Preparing for Potatoes. 165 



say, only going one way, there is a strip left in the drill that is not 

 stirred. So there is, but until potato tops are nearly half grown 

 the weeder will stir this. After that the vines shade ground so 

 it is not necessary. I will admit that with a potato hook or 

 pronged hoe, one could do a little better work. On a small patch 

 I should do this if desirous of doing just the very best possible ; 

 but practically, in a field, at ordinary prices, it will not pay. If 

 one uses a planter he must plant in drills, as this implement will 

 not make rows both ways. Large fields will always be planted in 

 this way, probably, in the future. But I planted in drills several 

 years before the planter came around. I believe I can grow a 

 rather more uniform crop, and slightly larger in this way. Less 

 potatoes are greened by exposure to light (practically none) than in 

 hills, because there are not so many collected together in a place 

 to crack the earth and let in light. I prefer a piece of seed every 

 foot or so in the drill, rather than three times as much every three 

 feet. I cannot grow in drills as many very large potatoes as in 

 hills, nor nearly as many small ones. They are more uniform in 

 size. Possibly they might be fed so as to make them very large 

 in drills, but this is not practicable with our wheat rotation, if we 

 could do it. But now the digging ; it is certainly more work to 

 dig three hills than one. Well, yes, if they were all one size. 

 But if one is a large one, having a dozen or fifteen potatoes in, 

 somewhat spread out, and many small ones, and the three are 

 small, having four or five in each, and hardly any small ones, 

 there is not much difference. A single motion of the fork in the 

 hands of an expert digs a hill nearly always. He cannot do it 

 with three in one. I have hired a good many acres dug by hand, 

 and where they were clean and land in reasonable condition, as 

 regards moisture, I don't think it ever cost me any more than it 

 would to dig hills. But now we dig entirely with a machine, and 

 of course it makes no difference to that, or if it does, it is in favor 

 of drill culture. 



But what about the planter ? Will it really work ? Will it 

 do as well as hand work ? I bought one of the first brought into 

 Ohio after trying it well. It is the Aspinwall. ' It will work and 

 drill potatoes fully as evenly as ordinary hired hands will. You 

 can make rows very straight with it and cover perfectly. In a 

 long field I can put in an acre in two hours. The machine does 

 not cut the seed. You do that by hand and put it in, and then 

 ride with nothing to do but drive straight, while the machine plows 

 out the furrow, drops and covers. If you keep it well oiled 

 and do not put stones in with potatoes, and keep your reins out 

 (tie them up in a knot) when driving, it will not get out of order 

 easily. With the tension properly set, it seldom misses of drop- 

 ping a piece. It is more apt to drop two pieces, which is a slight 

 waste of seed. The machinery for handling seed, dropping, 

 keeping enough in the hopper, etc., automatically, is wonderfully 



