POTATOES 



361 



In extensive operations, where men are employed to pick up 

 potatoes by the bushel, one person usually goes ahead of the pick- 

 ers and loosens and exposes the tubers either with a hook or by 

 hand. In many Southern localities this work is done with the fin- 

 gers, in which case none of the tubers are bruised or injured except 

 those which may have been cut or scarred by the plow. The plows 

 used for this purpose are usually of moderate size and are hauled 

 by one or two horses or mules, as shown in figure 143, page 378. 



FIG. 132. Digging potatoes by hand with forks 



There are a number of different mechanical devices designed for 

 gathering potatoes. Most of them are made after the fashion of a 

 plow, except that they are not provided with a moldboard ; or if they 

 have one, it is made of bars of steel so as to allow the earth to 

 rattle through and throw the potatoes out on the surface, as shown 

 in figure 133. Another type is one in which the point of the digger 

 runs under the hills and lifts the tubers and tops, allowing the 

 earth to fall through a screen which is made of steel bars, the 

 potatoes being rolled out on the surface of the bars, from which 

 they are carried by an endless chain to an arrangement at the rear 

 of the machine and are deposited on the ground. Such a digger 



