186 Our Farming. 



A man who was used to it would dig, in a reasonably clean, mellow 

 field, one-half an acre a day or more. A real expert of much ex- 

 perience can dig readily on my farm five-eighths of an acre. I have 

 had it done time and again. Of course, he did no picking up, but 

 just threw out the tubers. The best digger I ever had would dig 

 200 bushels a day, nine hours, right through the week, where the 

 average yield was about 300 bushels per acre. It took two common 

 men to pick up after him and pile them. He had to quit digging 

 at 5 P. M., to let the pickers catch up and get out straw to 

 cover the heaps. We had nearly 7,000 bushels that season grown 

 on about 24 acres, and this one man dug them all and, I think, 

 got through the i5th of October. We were hauling to market 

 with two teams most of the time, but there were some 2,000 

 bushels in the field in piles when he got through digging that 

 he had gained on us. He was the best digger I ever saw a real 

 expert, strong, willing and skillful. One would have to almost 

 keep steadily walking to follow him as he tossed out the potatoes 

 with a fork. I hardly ever knew him to "stick " one, or leave 

 one not thrown out. He would place the fork just at the right 

 distance back of the hill to not hit any tubers, and still not far 

 enough to move an unnecessary amount of soil, and then with a 

 half lift and half flirt, the potatoes were spread on the surface and 

 the fork was moving on to the next hill. He seldom used his foot 

 on the fork and nearly always a single stab brought out all the 

 tubers. But they were one-eye hills, with a few good sized pota- 

 toes right in a small cluster, as we grow no spreading varieties. 

 And the soil was reasonably moist all the time. In very dry 

 ground, where one had to put the foot on the fork every time to 

 force it in, he could not get along as fast. Again, there were 

 practically no weeds in the field. I have often seen men mow a 

 potato field in the fall and rake the weeds and grass and draw 

 them off. Such farmers would not be able to credit the above 

 statements, because digging in such a sod is very much slower, 

 harder work. When we do one thing right it helps us to do some- 

 thing else better, often. Clean culture increases the yield and 

 makes far easier digging. Now, do not think any common man 

 without experience can or will dig as fast as I have spoken of. 

 Good, willing men might not be able to half do it at first, and do 

 good work, but I have had no trouble in teaching any strong 

 young man who wanted to learn, so he could dig half an acre a day 

 after two or three years' experience. I know how to do it, but 

 never saw the day when I was able to do it all day myself. My 

 back is too weak. Nor could I ever pick up very many potatoes. 

 And still I have made money at the business. I have been able 

 to direct the labor of other men to advantage and select some of 

 the work that I could stand it to do myself. 



Hiring a real expert, as I did for years, a digging machine 

 was not much needed. Again, in those days the teams were 



