CHAPTER X 



HARVESTING 



THE bulk of the potato crop of the world is 

 grown in what may be called ''short season" 

 territory, and by that is meant that there 

 is danger to the crop from frost at both ends of 

 the growing period. 



Because of this the main harvesting care is 

 "weather." The potatoes must be out of the 

 ground and cared for before the heavy freezes. 



Potatoes that are not fully matured at the time 

 in the fall of the year when frost threatens must 

 be dug green. 



Practically all large acreages of potatoes are now 

 dug or "lifted" by machinery. There are several 

 excellent horsepower potato diggers. These 

 have a projecting "snout" or flat shovel which 

 runs under the row, lifting the entire mass of dirt 

 which contains the tubers to an apron made of 

 iron rods. The dirt falls through these iron rods 

 and the potatoes are passed along — to be finally 

 dropped on the top of the ground. 



The process of harvesting potatoes has passed 

 through the same evolution as other farm opera- 

 tions. At first the tubers were dug by hand with 

 a hoe or shovel, or "plowed out" with an ordinary 

 moldboard walking plow. Then a pronged fork 

 took the place of the hoe and shovel, and a flat 

 nosed plow with wide double moldboard made 

 of iron rods was used. With this sort of digger 



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