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. CHAPTER XXX. SOME SMALL FRUITS.