798 



GLEANINGS IN BEEoCULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



in our potato-book. He has, while digging, five 

 hired men besides himself and boy, and three 

 span of horses. While waiting to warm up, his 

 hired help was husking corn and drawing it to 

 the crib. As soon as the digger had gone once 

 down and back, two men commenced picking 

 up. Let me say here that his 18-acre potato- 

 field is 100 rods long. This saves a large 

 amount of turning the teams in every stage of 

 cultivating the crop; and with four horse!^ 

 abreast it is important that turning be avoided 

 as much as possible. Here is where the im- 

 portance of long rows comes in. Now for the 

 pickers. 



Two men take a potato-box between them. 

 As the machine digs every other row, the pota- 

 to-box is placed on the row that has been dug 

 and picked up. The pickers are stout young 

 or middle-aged men. With a sort of swinging 

 stride they gather the potatoes and throw them 

 into the box; and as the box is to be moved 

 along, each one keeps watch and is ready, so 

 that they take hold of it, one on each side, 

 without any waiting or hitch in the proceed- 

 ings. Of course, the empty boxes are placed 

 along so as to be right at hand as fast as they 

 get one filled. It takes a little practice to drop 

 them just about right. When there are boxes 

 enough filled to make a load, a wagon with a 

 long reach, and some stout planks laid on for a 

 bed, is driven to the further end of the field — 

 that is, the further end from the place where 

 they are stored. The lines are tied up, and the 

 horses are trained to run the wagon very near 

 the filled boxes, and yet not so near as to knock 

 them over. One man stands on the plank bot- 

 tom and takes the potatoes as the other hands 

 them, with a sort of swing, up on to the planks. 

 The team does not stop at all, and, in fact, they 

 are trained to step along at a pretty brisk pace. 

 But it is hustling work, and it makes the men 

 puff. About 30 bushels make a load on this 

 soft mellow soil. The horses go straight up to 

 the cellarway. 



Now, if you will give me your full attention I 

 think I can make it plain as to how he unloads, 

 without any picture or diagram. His cellar is 

 reached by going down an ordinary hatchway, 

 say five or six steps. We will suppose the team 

 with its load of potatoes to be standing close by 

 this hatchway. Across the doorway, down to 

 the bottom of the steps, a stout strip of board 

 is nailed. This strip is up perhaps three feet 

 from the ground. Now, a sort of railway-track 

 runs from this strip across the doorway up to 

 the wagon. This railway is made of two strips 

 of hard maple, perhaps 3x6. They are placed 

 about 14 inches apart, and nailed together so as 

 to form a sort of ladder. The upper end rests 

 upon a pair of legs placed wider apart at the 

 bottom, so as to make the tops stand solid. 

 The incline is such that a box of potatoes will 

 just slide down at a pretty good speed. To 

 prevent accidents, a lit\,le carriage is made on 

 the railway. This carriage is a frame of boards 

 a little larger than the potato-box. A rope is 

 attached to one side so it can be hauled back to 

 the top after it has carried down a box of pota- 

 toes. After the box reaches the bottom, the 

 man in the cellar takes it up. The one on the 

 top gives the rope a jerk, and the carriage 

 comes back for another load. To make this 

 carriage stand still while you are loading, the 

 upper edge drops into a little jog in the track. 

 When the box is placed on the carriage, the 

 back end is lifted enough to start it down the 

 track. While I was present they unloaded 30 

 bushel boxes in 5X minutes. This included 

 running the empty boxes up, and loading them 

 on the wagon. The next load, while I stood 

 present with watch in hand, was emptied, 26 



bushels, in 3Ji' minutes. And then the team 

 was back to the field for another load. Now, 

 these men did not talk politics while making 

 this record, I assure you. They get a dollar a 

 day and their dinner. While I was around, 

 each man worked as if he were running the 

 potato business himself, and was afraid that, at 

 25 cts. a bushel, there might not be very much 

 profit left for the farmer. The day before, they 

 dug and put into the cellar nearly .500 bushels. 

 The expense of the men and teams would not 

 go over $10.00, so that friend Fenn gets his pota- 

 toes dug and put away for winter at an expense 

 not exceeding 2 cents per bushel. As all his 

 other operations in producing the crop are con- 

 ducted in this same systematic way I should 

 not wonder if he does very well, even should he 

 not get more than 25 cents a bushel. As his 

 crop, however, is all of it extra nice Monroe 

 Seedlings and Sir Williams, he will probably 

 get rather more than what they are paying in 

 the general market. That 18-acre field, if I am 

 correct, is going to give him about 3000 bushels. 

 Potato-growing time with him is harvest time. 

 His oldest boy stayed out of school to do 

 errands and help his father boss things, so as 

 not to have any hitch in the work; and his 

 oldest girl. Ellen (who wrote the little letter for 

 us), stayed at home to help her mother get din- 

 ner for the " harvest hands." 



In discussing the relative merits of the Mon- 

 roe Seedlings and the Sir William, we begged 

 his good wife to cook some of each kind for 

 dinner. As they were placed on the table, a 

 huge dish of each, smoking hot, cousin Fenn 

 asked us to tell which was the Sir William and 

 which was the Monroe Seedling. The Sir 

 William was a little the most floury and mealy; 

 in fact, they will boil all to pieces If you do not 

 look out, and they are an excellent eating 

 potato, even when half grown, as I have told 

 you before. In point of flavor it is hard to dis- 

 tinguish much difference. The Monroe Seed- 

 ling, however, is the whiter potato of the two. 

 The Sir William has a little of the yellow tinge. 

 They look a little yellow as they are dug in the 

 field, and have a very light shade of yellow 

 after being cooked; but they are both splendid 

 potatoes. 



Now, here comes in another matter that 

 should not be lost sight of. The Sir William is 

 not as good a potato in the spring as the Mon- 

 roe Seedling. It will sprout almost in spite of 

 you, while the Monroe Seedling can be kept 

 clear up into June, with proper care, almost as 

 sound as when it was first dug. Mrs. Root has 

 said many times that she would rather have 

 the Monroe Seedling in June and July, for a 

 cooking potato, than to have the new potatoes 

 in the market. 



In regard to yield, there did not seem to be 

 very much difference. Fenn's potatoes are all 

 grown in a beautiful sandy and gravelly loam. 

 They are handsomer and smoother than pota- 

 toes grown on heavy clay or on muck lands, and 

 are much better for table use than those grown 

 in muck. 



A little further on, at Mr. Metlin's, I found 

 them digging with a Hallock improved digger. 

 This machine is much like our own, except that 

 it has a sort of grating of steel rods that drags 

 along on the ground right beside the shovel- 

 plow digger. This shovel-plow turns a furrow 

 (potatoes, dirt, and all) over each way on to 

 the frame of steel rods. As it drags along over 

 the dirt the soil sifts down through, while the 

 potatoes, stones, and lumps of dirt are left on 

 the surface. It certainly does very good work 

 for a cheap digger ($18.00); but it does not 

 place every potato on top of the ground quite 

 as well as the Hoover machines do. Another 



