POTATO IMPLEMENTS, ETC 195 



and weeds are kept down, or prevented from making an 

 appearance. The benefit to the crop from the stirring of 

 the soil is considerable. 



Potato Sorters. The work of grading large bulks of 

 potatoes, as when a clamp is opened, is very heavy if done 

 in hand riddles, and to avoid this many clever contrivances 

 have been placed on the market. Probably the most 

 elaborate and perfect of these is the Wilson-Dobbie potato- 

 dressing machine, made by Mr. David Wilson, Eiccarton, 

 Linlithgow, N.B. In this the potatoes pass down a re- 

 volving sieve of hexagonal shape, which separates the 

 tubers into three sizes, as they pass along. The " seed " 

 and " ware " drop on to a carrier, running at a sufficiently 

 slow speed to allow time for picking out any diseased or 

 damaged tubers before they pass into baskets or bags 

 placed at one end of the machine. The motion is easily 

 kept up by hand, and the capacity of the sorter is such 

 that a man is constantly kept at work feeding it. Most of 

 the other sorters separate the tubers into three sizes \nto 

 flat riddles, which are kept in motion either by pushing to 

 and fro with the hand, or by means of a crank worked by 

 turning a wheel. Mr. Henry Cooch, Commercial Street, 

 Northampton, sells a machine which may be had to work 

 by either of these methods. Messrs. Penney and Co., 

 Lincoln, also make a very similar machine, in which the 

 riddles are actuated by a crank. 



Sorters for Small Crops. Growers of small crops 

 would not, of course, think of investing in a large potato 

 sorter, but will find ordinary round hand-riddles of suitable 

 meshes quite efficient. When these are used, the work is 

 made much less arduous by the provision of a stand on 

 which to work the riddles. An excellent one is sold by 

 Messrs., A. Jack and Sons, Maybole, N.B. ; but anyone 

 at all handy at carpentering can soon construct such a 

 stand as is shown in the illustration. The construction 

 of the apparatus can be clearly seen. The dimensions 



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