Bulletins for Drying Fruit and Vegetables are sent out by the Department of Agriculture on request and should be very helpful to the housewife.
[4] Or—cut in large pieces and steam or bake until soft, remove from shell and mash smooth. Fill cans, pressing down evenly with a wooden spoon or potato masher, place rubber and caps and plunge in container for one hour.
CHAPTER XVII
FALL WORK IN THE GARDEN
If the garden has been well tended during the growing season there will not be much rubbish to clear away and the absence of weeds will make the harvesting of the winter vegetables a pleasure. A bright, sunny day is best for digging all root vegetables, especially potatoes which should be allowed to lie on the ground until dry enough for the dirt to shake off, leaving the tubers clean and sightly.
After frost has killed the vegetables so that no further good will be derived from them they should be pulled and piled in a heap to dry and be burned; especially is this desirable if they have been infested with any disease or insects during summer, but if free from any harmful conditions they should, preferably, be put on the compost heap to add fertility to the coming season's garden.
Wire trellises, poles and wires used for the training of peas, tomatoes, cucumbers and the like should now be removed and stored away for next year. All boxes, boards or sash that can harbor insects or the chrysalids of cabbage or other worms, should be raised, cleaned and removed.
The winter treatment of the garden will depend upon conditions that have existed during summer. If the garden has been free from insects and disease it will have been a good plan to sow the entire area to rye for a cover crop during winter, to be turned under for green manure in the spring. This protects the ground from leaching during winter, especially if the winter should be open, and adds materially to the fertility of the soil, but if there has been trouble with insects and disease it will be better to fall-plough, leaving the ground in furrows so that as many as possible of the chrysalids and larvæ of the various plant enemies may be destroyed.