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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



POTATO-DIGGERS. 



Last fall I had considerable to say about 

 potato-diggers ; and I told you that, notwith- 

 standing we had one of the highest-priced 

 diggers made, yet on account of the wet 

 weather we were obliged to put it away and 

 use our old shovel-plow digger. I had quite 

 a little correspondence with the manufactur- 

 ers, and told them our troubles ; and I finally 

 suggested that, if I could see an expert work- 

 ing with a digger, even though the season was 

 remarkably wet, perhaps we might get along 

 a little better. To my surprise I found they 

 had a testimonial from a neighbor living only 

 about four miles away. I sa* him after pota- 

 to-digging was over, and he said they had dug 

 all their own, and dug potatoes for their 

 neighbors when it was so wet that no other 

 digger could do any thing at all, and he pro- 

 posed to come up here and show me how to 





THE DOWDEN POTATO-HARVESTER. 



use our own when this season was opened. 

 Perhaps I should remark that his farm is 

 mostly low muck ground, while we have a 

 very sticky, tenacious clay when it is very 

 wet. Well, this season, when our early pota- 

 toes were ready to dig, I thought I would try 

 it on dry ground without waiting for my 

 neighbor ; and to my great surprise the ma- 

 chine put all the potatoes nicely on top of the 

 ground the very first trial. The ground is so 

 dry now, Aug. 10, that considerable of it 

 breaks up in hard lumps, notwithstanding our 

 thorough cultivation. 



You will notice there are good-sized draft- 

 wheels, so that nothing can stop the machinery 

 short of a stone wedged between the chain and 

 the shovel. The shovel is set by the hand 

 lever so as to go just deep enough to get under 

 all the potatoes, and no deeper. The dirt 

 then goes up on the revolving chain, which 

 gives it a thorough shaking, so that the 

 chunks have to be extremely hard if they are 

 not broken up. If they do not break up and 



rattle through the chain, they go over with 

 the potatoes. The rakes which you see on the 

 rear of the machine run the potatoes all down 

 in a straight pile, so you can dig every row as 

 you go along without any danger of the horses 

 or draft-wheels bruising the potatoes. The 

 machine is exceedingly simple, and every 

 thing that is liable to wear out has a movable 

 box, or some equivalent, so the worn-out 

 piece c in be replaced at a very small expense. 

 With the old digger we used to be obliged to 

 go over our ground with cultivators and har- 

 rows, and keep picking up every time the 

 ground was moved ; and even after all this 

 fuss and trouble, a great many nice large 

 potatoes would be left in the soil. We know 

 this, because they would be coming up the 

 following spring all over the field ; and in 

 plowing the ground for other crops, either in 

 the fall or spring, we would be always turning 

 out large nice potatoes. With the machine il- 

 lustrated above, you get all the potatoes the 

 first time. I suppose they might be run into 

 a bag or box ; but as stones, lumps of dirt, 

 and small potatoes, would go into this box 

 also, it is generally thought best to let the 

 pickers pick up what they want, and leave the 

 rest on the ground. 

 Wilbur Fenn, of 

 Tallmadge, Ohio, 

 teaches his pickers 

 to gather the first 

 time only the No. 

 1 potatoes ; then 

 after the best ones 

 are all put away 

 he goes over the 

 field the second 

 time, and picks up 

 the seconds — every 

 thing in the shape 

 of a potato, if I am 

 correct. These 

 seconds can be fur- 

 ther sorted in the 

 cellar during 

 stormy days — that 

 is, if the grower 



has a market for seconds. 



Perhaps I should add that we did all of our 

 digging with our one heavy team ; and al- 

 though they are nearly twenty years old they 

 walked right along with it, without any fuss 

 at all. If we had potatoes enough to keep 

 them steadily at it all day long it might be 

 better to have three or even four horses. I 

 suppose considerable would depend on how 

 mellow the soil is. 



I shall be glad to answer any questions in 

 regard to this machine, or the manufacturers 

 will send you catalogs , with letters from po- 

 tato-growers who are using their machines, 

 scattered all over the I nited States. Address 

 the Dowden Mfg. Co., Prairie City, la. 



THE DARLING STRAWBERRY — AT LEAST ONE GOOD 

 REPORT. 



The Darling I had from you two years ago was a 

 grand success, although the first crop was quite cut 

 off by frost just as they were ripening The plants 

 seem to stand the long-continued heat < f this section 

 best of any. H. Fitzhart. 



Dalkeith, Fla., July 24. 



