380 



GARDEN FARMING 



burlap cover. The bags used for the handling of the crop grown 

 in the Southwestern region cost the grower in lots of 1000 or 

 more about 7 cents each. These packages are used but once and 

 are not returned to the grower. 



Grading. The grading of early potatoes is quite as important as 

 the grading of fruits. Large and small tubers should not be mixed 

 in the same barrel. The pickers should be taught to gather the 

 large and merchantable tubers in one basket and the small, or seed, 

 potatoes in 'another, and these if placed upon the market should 



FIG. 145. Truck-crop potatoes barreled ready for shipment 



go in separate receptacles and be clearly marked so as to represent 

 the grade. If a mechanical sorter is used, this work will be more 

 effectively accomplished than if left to the pickers. 



A common type of potato grader is a rotary screen which sepa- 

 rates the earth from the tubers and allows the small ones to fall 

 through the large meshes of the screen before reaching the general 

 outlet for those of merchantable size. The objection to a mechani- 

 cal grader of this type is that it bruises the immature tubers and 

 renders them somewhat less attractive, and shortens the time they 

 can be held on the market. Immature potatoes harvested in hot 

 weather are highly perishable and should be handled carefully. 



