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Potatoes, Storing Of

If kept in a cool dry place, potatoes will keep good for many months, and as they are generally high in price during the winter, it is a good plan to buy a quantity when they are cheap for use when they are dear. When spring comes they will begin to put out shoots, especially if they are kept in a damp place, and this will make them unfit for food. To prevent this, some cooks dip them for a moment into boiling water before storing them. For domestic use, the best way to preserve them is to buy them with the earth still clinging around them, as they are dug out of the ground, to lay them upon straw in a dry, cool cellar, and in winter time to cover them with straw to keep the frost from them. They should be looked over carefully before they are put away, and if there are any rotten ones amongst the number they should be removed, or they may contaminate the rest. When a large quantity is to be preserved, a deep hole should be dug in the ground and lined with straw, the potatoes put into it, and covered with straw.