114 THE POTATO 



In gardens, "grabbling" is sometimes practised, 

 especially in Germany. This is to dig carefully 

 into the sides of a hill of potatoes and remove the 

 largest tubers for early use or market. If care- 

 fully done this will cause no injury to the smaller 

 tubers. 



An excellent description of handling potatoes in 

 the field in the East is given by Alva Agee, in 

 "Bulletin No. 105"of the Pennsylvania Department 

 of Agriculture. It follows: 



"In great potato-growing sections years ago it 

 was a common practice to pour bulk potatoes into 

 wagon-beds, and to shovel them out into baskets 

 when unloading. This primitive method was 

 laborious, and did injury by bruising the tubers. 

 Potato boxes have now come into common use in 

 many districts. They are made of light mate- 

 rial, preferably basswood or similar wood. The 

 boards for sides and bottom should be three 

 eighths inch in thickness, and the ends one half. 

 The size of box should be such that it will contain 

 2,688 cubic inches, level full. The legal bushel 

 measure for grain contains 2,150.4 cubic inches, and 

 in measuring roots or potatoes the rule is to heap 

 the half-bushel measure sufficiently to add one 

 level peck to the two level half-bushels. Five 

 level pecks, or 2,688 cubic inches, are the equiva- 

 lent of two rounding half-bushels and of a level 

 potato box rightly made. The following dimen- 

 sions are the ones used by a leading manufacturer 

 of these boxes: Twelve and one half inches deep, 

 thirteen and one half inches wide, and sixteen 

 inches long. This gives exactly 2,700 cubic 

 inches. This size probably* is more convenient 

 than any other that could be devised. The length 



