THE POTATO 457 



weeks later in marketing. I believe it would be 

 a desirable type for the United States. 



Irish women and girls do the digging with forks. 

 Eight women take sixteen rows. They walk back- 

 ward and fork them out deftly and other women 

 pick them up, two rows at a time. A man emp- 

 ties them into barrels. They are sorted to market 

 size and refuse as picked up. The land is left as 

 smooth and level as if it had been harrowed. The 

 tops from the sixteen rows are put in four winrows. 

 They dig and pick up seventy-five bushels a day 

 at a cost of $1.20. They get a cabin, firewood, 

 and what potatoes they can eat. Women work 

 better and sort better than men. 



AT DUNFERMLINE, SCOTLAND 



A. Burns and Sons, Dunfermline, Scotland, 

 farm 1,000 acres and crop 300 to 500 acres in po- 

 tatoes annually. 



They grow one variety of early potatoes ex- 

 clusively, the British Queen. This outsells all 

 other early varieties on account of its extra fine 

 table qualities, good shape and medium size. It 

 is a strong grower and makes large yields. The 

 quality is corroborated by the extra gain of steers 

 fed on the waste of British Queens as compared 

 with softer varieties with less starch, like Epicure 

 and Up-to-Date. Mr. Bums says cattle relish 

 them more, consume more, and they give 25 per 

 cent, more gain on the British Queen. 



Mr. Bums grows and saves his own seed. It is 

 screened out of the small potatoes when they are 

 picked up by the harvesters. All the refuse is 

 run over a one and three eighths inch screen. 

 The seed potatoes are boxed and stored in seed stor- 



