162 FARM MECHANICS 



pressure, a digger and a sorter. The same outfit will 

 answer for forty acres, which would reduce the per 

 acre cost considerably. No farmer can afford to grow 

 five acres of potatoes without the necessary machinery, 

 because hand labor is out of the question for work of 

 that kind. 



On the right kind of soil, and within reach of the 

 right market, potatoes are money-makers. But they 

 must be grown every year because the price of pota- 

 toes fluctuates more than any other farm crop. Under 

 the right conditions potatoes grown for five years 

 with proper care and good management are sure to 

 make money. One year out of five will break even, two 

 years will make a little money and the other two yearsi 

 will make big money. At the end of five years, with 

 good business management, the potato machinery will 

 be all paid for, and there will be a substantial profit. 



WHEEL HOE 



In growing onions and other truck crops, where the 

 rows are too close together for horse cultivation, the 

 wheel hoe is valuable. In fact, it is almost indispen- 

 sable when such crops are grown extensively. The best 

 wheel hoes have a number of attachments. When the 

 seed-bed has been carefully prepared, and the soil is 

 fine and loose, the wheel hoe may be used as soon as 

 the young plants show above ground. Men who are 

 accustomed to operating a wheel hoe become expert. 

 They can work almost as close to the growing plants 

 with an implement of this kind as they can with an or- 

 dinary hand hoe. The wheel hoe, or hand cultivator, 

 works the ground on both sides of the row at once, 

 and it does it quickly, so that very little hand weeding 

 is necessary. 



