CLAY COUNTY ILLUSTRATED 



2.3 



More of the Potatoes in the Same Cellar 



Clay County Potatoes 

 Potato growing has become one of 

 the leading industries of Clay County 

 and the producers use machinery for 

 all purposes, except cutting the seed 

 and picking the potatoes after they 

 have been dug. It is the general cus- 

 tom to treat the seed by dipping in a 

 chemical solution to kill any possible 

 disease germs. Planting is done by 

 machines that first drop the seed with 

 uniform space between and the shoe 

 or disc of the planter then completes 

 the operation by covering the seed 

 with about four inches of dirt. 



Cultivation is all done by machin- 

 ery, the cultivators doing the work on 

 one or two rows at the same time. 

 When neecssary to spray for the de- 

 struction of insects another machine, 

 a sprayer, is used, and from four to 

 eight rows are treated at the same 

 time with one sprayer. 



Harvesting the crop brings into use 

 another machine, the potato digger. 

 The shovel of the digger cuts under 

 the row and the tubers are thrown 

 back upon the elevator which is a 

 series of transverse bars forming an 

 endless chain. The motion of the ma- 



Four Potato Planters at Work in One of Henry Schroeder's Fields 



