POTATOES 379 



and gather the potatoes from the soil and throw them, four or six 

 rows together, in piles, after which they are sorted and put into 

 barrels for shipment. In the potato regions of Louisiana and Texas, 

 where early potatoes form a crop of considerable importance, 

 improved machinery is largely depended upon for harvesting. 



Packages. The packages for early potatoes are determined partly 

 by custom and the demands of the market, but largely by the local 

 timber supply. In regions where timber is plentiful and barrels 

 and crates figure largely in the shipment of other truck crops, 



FIG. 144. Harvesting truck-crop potatoes; "grabbling," or seeking out 

 the tubers by hand 



potatoes are chiefly shipped in barrels, as shown in figure 145. In 

 other localities burlap sacks are employed, as is the case in most 

 regions growing late potatoes. 



Up to the present time no standard measure, barrel, or bag for 

 the handling of potatoes has been adopted. Recently certain states 

 have passed laws requiring these packages to come up to a given 

 standard, usually 170 pounds net for a barrel, and all short- 

 measure packages entering their markets to be so marked. The 

 barrel used by the trucker of the Atlantic coast region during past 

 years holds about 1 1 pecks and weighs from 155 to 165 pounds net. 

 These barrels cost the grower about 22 cents each, including the 



