362 GARDEN FARMING 



is shown in figure 134. Where potatoes are extensively grown 

 in New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Colorado, a potato digger 

 is generally employed. Figure 135 shows diggers at work. Along 

 the Atlantic coast where early potatoes are grown by truckers these 

 implements have not yet made their appearance, and the work is 

 done almost entirely by hand, the tubers being turned out by the 

 plow and picked up by hand. That the digger can be successfully 



FIG. 133. Potato digger with steel finger bars instead of moldboards 



employed in harvesting the early crop is proved by the fact that 

 it is extensively used in the early potato-growing regions of Texas 

 and Louisiana. 



The practices followed in gathering potatoes in the field are 

 local in character. In some sections nesting slat crates holding one 

 bushel each are the receptacles employed for gathering the tubers 

 and carrying them to the car or to the storehouse. In other sections 

 the tubers are gathered into half-busliel splint baskets, which are 

 emptied into gunny sacks and in these are hauled to the car or to 



