LEADING VEGETABLE CROPS 207 



tubers are kept more perfectly, and with less damage 

 from sun scald, the dangers of drouth much more 

 than overbalance these advantages. Cultivation is 

 usually done with any of the modern two-horse 

 cultivators or the five-tooth single-horse cultivators. 

 In either case the shovels or teeth used should be of 

 the narrowest type in order that the surface of the 

 soil may be left as level as possible after cultivation. 

 Early cultivations should be comparatively deep in 

 order to thoroughly loosen the soils before serious 

 danger to the roots is likely to occur. Later culti- 

 vation should always be shallow, generally not more 

 than two or three inches in depth in order to kill 

 weeds and to lessen evaporation. 



When grown upon a small sCale, harvesting is al- 

 ways done by hand. The potato fork or potato 

 hook are the implements most commonly employed 

 for turning the tubers out of the soil. Hooks and 

 forks with round rather than flat tines are to be pre- 

 ferred, as they damage the potatoes much less. 

 Between the hand tools and the large harvesting 

 machines comes first of all the common turning 

 plow. This is a poor implement for digging the 

 crop on account of the fact that a large number of 

 the tubers will be cut or bruised and a considerable 

 quantity be left in the soil. This method of digging 

 is extremely common in truck-growing sections of 

 the North and may be found frequently practiced in 

 the smaller areas southward. 



The next tool available for use is a special plow 

 made to run under the rows, the tops and soil being 

 separated more or less successfully by a series of 

 iron rods running backward from the moldboard 

 in a fan-shaped fashion. 



The modern potato digger is in universal use over 



