THE DIGGING AND STORAGE OF POTATOES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3338, 6 March 1918, Page 8

THE DIGGING AND STORAGE OF POTATOES.

It will depend greatly on the weather when the main crops of potatoes are ready for digging: but generally the first week of March is a busy one on the farm in this respect. Variety and the season will determine the matter. The ripeness of the potato is indicated well enough by tho appearance of the stalks or haulms. When the stalks have become so withered as to have lost all their sap and greenness, it will be found that the skin of the tubers has become quite firm, and that the potatoes when dug fall away readily from the stalks. They are then ripe and fit to store. If there is evidence of blight, delay in digging should not be allowed, as the longer such a crop is left in the ground the greater the chances are that the tubers will become affected. When it can be conveniently done, potatoes required for seed should be selected at digging-time and put into sprouting-boxes. Tubers about the size of a hen's egg are the most suitable for this purpose. These boxes when filled may be stored in an open shed to allow the potatoes to " harden " —that is, to become green and firmer in the skin, and later may be removed to any convenient shed away from the frost. During the winter the boxes should be overhauled at intervals. The immature potato is the tuber which, under equal soil conditions, gives the greater yield, and seed potatoes from the heavy-yielding plants are of greater value than shapely specimens from the dead-ripe, poor-yielding plant. In the case of small areas or plots, the erop is dug with the fork. Dry weather should be selected for this operation. Where large areas are grown the potato machine is generally used, and does good work in practically all classes of soil. Or the potatoes can be ploughed 1 out. _ When raised by machine or plough it is as well to thoroughly harrow the ground after the crop has been gathered, and clean up all tubers missed in the first instance. The English Board of Agriculture's special leaflet on this subject stresses the following precautions, Which should be observed in storing' potatoes: —(lLThe tubers should be dug and pitted or housed in dry condition. (2) The pits and houses in which they are stored should be so ventilated as to prevent the tubers from heating. (3) If pitted in the fields the tubers should be so covered as to be adequately protected from rain and frost. (4) Diseased specimens should never be included with the sound, healthy -tubers when- being stored. The bulk of the crop not required for seed may be stored in outhouses, sheds, or in pits' (clamps). : If stored in houses, well ventilated buildings should be selected for the purpose, and if the potatoes are likely to be kept for some time it is not advisable to store them more than 3ft deep. If stored to a greater depth than this here is a danger that the potatoes may heat and. commence to grow. Potatoes for table, purposes should not be stored in buildings where they are exposed to the light, but should be covered with a layer of straw, as exposure to light injures the cooking quality. Where suitable housing accommodation is not available potatoes are generally kept in pits. T»he site selected for a pit should be dry. Low-lying, damp land subject to flooding and sheltered places in the vicinity of trees are most unsuitable. The pit should be not more than 3ft wide at the bottom, and it should generally taper to a point about 2£ft high. On very dry land the pit-bottom may be hollowed slightly: but the best results are obtained where the pit is made on level ground. When the pit is made up it should be covered with a layer of from 4in to 6in of dry straw, and over this should be placed a layer of soil of the depth of from 4in to 6in according to circumstances. Provision for ventilating: should be made by inserting small bundles of straw at intervals of sft or 6ft along the top of the pit. Potato stalks or haulms should never be used for covering potatoes, as they tend to introduce disease. Briefly put. the principal points to be attended to in storing potatoes are:—(l) Dig the crop as soon as ripe and in dry weather. (2)_ Pick and grade the potatoes at time of digging; into "tables," "seed," and "small." (3) Remove all diseased tubers. (4) Select and store in boxes such seed as is required for next sgason. (5) Store potatoes for eating in houses or pits—the latter for preference. (6) Burn the potato stalks. Don't une them for covering pits. \