No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 768 



time for thorough sifting before the potatoes are dropped upon the 

 ground, does the best work, but it is, of course, at the expense of 

 extra power. Such diggers are expensive, but in loose soils they 

 soon repa}' their cost. There are cheaper diggers that do excellent 

 work under favorable circumstances. In the selection of a dagger 

 the n.atter is one of arithmetic largely. The cheaper the price, the 

 fewer facilities it has for sifting the soil away from the tubers, 

 as a rule, and one must be governed by the acreage he has to har- 

 vest, and the market price of potatoes and of human labor. 



For heavy soils in which potatoes are planted deep, it is not pos 

 sible to have a digger that will be easy on horses, and yet do satis- 

 factorily clean work. There is a large volume of soil to be moved 

 by the digger, and there is difficulty in securing a perfect separation 

 of the potatoes from the soil. It is not our purpose to call atten- 

 tion to the merits and demerits of any of the diggers now on the 

 market, but to remind growers that soils and methods of planting and 

 of culture vary so much that no investment should be made without a 

 field trial. Clean work should be made a leading consideration, as 

 we want to secure w^hat we have produced, but the ])ower required 

 and the wearing qualities of the emplement should be taken into ac- 

 count. 



Potato Boxes. — In great potato-growing sections years ago it was 

 a common practice to pour bulk potatoes into wagon-beds, and to 

 shovel them out into baskets when unloading. This primitive 

 method was laborious, and did injury by bruising the tubers. Po 

 tato boxes have now come into common use in many districts. They 

 are made of light material, preferably bass-wood, or similar wood. 

 The boards for sides and bottom should be three-eighth inches in 

 thickness, and the ends one-half. The size of box should be such that 

 it will contain 2,(>88 cubic inches, level full. The legal bushel 

 measure for grain contains 2,150.4 cubic inches, and in measuring 

 roots or potatoes the rule is to heap the half-bushel measure suffi- 

 ciently to add one level peck to the two level half-bushels. Five 

 level pecks, or 2,688 cubic inches, are the equivalent of tw^o rounding 

 half-bushels, and of a level potato box rightly made. The following 

 dimensions are the ones used by a leading manufacturer of these 

 boxes: Twelve and one-half inches deep, thirteen and one-half inches 

 wide and sixteen inches long. This gives exactly 2,700 cubic inches. 

 This size probably is more convenient than any other that could be 

 devised. The length of two boxes is near the width of the ordinarv 

 wagon-bed, leaving only room for the hands when putting them into 

 position, and, when empty, one box can be placed inside of two 

 others, economizing space. Witlh high side-boards on the wagon- 

 bed it is convenient to tier up sixty bushels when drawing from the 

 field to the cellar, or to market, but the extensive grower may prefer 



