194 THE POTATO. 



the potatoes being raised by a share which passes under the 

 roots, and lifted to the surface over these tines, which 

 partly free them from earth. Such ploughs work very 

 well, except that they bury a good many tubers, and are 

 rather seriously impeded where the haulm is abundant 

 and green, as in early crops. However, with a pair of 

 horses three or four acres of potatoes can be raised in a 

 day, and a boy walking beside the plough with a hooked 

 stick can do much to keep the tines free from haulm. One 

 advantage of the plough mentioned is that breasts and 

 shares can be substituted for the tines, when the imple- 

 ment is changed into a serviceable ridging plough. 



A Potato Planter. The Jervis potato planter, made 

 by Messrs. Battl3, Maltby, and Bower, Victoria Chemical 

 Works, Lincoln, is a simple and useful contrivance, and 

 has the merit of being quite inexpensive. By its means 

 the tedious, stooping job of potato-planting is brought 

 breast high ; and when proficiency has been gained in its 

 use, it is said that cue man can plant at least two acres 

 in a day, dropping the tubers with great exactness. The 

 implement consists of three metal tubes, which are 

 brought together at the tops, but spread out fan-wise to- 

 wards the bottoms, which can be set at various distances 

 according to the space required between the seed tubers. 

 This contrivance is carried along the furrow, and the seed 

 dropped down the tubes by a sweeping motion of the hand, 

 and thus deposited at equal distances in the row. When 

 the operator has dropped thr^e he takes a step forward, 

 the exact distance being shown by a measure at the bottom 

 of the tubes. 



Saddle Harrows. For cultivating the potato ridges 

 before the crop is above the ground it would be difficult to 

 equal the work done by the saddle harrows made by 

 Messrs, A. Jack and Sons, Maybole, N.B. These fit over 

 two of the ridges at one time, and are easily drawn by one 

 horse. Both the tops and the sides are thus cultivated, 



