158 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



season ; and, in fact, a boy and girl will mark 

 just about as well as a team of horses. They 

 don't tramp down your nice ground as horses 

 do. Well, after you get a planter there is a 

 special knack or trick in using it just right. 

 The directions below will make it plain. 



DIRECTIONS FOR THE ACME HAND POTATO PLANTER. 



Take the planter in the right hand, with lever point- 

 ing ahead. With the lelt hand reach into the sack and 

 select the seed required. Don't stoop, but raise the 

 planter to meet the hand. Diop the .'eed into the 

 hopper. Steadily lower the planter to the mark ; 

 step on the hopper, not on the lever, and with the left 

 foot press the planter into ground, then step ahead 

 with the same foot, at the same time pushing forward 

 the handle, which releases the seel; drag the right 

 font over the hill m bringing it forward : this brings 

 you to the next hill. While planting the seed, the 

 left hand has gone to the sack to secure seed for the 

 next hill. In planting with the left hand, rever.se 

 these directions. If these directions are followed, the 

 operator will move ahead at every motion. 



PLANTING POTATOES WITH THE ACME 

 PLANTER. 



Now, please do not think you know a much 

 Ijetter way. The manufacturers of the imple- 

 ment have spent much time, and have watched 

 the machine while it planted thousands of 

 ?cres. Let me say again that Mr. Hilbert's 

 boy, w'.ien he was 17 years old, planted two 

 acres of potatoes all alone in one day ; and the 

 work was done well. I saw acres that had 

 been planted with this machine. This imple- 

 ment was invented in the Grand Traverse re- 

 gion, and everybody there uses it. 



I wish to call attention to the concluding 

 sentence of the directions. Almost fifty years 

 ago, when my brother and myself were boys, 

 we were planting corn by hand, with a hoe. I 



think there were four of us — two men and two 

 boys. Well, my brother, about 18 years old, 

 walked right away from the rest of the plant- 

 ers, and did his work just as well as the grown- 

 up men did theirs. I was of an inquiring dis- 

 position then, just as I am now, and I insisted 

 on finding out the whys and wherefores. He 

 laughingly explained to the rest of us that we 

 stood still and took both hands to dig a place 

 to put the corn. Now, he pulled away dirt 

 enough to leave a cavity, with his hoe in his 

 right hand, while he picked the corn out of 

 his pocket with the left hand. In fact, he had 

 trained his two hands so that they worked in- 

 dependently. One did one thing, and the 

 other did another thing. In that way he 

 could walk right along and do his work just 

 as well as we did ours. Of course, it took a 

 little more strength and a little more brains to 

 keep every thing going. I soon learned the 

 trick ; but the two old men could not get out 

 of their old ruts. I think my father afterward 

 turned them off and let his two boys finish the 

 corn planting. 



Now, I have seen this same thing a thousand 

 times through life. A good many grown up 

 people, strong able men and women, will 

 think they are going to be killed or injured in 

 some way if you insist that they teach their 

 two hands so one will do one thing at the 

 same time that the other does something else. 

 When I get hold of a boy or girl who is teach- 

 able, and will catch on to the idea that such a 

 one can do ever so much more work by keep- 

 ing both hands busy, such a boy or girl gets 

 promoted. Tho.se who can not learn the trick 

 of thus saving time and money soon get out of 

 a job. Now, with this potato-planter you 

 have got to learn to do just this thing — that 

 is, learn the trick of keeping not only both 

 hands but both feet busy at work all the time. 

 Of course, you must have your potatoes cut 

 and located at the ends of the rows ; and then 

 you will have to find out by experiment just 

 how many will go across the lot, so that you 

 do not unnecessarily carry potatoes across the 

 field and then carry the same ones right back. 

 If your field is very large, have some potatoes 

 located along the line through the middle of 

 the field as well as at the outsides. 



I forgot to add in the proper place, that, 

 where the ground was nice and mellow, my 

 brother and I covered the corn with a motion 

 of the foot. The old men I alluded to stood 

 still to dig a place for the corn, stood still 

 while they counted out so many kernels, and 

 stood still again until they hoed some dirt 

 over the grain, and flattened the top of the 

 hill with the hoe. Of course, this planting of 

 corn by hand is all out of date now. I men- 

 tion the matter only by way of illustration. 

 This hand potato-planter and one man will 

 plant almost as many acres as you can plant 

 with a man and team, and our best machines 

 want a boy besides. The machine planter 

 will, of course, work in ground not as thor- 

 oughly fitted as it needs to be for hand plant- 

 ing. But I do not believe the machines will 

 give any better results, after having looked 

 the matter over very thoroughly. 



Please notice you do not have to stoop over 



