30 
BULLETIN 1188, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Preparation. — Preparation included the operations of plowing, 
harrowing, rolling, and floating, or, in other words, getting the land 
in condition for planting. Plowing was the most important indi- 
vidual operation in preparing the land; 63 per cent of the man labor 
and 57 per cent of the horse labor in preparation were required for 
plowing. The average depth of plowing was 6.6 inches, varying 
from 4 to 10 inches. In the Minnesota and Wisconsin areas nearly 
half the harrowing was done with the disk, the remainder being done 
with the spike and spring-tooth harrow. In the Michigan, New 
York, and Maine areas about three-fourths was done with tne spring- 
tooth harrow and the rest with the disk harrow. The spike-tooth 
harrow was used very little in preparation in these States. 
Planting. — Planting included the operations of cutting, sprouting, 
and treating seed, marking of rows, applying fertilizer, and planting. 
The cutting of seed was done by hand. Fertilizer is usually applied 
at time of planting with potato planter. Not much seed was treated 
for skin disease. In hand planting the rows are marked off both 
ways with a horse marker and the pototoes are planted at the inter- 
sections of the marks with a hand planter. Hand planting was a 
common practice in a number of the areas. 
In order to point out the differences in labor used, and results ob- 
tained between hand planting and machine planting, Table 35 is 
shown. In hand planting the spacing in the rows is usually wide 
enough to permit cultivating both ways. Thus less seed is used in 
hand planting than in machine planting. It is significant that the 
yield of potatoes is less and the cost of production greater on farms 
where planting is done by hand than on those planting with machine. 
This difference in yield and cost is probably due mainly to the differ- 
ence in quantity of seed used (spacing is a factor in this) , increased 
seeding usually resulting in increased yields, other things being equal. 
Table 35. — Hand planting vs. machine planting as affecting rate of planting, time re- 
quired, yield and cost in growing potatoes {252 farms, 1919). 
Method 
of plant- 
ing. 
Num- 
ber of 
farms 
Acres 
pota- 
toes 
per 
farm. 
Dis- 
tance 
be- 
Spac- 
ing in 
rows. 
Hours 
planting. 
Bush- 
els 
seed 
per 
acre. 
Aver- 
age 
yield 
per 
acre. 
Aver- 
age 
cost 
per 
acre. 
Aver- 
age 
cost 
tween 
rows. 
Man. 
Horse. 
per 
bush- 
el. 
Anoka County, Minn 
Barron County, Wis 
Waupaca County, Wis 
Montcalm County, Mich. . . 
Steuben County, N. Y 
/Hand . . . 
\Machine 
/Hand... 
\Machine 
(Hand... 
\Machine 
(Hand... 
\Machine 
/Hand... 
\Machine 
21 
33 
15 
32 
36 
15 
42 
7 
32 
19 
13.5 
17.8 
7.9 
8.2 
11.9 
12.3 
io. e 
8.7 
9.4 
13.7 
In. 
37 
38 
35 
36 
34 
33 
35 
35 
34 
35 
In. 
35 
16 
32 
16 
34 
18 
35 
20 
29 
21 
10.3 
6.5 
12.6 
10.5 
12.3 
9.7 
10.1 
8.7 
11.3 
9.7 
2.2 
4.0 
2.4 
4.4 
1.6 
5.1 
1.0 
4.5 
5.6 
2.7 
8 
10 
8 
13 
10 
12 
7 
10 
10 
12 
Bush. 
90 
110 
138 
158 
119 
133 
107 
118 
134 
149 
$91 
86 
106 
108 
87 
90 
83 
92 
92 
101 
$1.01 
.78 
.77 
.68 
.74 
.67 
.78 
.78 
.69 
.68 
Cultivation. — Great variations exist in the methods of cultivation 
in the different areas studied. The first operation following hand 
planting is usually " recovering/' or cultivating a ridge over the 
row, which is later harrowed level. This ridge covers seed which 
may not have been properly covered when planted and assists in 
controlling young weeds in the row. The size of crew varied from 
