Planting 151 



Hand planting 



More potatoes are planted by hand than by machines. 

 If well done, hand planting can be made nearly as good 

 as machine planting in some respects and far better in 

 others. It is scarcely possible to make a row as straight 

 and in as perfect a line as with a machine, and in prac- 

 tice the seed and soil must be exposed to drying for a 

 short time at least. The objection is often made that 

 machines cannot be made to plant deep enough. Much 

 hand planting is too shallow because the tools used in 

 marking the rows do not make the marks deep enough. 

 The three or four point markers used in many sections 

 cover ground fast, but the marks are very small. In 

 light soils these markers can be shod with iron points 

 large enough to make a fair mark. In heavier or stony 

 soils a small landside plow, or better a wing shovel plow 

 such as is often used for ridging should follow the marker 

 to deepen the furrows. All marking tools should be run 

 with great care to keep the rows straight. Crooked 

 rows result in damage to the potato plants by the culti- 

 vator teeth later in the season. Opening the furrows 

 just ahead of dropping, and covering right after, reduces 

 the danger of drying out seed and of warming the soil 

 too much. Covering the seed may be done with the hoe 

 or with a small plow, with a shovel plow or "middle 

 buster" in the South or with a hiller with wings on each 

 side of the row. With shallow soils the hand hoe does 

 the poorest work, as there is not enough earth placed 

 over the seed to allow tillage with harrow, weeder and 

 the like. Seed covered with the hoe in deep soils allows 

 such tillage to gradually fill up the mark, at the same 

 time killing many weeds. It has a great advantage for 



