The best receptacles for onions are slat boxes having solid heads of inch pine stuff, with sides and bottoms of rough laths, the width of one lath open between every two. These should be made to hold a bushel or half a bushel. Stack them one above the other, with pieces of inch pine stuff between to admit of free circu lation of air. Pack these in a cool cellar on a platform raised 8 or 10 inches from the cellar bottom.
Or stack them in a shed or out house. Make a bin around them of rough boards about 6 inches from the outside of the crates, and fill the space with chopped straw, chaff, or sawdust. Cover over the top with sand and throw over the whole any old burlap, carpet, or canvas that may be at hand. Thus protected it will do no harm if the onions freeze, as chaff or straw is a nonconducting material, and they will not thaw out until spring, and then very slowly. The same would be true in an ordi nary cellar.
Or small quantities may be packed in barrels or boxes in chaff or saw dust, and stored in a dry attic which is not heated in winter.
To Keep Parsnips.—Parsnips mar be left in the ground all winter in temperate climates, or in very severe climates they may be buried in a deep pit in the garden.
Or pull them late in the fall, leave the tips on, and lay them side by side in rows and cover with 6 or 8 inches of coarse straw, leaves, or chaff. Freezing tends to improve their quality.
Salsify.—Like parsnips, salsify is improved by freezing and hence may be preserved in the same manner.
TurnIps.—Turnips are not injured by freezing. Hence they may be packed in small crates, boxes, or bar rels placed in an outhouse and cov ered with straw to exclude the light and to prevent their thawing readily. Or they may be buried in trenches or packed in boxes or barrels between layers of fine earth and allowed to freeze.
Beets.—Beets may be stored as for onions, but should be kept in a dry place and at as uniform a tempera ture as possible. In small quantities they may be stored in any suitable receptacle in sand or dry moss.
Squashes and Pumpkins. — These vegetables are very susceptible to frost and moisture. Hence they should not be placed in cellars or outhouses. Hung by the stem from the ceiling in a warm, dry storeroom the hard-shelled varieties will keep practically all winter.
To Store Tomatoes.— Pack green tomatoes in lath crates and store in a cool, dry storeroom away from the frost.
To Store Potatoes.—Potatoes are usually stored in bins or barrels in a dark cellar. They should not be ieft in the field any longer than is neces sary to dry them after being dug, as they are injured by exposure to di rect sunshine. It is advisable to cover the bottom of the bin or barrel with a layer of fine, dry sand, throw over the top a piece of burlap and place a layer of sand on this. They should be examined once or twice a month during the winter, and if they com mence to rot should be picked over, care being taken to handle them care fully so as not to bruise thetn.
To Seep Potatoes from Sprouting. To keep old potatoes not intended for seed from withering and sprout ing, place them in a sack or handled basket and lower them into boiling water for a minute or two, moving them about so that the water will reach all parts of the surface. Lay them out on a flat surface to dry thoroughly before storing them away. The boiling water kills the germs.
Potatoes thus treated will continue practically as good as new until new potatoes come in. By this process old potatoes can be held over imtil the market price is at its height.
Or they can be preserved for do mestic use when there are only new potatoes at high prices on the market.
To Store Sweet Potatoes.—Pack in boxes or barrels on a very hot day in summer in clean, dry sand. Take care that the potatoes do not touch one another, and place in a dry store room where the temperature Wiil range between 40° and 60° F. Care must be taken not to bruise them, and they must be bone dry when packed. Small quantities procured from deal ers in winter may be kept in sand near the kitchen stove, or in any warm, dry place.
To Store Cabbage.—Cabbages are not injured by frost, but wither and wilt in a drying heat. Hence they should be kept in a cool, dark, and moist place, but must not be kept in standing water, as it injures their flavor, or packed together, else they will heat and rot.