118 THE POTATO. 



baskets are brought up to the weighing machine for the 

 potatoes to be packed. In wet weather, or on heavy land, 

 the potatoes are likely to be coated with dirt, in which 

 case this must be rubbed off with the hands, or else thrown 

 out in a sieve. It is best not to raise more potatoes than 

 can be collected in a day, or the dirt may get hardened on 

 to them, and a shower would make a mess of them, and 

 of the freshly-turned soil. If the potatoes are to be 

 clamped they may be either bagged up or simply thrown 

 loose into carts for conveyance to the clamp. 



Weighing. It is a capital plan to have the weighing 

 machine on a wooden platform, fitted with handles at each 

 end just like a hand-barrow, only without legs. Two 

 men can then carry it about, so that it is always in the 

 part of the field where the work of raising is going on. 

 If it is not kept close to the pickers the work of carrying 

 the baskets of potatoes to the weighing machine is very 

 heavy, and time is lost unnecessarily. The platform 

 makes it easy to keep the scales level. Without it they 

 would work into the ground, and the packing and weigh- 

 ing would be more difficult. The weighing machine should 

 be such as will support a good large barrel or sack. The 

 empties, unless they are bags, are first weighed with any 

 packing material that is to be used in the bottom. It is 

 often convenient to weigh a number to start with, writing 

 the weight on the label, or chalking it on to the empty 

 itself. If this is not done it is no easy matter to cope 

 with the work when the potatoes are being brought m fast. 



The Empties. If the grower is sending his crop to a 

 salesman, the choice of empties does not concern him 

 much, as he has to accept what the salesman supplies. 

 However, for very early potatoes bushel baskets are 

 usually sent. Later on barrels of various sizes are most 

 in favour, the best of them being fitted with basket-work 

 lids. The potatoes travel very well in either baskets 

 or barrels, if they are sufficiently large to hold 



