A good out-door cellar
Cabbages should be kept at a low and uniform temperature, and water should be drained away from them. They are Stored in many ways in the field, but success depends so much upon the season, particular variety, ripeness, and the freedom from injuries by fungi and insects, that uniform results are rarely secured by any method. The best results are to be expected when they can be kept in a house which is built for the purpose, in which the temperature can be kept uniform and the air fairly moist. When Stored out of doors, they are likely to freeze and thaw alternately; and if the water runs into the heads, mischief is likely to result. Sometimes they are easily Stored by being piled into a conical heap on well-drained soil and covered with dry straw, and the straw covered with boards. It does not matter if they are frosted, provided they do not thaw out frequently. Sometimes cabbages are laid head down in a shallow furrow plowed in well-drained land, and over them is thrown straw, the stumps being allowed to project through the cover. It is only in winters of rather uniform temperature that good results are to be expected from such methods.
In the Storing of all things, especially those which have soft and green matter, as cabbages, it is well to provide for the heating of the produce. If the things are buried out of doors, it is important to put on a very light cover at first so that the heat may escape. Cover them gradually as the cold weather comes on. This is important with all vegetables that are placed in pits, as potatoes, beets and the like. If covered deeply at once, they are likely to heat and rot. All pits made out of doors should be on well-drained and preferably sandy land.
When vegetables are wanted at intervals during the winter from pits, it is well to make compartment pits, each compartment holding a wagon load or whatever quantity will be likely to be wanted at each time. These pits are sunk in well-drained land, and between each of the two pits is left a wall of earth about a foot thick. One pit can then be emptied in cold weather without interfering with the others.
An outside cellar is better than a house cellar in which there is a heater, but it is not so handy. If it is near the house, it need not be inconvenient, however. A house is usually healthier if the cellar is not used for storage. House cellars used for storage should have a ventilating shaft.
Strawberries
Strawberry. The saying that Strawberries will grow on almost any soil is misleading, although true. Some varieties of Strawberries will grow on certain soils better than other varieties. What these varieties are can only be determined by an actual test, but it is a safe rule to select such varieties as prove good in many localities. As to the methods of culture, so much depends on the size of the plot, the purpose for which the fruit is wanted, and the amount of care one is willing to give, that no set rule can be given for a garden in which but few plants are grown and extra care can be given. Large fruits and a number of them may be had by growing to the single plant, keeping off all runners and relying on numerous fruit-crowns on one plant for the crop of berries. Or Strawberries may be grown by the narrow matted-row system, in which the runners, before rooting, should be turned along the rows at a distance of from 4 to 6 inches from the parent plant. These runners should be the first ones made by the plant and should not be allowed to root themselves, but “set in.” This is not a difficult operation; and if the runners are separated from the parent plant as soon as they become well established, the drain on that plant is not great. All other runners should be cut off as they start. The row should be about 12 inches wide at fruiting time. Each plant should have sufficient feeding ground, full sunlight, and a firm hold in the soil. This matted-row system is perhaps as good a method, either in a private garden or field culture, as could be practiced. With a little care in hoeing, weeding and cutting off runners, the beds seem to produce as large crops the second year as the first.
Well planted Strawberry