Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1919 — Quicklime Recommended to Keep Potatoes From Rotting When Stored in Damp Places [ARTICLE]

Quicklime Recommended to Keep Potatoes From Rotting When Stored in Damp Places

The French department of agriculture lately issued the following indications as to the best method of preserving potatoes against rotting, such as is likely to occur in damp places. By employing the proper method, it is possible to diminish the dampness within the piles where the air does not enter or only circulates very slowly. To avoid this, a substance which absorbs water and having no action upon the potato must be employed, and sos this purpose it is found that lime is the best substance, as it costs least, is easy to handle, and is best known. In practice the method can be applied in the following way. It is to be remarked that when potatoes aje stored up after being well cleaned beforehand, they commence to exude moisture, and must be gone over again. The storage place is sprinkled with quicklime, and each layer of three or four inches of well dried potatoes is sprinkled over with lime; the same on the outside of the pile. When sorting as above stated,- the imperfect ones need not be thrown away, but the bad parts cut out and the rest fed to stock .after cooking or passing through a dryer or baking in a furnace; or they can be sent to a starch factory if one is near by. As to the amount of lime to be used, the proper quantity is about ten pounds of lime to 1,000 pounds of potatoes.