Beets should be carefully dug up after the first frost and handled gently to avoid breaking or bruising them. Cut off the leaves about an inch above the roots and pack them with moist sand or earth in boxes in a cool cellar. Covering the roots in this way maintains their freshness and prevents shriveling.
Carrots.—In the fall large numbers of fibrous roots are produced on the sides of the large tap-root. These roots spoil the symmetry of the carrots and impair their flavor. The crop should therefore be harvested before these fibrous roots form. Observation of the roots is the only way of determining the proper time to dig them up. In other respects they are stored the same as beets.
Potatoes for winter use should be dug on a dry day as soon as possible after the tops have died down. Leave them lying on the surface of the ground for a few hours, so that they may dry properly. (It is inadvisable to allow them to be exposed to the light for too long a period, as it will cause the tubers to become green and unfit for use.) They can then be gathered up and placed in boxes or barrels in a cool, frost-proof cellar, but not exposed to the light. All diseased or injured tubers should be laid aside for immediate use, provided they are not too far gone, in which case they may be boiled and fed to pigs or chickens, or destroyed by burning, so as to avoid the possibility of spreading disease.
Potatoes may also be stored outdoors in sections where the winters are not too severe. A high-lying sandy piece of ground should be chosen on which to make the “pit.” Dig out the soil for a depth of about six inches and line the excavation with three inches of straw. Place the potatoes in a pile on this and cover with a similar thickness of straw or hay. Place over this a layer of earth three inches thick to prevent the straw from blowing away. Gradually increase the covering as the weather becomes more severe, until a thickness of a foot or eighteen inches is reached. A layer of manure over this is advisable in very cold climates. If the pile is a large one it is important that ventilation should be provided for. This may be accomplished by sticking a stovepipe into the center of the pile and allowing the top to project above the covering of earth, or by allowing a tuft of the straw that forms the first covering to extend in the same manner. This vent-hole must be covered with a board, a piece of oilcloth, or something similar to prevent rain from entering.
Other vegetables that may be stored in this way are beets, carrots, turnips, salsify, and parsnips.
Rutabagas and Turnips require to be dug up before severe frost. They can be stored the same way as potatoes.
Sweet Potatoes are very difficult to store over the winter. The loss through decay in storage is enormous every year, even though proper facilities are obtainable. They need a warm, dry room and a constant temperature. The less they are handled after being stored the better. The best advice for those who have raised a crop of this vegetable is to avoid loss by eating them as quickly as possible.
Onions should be properly “cured” before they are stored. This is accomplished by harvesting them during dry, settled weather, and allowing them to lie in windrows two or three days before bringing them indoors. They should then be placed in a cool, airy room in slatted crates, so that air has free access to them. If wet weather is prevalent at harvesting-time they may be “cured” by placing them in a single layer under cover until they are thoroughly dry. The dead leaves and loose scales should be pulled off before storing them.
Leaf Crops
Cabbages can be stored by digging them up with some soil attached to the roots, and packing them close together on the floor of a cool cellar. Treated in this way, they are a rather “smelly” vegetable, and, unless the cellar is tightly shut off from the rest of the house, likely to cause some unpleasantness. They can be stored outside in the way recommended for potatoes by placing them head downward in a trench or pit.