1234 EARLE V. HARDENBURG 



TABLE 66. RELATION OF TYPE OF PLANTER TO YIELD IN THE FOUR REGIONS SURVEYED 



where 77 per cent of the machine-planted area was planted with the one- 

 man type of planter. On the contrary, the difference in average yield, 

 even on Long Island, was only 4 bushels per acre in favor of the picker 

 planter, a difference so small as to lie within expected probable error. In 

 the other three regions, where approximately equal rates of planting 

 were used, the average yields favored the two-man planter by differences 

 ranging from 9.3 to 15.8 bushels per acre. The unweighted averages in 

 the table furnish a true comparison of the efficiency of the two types of 

 planters, and may be accepted as an indication of the increased yield from 

 a more perfect stand resulting from the use of the extra man on the plat- 

 form planter. 



CHECKROW AS COMPARED WITH DRILL PLANTING 



A decision as to whether to plant potatoes in checkrows or in drills 

 involves such factors as the cost of labor, available soil fertility and mois- 

 ture, land value, weed control, and the use of machine planters. Of these 

 factors, weed control is probably the most influential. The statements of 

 many growers in Steuben County concerning their reason for checkrow 

 planting emphasized the facility of weed control by cross cultivation in 

 times when hand labor is scarce or when the pressure of other farm work or 

 a wet season might make weed control otherwise difficult. The cost of 

 labor as a determining factor is debatable, for, while checkrowing may 

 reduce to a minimum the cost of taking care of the crop, the seed may be 

 planted at less cost when planters are used, and planters cannot be used 



