetables free from disease or injury should be stored. Any that are damaged can be used immediately, or can be canned or dried.

Further particulars for the storing of fresh vegetables are given in the following tables.

TABLE FOR VEGETABLE STORAGE

VEGETABLES

HOW BEST STORED

PREPARATION FOR STORAGE

AMOUNT FOR FAMILY OF TWO

REMARKS

Irish Potatoes

Must be kept cool with a slight degrees of moisture. Use

either cellar or cave methods. No potato should be more than

four ft. from air if stored in barrels, boxes, crates or

bins.

Potatoes must be dug before the ground is crusted with

frost. Frosted potatoes will spoil, one after another.

Impossible to sort out frosted potatoes.

10 to 15 bus.

Remember Irish potatoes are ruined by

freezing. Potatoes should be kept absolutely

dark to prevent greening by light. Never buy

potatoes in sacks that show wet places due to

a frosted potato.

Sweet Potatoes

Require warmth and dryness. In crates or on shelves in warm

dry room. Can be spread on the floor in the room above the

kitchen where they will have plenty of heat, especially for

the first 2 or 3 weeks after they are dug.

When the sweet potatoes are dug they should be allowed

to lie in the sun and wind for 3 or 4 hours so as to

become perfectly dry. They must be well ripened and free

from bruises. Can be kept on shelves in a very dry place

and they need not be kept specially cold. Sweet potatoes

keep best when they are showing just a little

inclination to sprout. However, if they start growing

the quality is greatly injured.

2 to 3 bus.

If you are in doubt as to whether the sweet

potatoes are matured enough for storage, cut

or break one end and expose it to the air for

a few minutes. If the surface of the cut or

break dries, the potato is mature. But if

moisture remains on the surface, it is not

fully ripened. In places where there are early

frosts, sweet potatoes should be dug about the

time the first frost is expected, without

considering maturity.

Carrots

Are best stored in sand in cellars, caves or pits; or in

tightly covered boxes or crocks. Must be kept cold and

evaporation must be prevented, for otherwise they become

wilted.

Can remain in the ground until the weather is quite

cool; then be pulled, the tops cut off and then stored.

1 to 3 bus.

If you store carrots in the cellar and it is

extremely dry cover them with a little

moistened sand.

Celery

May be rooted in earth in a cellar or cave and if watered

occasionally will keep fresh until Christmas. The soil, earth

or sand, in which the celery is set should be 2 or 3 inches

deep. This soil must not be allowed to become dry.

Can remain in the ground until the weather is quite

cool.

5 dozen good plants or bunches.

Another way to store celery is to bank it to

the top with earth; cover the tops with

boards, straw, or leaves and allow it to

remain where it has grown until wanted for

use. Another way is to dig a trench 12 inches

wide and deep enough to correspond with the

height of the celery, then lift the celery and

pack it in this trench with some soil about

the roots. When the weather becomes colder,

cover the trench with boards nailed together

in the form of a _V_ shaped trough and over

this inverted trough put a layer of soil. The

ends of this trough should be left open for

ventilation until freezing sets in, then close

these openings with straw, old bags or soil.

If the freeze ceases and there is a spell of

warmer weather open the ends slightly for

ventilation. When the celery is first stored

in the trenches the soil about the roots of

the celery should be watered and and if the

weather is dry after the celery is put in the

trenches, pour some water around the roots to

keep the celery crisp and fresh.

Cabbage

Can be wrapped in paper with the outer leaves left on for

immediate use and stored in ventilated barrels or large

crates in the cellar. But as few cellars are cool enough to

keep cabbage in good condition it is more advisable to store

it in a long shallow pit in the garden.

Is not injured by moderate frost while in the pit but

should not be disturbed while frozen. The pit should be

long and narrow. Pull the cabbage, stem, root and all,

and then laid with heads down about 3 heads in width can

be placed in the pit. Cover lightly with soil and as the

weather becomes colder add a little more soil until

there is a layer 6 or 7 inches thick over the cabbage.

Keep the ends of the pit partially open for ventilation

until the weather becomes very cold.

25 heads.

Late varieties of cabbage are the only ones

fit for storage. It is advisable to dig a

shallow ditch around the pit so that all

surplus water can be carried off.

Chickory or Endive

Store in a box or bed of moist sand in the cellar. Put roots

in an upright position with the sand coming just to their

tops. Water the sand occasionally. Sometimes a covering of

straw is added to blanch the tender growth of shoots, which

is the part used as food.

Late in the fall lift the roots out and carefully trim

off the leaves without injury to the heart.

5 doz. roots.

Chickory or endive is grown the same as

carrots or salsify. It is useful in the winter

for it furnishes the needed green that is so

scarce in winter.

Beets

Must not be placed in too large piles in the cellar as they

are inclined to mold. Can also be buried in pits in open

ground.

Can remain in the ground until very cool weather; then

should be pulled, the tops cut off and then stored in

the cellar.

1 bushel.

Beets are not so much inclined to shrivel as

carrots.

Salsify or Vegetable Oyster

Pack roots in box with moist sand in cellar or as they are

not injured by remaining in the ground all winter they can be

left there. Enough for immediate use may be dug in the autumn

and the others dug as desired.

When stored in the cellar after the salsify is pulled,

trim off the tops and then stand them in an upright

position with the sand even with the tops.

75 to 100 roots.

Is injured by too much freezing and thawing,

so should remain frozen.

Parsnips

Can be stored just as salsify or be allowed to remain in the

ground until wanted.

Those that are to be stored in the cellar can remain in

in the garden until the weather is quite cool, then

prepare and store like salsify.

1 bushel in the cellar and one in the garden.

Parsnips are best kept frozen or fresh in the

cellar as too much freezing and thawing

destroys them.

Turnips

Must be stored where temperature is low or sprouting will

result. Moderate freezing does no harm while in the storage

pit but they must not be disturbed while frozen.

Pull; cut tops off and store in sand in cellars or

caves, or in pits, or in tightly covered boxes or

crocks.

1 to 3 bus.

The object is to keep them cold and prevent

evaporation. It is a good plan to store a

portion in the cellar so as to be available

during the time that those buried in the pit

are "frozen in" and not so easily accessible.

Onions

Require a cool dry place. Attic excellent.

Before storing, cure them by exposing to the air for a

few days in the shade. Dryness is absolutely essential.

A well cured onion should be firm and not readily dented

at the base of the tops by the tip of the thumb when

held in the hand.

3 bushels.

Onions are best for storage if topped about 1

inches long.

Cauliflower

Planted in shallow boxes of soil in light place in the

cellar.

Must not be too mature.

Store as many as possible.

If kept well watered they will mature for

winter use.

Brussels Sprouts

Planted in soil in cellar.

Must not be too mature.

According to family tastes.

Keep watered and will mature.

Ground Cherries or Husk Tomatoes

May be stored for some weeks in the husk in their layers in a

dry place free from frost.

Kohl-rabi, Winter Radishes, Rutabagas

Best stored in sand in cellars, cares or pits.

Must be kept cold to prevent evaporation.

According to the family tastes.

Kohl-rabi must be tender when stored.

Horse-radish

May be kept in the ground where grown all winter. Must be

kept frozen as thawing injures it.

Pumpkins

Best kept on shelves in a very dry place. Can be kept on

shelves in furnace room.

Must be ripened and cured and free from bruises.

5 ordinary sized pumpkins.

Need not be kept especially cold.

Squashes

Susceptible to cold and moisture, so store in a dry place

where temperature will be between 50 and 60 degrees.

Care must be taken that stem is not broken.

10 ordinary sized hubbard squashes.

Whenever squashes or pumpkins in storage show

signs of decay, the sound portion should be

immediately canned.

Tomatoes

Cool cellar or cave; can be wrapped in any absorbent paper

preferably without printing upon it, and laid upon shelves to

ripen. The paper absorbs the moisture given off by the

tomatoes and causes them to ripen uniformly. If cellar is dry

or well ventilated, tomatoes can be kept a month or six weeks

in this manner.

May be kept until Christmas if vines with the green

tomatoes hanging on them are pulled and hung in the

cellar. Pull the vines before they are frosted.

All that you can put away.

Most of the tomatoes that are put into storage

will ripen and be most acceptable as soon as

they color up. If these tomatoes, when cooked,

are found to be very acid, the acidity may be

overcome by using baking soda.

Parsley

Transplant into flower pots late in the fall.

Keep in windows where they will receive plenty of

sunshine.