1954 



MACHINERY 



MACHINERY 



The adaptation of fertilizer-distributing devices to 

 the seed-drill still further reduces the labor-cost involved 

 in the production of those crops requiring or permitting 

 the distribution of fertilizers with the seed. Such inven- 

 tions make it possible to substitute brute-force for 

 man-power to a marked degree, thus increasing the 

 efficiency and productive capacity of the man. 



Another but somewhat more complicated device 

 which lends itself in a number of labor-saving ways to 

 the work of the market-gardener and truck-farmer, is 

 the McWhorter fertilizer-distributer. This device is 

 built for hand- and horse-power. It is so adaptable as 

 to be readily adjusted for sowing fertilizers broadcast, 

 or in drills, or as side-dressing to plants in rows. Truck- 

 growers have long ago learned that in order to secure 

 best results, fertilizers should be applied at particular 

 periods in the life of the plant as well as in definite 

 quantities in a special way. This implement meets 

 these several needs more completely than any other 

 fertilizer-distributer yet devised. 



One of the minor implements worthy of mention in 

 this connection is the celery-hiller. In those sections 



2287. Various forms of hand-hoes. The common square or 

 broad hoe runs through the cut. Above it is a weeder and one 

 form of scuffle-hoe. Below at left is a common kind of scuffle-hoe; 

 and below it is a hand-cultivator. Other special hoes are shown. 



in which autumn celery is extensively produced for 

 storage, the crop is partially blanched before it is 

 stored. Until recently this blanching was chiefly 

 accomplished by banking the plants with earth. When 

 done by hand, this is a long, tedious and labor-consum- 

 ing task, but with the aid of the celery-hiller operated 

 by horse-power, human effort has been largely replaced 

 and the cost of the operation has been correspondingly 

 reduced. The onion-topper is another device which, 

 like the celery-hiller, has reduced the amount of irk- 

 some and expensive labor in handling a crop. 



It often happens that a recombination of elements 

 results in a device of special merit in accomplishing 

 important results. A combination of seed-drills is an 

 achievement of this character which has solved an 

 important problem in connection with the planting of 

 spinach on raised beds. The climatic conditions, the 

 texture of the soil, and the drainage requirements of 

 the spinach plant have made it necessary that the crop 

 be grown on four- to six-row raised beds. After these 

 have been prepared, the tramping of operators to sow 

 the seed with ordinary hand seed-drills would be 

 objectionable, the work would be difficult and expen- 

 sive. The battery of drills operated by horse-power has 

 solved the problem for spinach as well as for planting 

 sugar-beets and the sowing of onion seed for sets. In 



fact, in some cases a tractor has supplanted the bat- 

 tery of seed-drills. 



Some of the implements that have had an epoch- 

 marking influence on the crops, the special problems of 

 which they were designed to meet are: 



Transplanter. The degree of perfection which has 

 been attained in the modern transplanting devices has 

 practically taken all the "backache" out of the exten- 

 sive culture of all transplanted crops which are grown 

 far enough apart to permit the use of a slow team to 

 propel the planter. Such crops as cabbage, cauliflower, 

 sweet potatoes, tobacco, and strawberries lend them- 

 selves to planting by this type of implement. Such 

 crops as onions and celery, which are also trans- 

 planted, cannot be successfully handled with the mod- 

 els now on the market. The reason for this is due 

 to the close planting distances required by such crops. 

 It is not the proximity of the rows but the distance 

 between the plants in the row that prevents the 

 success of the machines now available. Preliminary 

 tests that have been conducted with mo tor -driven 

 implements of this character indicate that the solu- 

 tion of the problem lies in this field, for motor-driven 

 devices can be geared to travel at any desired speed, 

 but draft animals, while sometimes exasperatingly 

 slow, cannot be trained to go slow enough to per- 

 mit operators to set plants as close as 4 to 6 inches 

 apart in the row. 



The potato-planter. The invention and perfection of 

 this device has removed the operation of potato-plant- 

 ing from the domain of crew labor when potatoes are 

 grown on an extensive acreage, to the domain of 

 extraordinary extensive field-planting operations. It 

 has reduced the man-labor requirements at potato- 

 planting season so that a very slight increase in labor 

 is capable of accomplishing what on a hand basis would 

 be almost impossible in many sections where potato- 

 growing now thrives. There are two general types 

 of potato-planters which, for convenience, may be 

 designated the "one-man" and the "two-man" types. 

 Each of these machines has special advantages. The 

 one-man type is less expensive to operate than the two- 

 man type, but since the operator must depend upon the 

 precision of a mechanical device unaided by personal 

 supervision to secure the distribution of the seed, and 

 since vacancies in the field tend rapidly to reduce the 

 yield of the crop without reducing the cost of cultiva- 

 tion, the grower should consider carefully whether or 

 not saving the labor of an extra man at planting-time 

 is really a gain or a loss at harvest-time. The one-man 

 type of machine, which uses pickers that puncture the 

 seed-pieces, is liable to be an important factor in spread- 

 ing certain types of tuber diseases. If such machines 

 are employed, extreme caution should be exercised to 

 eliminate from the seed-stock all tubers carrying dis- 

 eases capable of communication from seed-piece to 

 seed-piece by means of the metal pickers. The two- 

 man machine costs more to operate, as it requires two 

 instead of one man. If the seed has been carefully cut 

 and the feeder attends to his job, this machine should 

 give a perfect distribution and a corresponding stand. 

 These devices are provided with another time- and 

 labor-saving feature in the form of a fertilizer-distribu- 

 ting device. These attachments are so arranged as to 

 place the fertilizer in the row, either deeper than the 

 seed-piece or to scatter it into the drill in which the 

 seed-piece is dropped. 



The potato-digger. Of the special implements 

 designed to increase the efficiency of horse- and man- 

 power expended in handling the potato crop, none has 

 proved more of a boon to the grower than the potato- 

 digger. It has made it possible to accomplish by means 

 of horse-power in a given time what it would take 

 several men to perform ; to harvest large acreages at 

 low cost in an incredibly short time; factors of great 

 economic advantage considered from the point of cost 



