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Secretary of Agriculture asks
Every Household to can and
Dry their Surplus Fruits and
Vegetables
I
Every housewife this year should restore to her home the often
overlooked home industries of canning, preserving, pickling,
and drying of perishable fruits or vegetables. The large numb
er of new back-yard gardens which have been planted this year
shortly will begin to yield their extra harvest of beans, peas,
carrots, beets, sweet corn and tomatoes. The regular supplies
also will reach the markets and, as happens each summer, the
local supply at times will exceed immediate consumption eapac
ty. Not to conserve much of this surplusage of valuable food
would be sinful waste.
The present food and labor situations are such that no house
hold is justified in looking to others to release it wholly from
individual responsibility and constructive action in saving and
conserving food. All any home should expect of others is to
supply those foods which can not be produced effectively by its
own members. The railroads will be burdened with the trans
portation of staple foods and civil and military necessaries from
localities of production and manufacture to districts incapable
of supplying their own needs. It follows that all locally pro
duced foods, conserved by home methods, lessen the winter
pressure on transportation agencies and also release similar pro
ducts of factories for other purposes.
I urge every household, therefore, to can all surplus perishable
products for which they have containers and to dry and keep in
paper any additional surplus suitable for such preservation.
Canning calls for no special skill and for little equipment beyond
a wash boiler and jars. Fresh products, cleanliness, and heat
' are the chief requirements, as even sugar is not essential for
canning fruits under modern procedure. Fruits and vegetables
moreover, can be dried efficiently in the sun, over a range or
gas stove, or before an electric fan. Homemade shallow trays
of wood or heavy wire screen are the chief equipment required
Drying is a time-tried home industry; conservation of food by
drying is largely a matter of restoring to the home great-grand
mother’s method of seeing that her family had good food in
winter as a relief from a monotonous diet of root vegetables.
Canning, of course, already is a profitable industry for women
and children in thousands of homes and I trust will become al
most universal this season. To aid the home conservation
movement, the Department of Agriculture has issued a new
Farmer's Bulletin on home canning and another on home dry
ing of fruits and vegetables. These free pamphlets should be
read and followed in every household which wishes to translate
patriotic impulse into concrete service.
D. F.
u. s.
HOUSTIN,
Sec. of Agriculture.
.
♦
Right Kind of a Storage House Essen
tial and Should Be Built Early to
Have Ready When Needed.
Dy J. S. Knox, Horticulturist with the j
Extension Division, University
of Arkansas.
Build Storage Houses Early.
Possibl) there is no other vwgeta
ble so generally grown in Arkansas as
is the sweet potato, and rightly so, be
cause it is one of the most valuable
vi ('tables which we can grow for
food, it is a fact that diseases cause
ome loss every year, but nine-tenths
of the potatoes which go to waste
do so because of improper stor
age conditions. The right kind of
a storage house is essential and should
be built early in order to have it ready
by the time the potatoes are dug.
Successful Storage Depends Upon
4
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Several lectors.
Successful storage may be said to
depend upon several factors—(1) ma
turity of potatoes at digging, (2)
proper drying out of the potatoes
shortly after they are dug, and (3)
freedom from disease and serious
bruises when placed in storage. If po
tatoes are dug when they are imma
ture it requires a longer time to dry
them than when they are fully mature.
At the time of harvest all potatoes
showing evidence of disease should be
piled to themselves and fed to hogs or
other farm animals. One diseased po
tato placed in a storage bin may be
the cause of a half dozen others rot
ting. In digging, use every possible
care to prevent the* bruising or skin
ning of the potatoes, since every
wound thus made opens a way for dis
ease to enter the potato.
The Pit or Bank Method of Storing
the Crop.
For the small home grower this
method is Very satisfactory. To build
the bank or pit, select some well
drained location, and, several weeks
before the potatoes are to be
dug, build a shed. The soil under
the shed should be a number of inch
es, say, a foot, higher than the soil
on the outside. This lessens the
chances of moisture rising up to the
potatoes. Make the soil where the
potatoes are to be piled into a plate or
sauoer shape, then pile over this a
layer of dry straw or leaves four to
six inches deep. Now construct two
boxes of 1x6 material and bore two
inch holes in them on all sides at in
tersals of 18 inches to two feet. These
should ho placed, one horizontally
across the bed and the other joined to
it, hnt placed in a vertical position.
There must, of course, be a passage
way for air from one box to the other.
Pile Potatoes Carefully.
As soon as the potatoes are dug and
have dried a while they should be
carried to the storage pit and carefully
piled in a cone shape about the box
ing. It is thought best not to put
over 40 to 60 bushels in the same pit.
When the potatoes are placed in the
bank, simply cover over with a light
covering of straw or leaves and allow
them to remain In this way for ten
days or two weeks in order to thor
oughly dry out. It is during this dry- <
ing or sweating process that so many
of our potatoes rot. As the weather
turns colder a layer of boards or corn
stalks should be placed over the straw
snd a thin covering of dirt placed over
this. By the time the weather be
comes freezing cold the ends of the
ventilator boxes should be closed and
the dirt piled on until it is four to six
inches deep.
Wood Storehouses,
la r\ ornure nnf of nau nn a
large scale for commercial purposes
should build a regular storage
house. The wooden or frame
structures are by far the most com
mon in this state. They are built with
louble walls,having a six or eight-inch
space between the walls. This space
j may be filled with dry sawdust, or if
nade practically air tight, may be left
with «he space unfilled. If the floor
if the building is made of concrete,
•io much the better. Bins in the
houses are of different sizes, hut pos
sibly about as good a size as any
would be about six feet long, four feet
wide, and two and one-half to three
feet deep. Bins are placed one above
mother, with possibly a six-inch space
between them. When built In small
■sizes this way the air can circulate
more readily among the potatoes, and
damage done by bruising is not so
great as when the bins are made eight
o ten feet square. A six-inch space
should be left between the bins and
the floor. When the potatoes are
placed in the house the temperature
■should be raised to 80 to 85 degrees
aid held thus for a week or ten days 1
for the purpose of drying out the sur- j
plus moisture. If potatoes begin to
sprout the temperature should be low
ered to G5 to 70 degrees. The heathig
usually done by means of a wood i
starve, or, in the Fort Smith district,
by a a .'oves. After the drying is
■or:>.; b ;e the temperature of the house
■b ■ ild b< kept as near 50 to 56 de
grees as possible.
; > vibe ventilation by means of side
ml b> flues through the top
U. • b aiding; close during very cold
II ‘ tr< at her.
jj . 'J— "..-rj
University o+ Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE
Offers foil and complete courses leading to degrees t»
agriculture, engineering, education, or normal work, and
liberal arts and sciences.
Complete courses In music, painting, drawing, domes
tic science, domestic art, and other work that appeals
especially to women. During the next session, special
courses intended to prepare women for various kinds of
war work will be offered.
The University of Arkansas Is a standard Institution,
requiring four years of high school work for unconditional
admission to the freshman class and four years of college
work for a degree. Its graduates are admitted without res
ervation to the greatest post graduate schools of the Unit
ed States.
Its mechanic arts, electricity, engineering, and agricul
ture, special courses of a practical nature are provided for
students of ability who have not had the high school edu
cation necessary for unconditioned admission to the fresh
man class. The Training High School in the College of
Eduoatlon admits any student who has finished the course
offered by the public schools in his home town or school
district.
Tuition Is free to residents of the state. Other fees
are small. Hoard in the dormitories is furnished at cosL
Climate and healthfulness of Fayetteville are inferior to
none In the United States.
The next session opens Wednesday, September 18.
For catalogs, bulletins, and full information, write Th«
Registrar,
CENTRAL COLLEGE
ARKANSAS’ SELECT SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
Its Reputation and Success Are Built on Merit and Result*
Standard Curriculum leading to regular degrees.
Music, Art, Expression and Household Economics under great
specialists.
Physical Culture, large student organizations, community interact.
In the educational center of the State.
More boarders than any other town in the State.
A clientele of the choicest girls in the State.
Do you need help?
For catalogue and other information, write
PRESIDENT J. W. CONGER, Conway, Ark.
For My Demonstration Orchards
I WANT one farmer in each neighborhood to write roe
once for my unusual and money-making proposition. You’ll
surprised when you see just what this proposition la — so writ* m*
once for full particulars. Here’s a hint of what I am doing—road
then write me promptly —
»*r&
A Lifetime Opportunity
I want you to put your waste land
to work, by lotting me plan an orchard foe
yon. My expert orchardist will lay It out.
examine your soil and determine just what
trees and varieties would be best adapted.
All this Is done without expense to
you. Them you can order as many trees as
aa you want. and. If you want to, you can pay
for a few treea each yeaz—Inst as you please.
When your orchard is planted. I'll make
you my manager In your neighborhood and you
can make money with ma right from the start.
This plan has been woaked ent If
various sections of the eteie
has proved a big
farmer managers are
over it—you will be the
“SSSJlE
There are other f eataret that I east SO
tedspae*. hot V
plain here because of liml __
you will Just drop meanoteora poetalaaSsaw
'Tell me all about your DenioaitraSsa triterf
—I’ll answer personal Is. by return mall. Maks
money with me — k i ail ahsela and aaep.
GEORGE PARKER, Manager
PARKER BROS. NURSERY CO,
“Tho rmymttavtu* Mwreer/ee"
Packer Building, Fayetfevttle,
ADAMS BROTHERS
Cotton and Com Buyers
General Merchandise
To the Farmers:—We want your produceand will
pay the highest market price in cash or trade
NEWARK, ARKANSAS
Arkansas College
Preparatory Department
miiii!!tiiffi:mff'i:,!;!::i:iii0fii!ii!ii!!iii:!i
'irmiiiinink
The best place to educate your son or daughti., a
high-toned student-body; the teachers are men and
women of the highest culture refinement, and ability.
The student’s course of study and conduct is can*
fully supervised. When completed, he enters college
easily and pursues his studies with pleasure and suc
cess.
Experienced teachers. Small classes. Thorough and
rapid progress.
Considering time saved and character of the work,
it is cheaper than the public school.
Students admitted as low as the eighth grade.
New classes after the New Year.
Get ready for entrance by writing for information
E. D. BROWN, DEAN
Batesville, Arkansas