ROOT HOUSES AND VEGETABLE PITS.
In the North, we have to protect our gathered crops and to store them
safely for a profitable market, but we do not need an expensive barn or
cellar for that. A root house or vegetable pit will do instead.
This is the way to make one: in a warm, sandy or gravelly soil a pit
is dug from one to two feet deep and sixteen or more feet wide, the
length depending upon the crop you have to store. The sides of the pit
are lined with one or two planks placed edgewise and held in place by
stakes driven into the ground. Stakes are then driven into the bottom
of the pit throughout its entire length; these support the ridge-pole
four or five feet above the floor of the pit. Boards are laid from the
edge of the pit to the ridge-pole to form a sort of gable roof. The
support of these is strengthened by another girder carried by stakes
driven half way between the margin and the ridge-pole. Then longer
boards, from twelve to fourteen feet in length, are laid from the edge
of the pit to the ridge-pole, slightly overlapping each other, and
nailed lightly in place at the top ends. The pit being only a temporary
structure, the boards are not securely nailed, as the same lumber will
do for another pit next season. At distances of about ten feet some
boards are left without nailing to serve as entrances, and at each
place a stake is driven to mark the opening.
Such a pit will protect crops until severe freezing weather. After
that, the board roof should be covered with straw, grass or other
litter, and where the weather gets very cold, manure and earth are
often added as the outer layer. The advantage of this pit is that it
contains a large body of air which secures uniform conditions from
day to day, and celery, leek, Brussels sprouts and even cabbage may
be stored by setting in compact rows, so that they may make a slight
root-hold and avoid shrivelling.
But there are many varieties of pits used for storing vegetables, and
in Kalamazoo, the American celery centre, the favorite celery storage
house is a permanent structure with windows at regular intervals along
the roof, to give the necessary light for the workmen. These houses
have wooden ventilating chimneys, and are usually heated with stoves so
that the temperature may not fall below freezing point.