234 THE POTATO 



in the conduct of all operations connected with 

 the harvesting of this crop. As a further safe- 

 guard to loss from bruising at harvest time or 

 during transit the growers and the trade have 

 determined upon the red-skinned varieties as 

 best adapted to withstand these misfortunes. 

 Scars and bruises show less on red-skinned than 

 on white-skinned sorts. 



''The varieties in most common use among 

 truckers are known as Irish Cobbler, having a 

 white skin, and Bliss Triumph, a red-skinned sort. 



''Notwithstanding the fact that red-skinned 

 sorts handle better, the smaller yield usually ob- 

 tained from such varieties has led all growers ex- 

 cept those located at extreme distances from the 

 market to use white-skinned sorts. Red varieties 

 are not employed extensively along the Atlantic 

 coast, although they make up the bulk of the crop 

 grown in the Gulf Coast States. 



"While the harvesting of early Irish potatoes 

 grown for home consumption is largely carried on 

 by hand, in some localities improved implements, 

 such as potato diggers and potato sorters, are 

 brought into service. The truck farmers along 

 the Atlantic coast, however, adhere largely to the 

 simpler methods of handling the crop, as sug- 

 gested in figures 9 and 10. This is undoubtedly 

 accounted for by the fact that labor is more abun- 

 dant and not so well trained in the use of improved 

 machinery as in the more northern and western 

 districts. In digging early potatoes in the Atlantic 

 coast district ordinary one-horse turning plows are 

 used. Laborers follow the plows and gather the 

 potatoes from the soil and throw them, four or six 

 rows together, in piles, after which they are sorted 

 and put into barrels for shipment. In the potato 



I 



