mniintmm 
OURNAM 7 
SUBURBAN 
1 
J 
jT 1f 
Vol. I.XXIII. No. 4278. 
NEW YORK. OCTOBER 21. 1014. 
WEEKLY $1.00 PEII YEA IL 
POTATO-DIGGING TIME. 
‘'Lifting” by Horse or Hand. 
IIE PLEASURE OF HARVEST.—Is it work 
or is it play? I think it is neither. The lit¬ 
tle Kiri is filled with the glory of harvest, 
llers is an unalloyed pleasure. As she gathers to¬ 
gether the great smooth potatoes she thinks only 
of the gather¬ 
ing. There is 
no thought of 
the heavy disk¬ 
ing and plowing 
of the ground 
on cold windy 
days;no thought 
of the seed cut¬ 
ting, disinfect¬ 
ing. planting, 
etc.; no thought 
of the cultiva¬ 
tion and work 
wit h disagree¬ 
able poisons on 
hot dusty days; 
no thought of 
the c h a n c e s 
taken with the 
<> 1 e m e 11 1 s. 1 11 
fact it is noth¬ 
ing but pleas¬ 
ure, and it is 
the kind of 
pleasure that 
c o in e s to a 
greater or less 
extent to every 
111 a 11 who lias 
the privilege of 
gathering t h e 
crop that lie 
h i 111 s e 1 f has 
grown, worked 
with and watch¬ 
ed over through¬ 
out the growing 
season. 
TWO ROTA- 
TO 
DROPS.— 
.1 list 
now it is 
( li e 
Northern 
grow 
er who is 
having (his ex- 
peric 
■nee. Our 
Southern friends 
had 
their early 
crop 
of tubers 
off 
before the 
northern crop 
w a s 
i 11 t li e 
g r 0 
u u d. and 
soon 
they will 
he i 
engaged in 
ha rv 
esting t h e 
second potato 
crop 
of the year. 
Here 
in South .1 
was none. For many years it has been a big prob¬ 
lem to find a crop that could he grown with profit 
after early peas, beans, onions or strawberries had 
been removed. Thus far the lloosiers and Redskins 
have been used mostly after strawberries. A plot 
of berries two or three years old, picked for the 
last time in late June, is plowed immediately and 
put in potatoes. For South Jersey planting can he 
-ey much the same thing takes 
place. Irish Cobblers are planted in early Spring 
for the first crop and lloosiers (also known as 
"Pink Eye" and "No Blight" 1 and Redskins are 
planted for the second crop. This second crop is 
destined. 1 believe, to work a big change in our 
system of cropping. One can now see many plots of 
these potatoes scattered throughout the entire truck¬ 
ing section of South Jersey. A few years ago there 
THE FUN OF POTATO 11A R V ESTI NO. Fu;. o35 
done from July 1st to loth, and in an average year 
the crop will fully mature before frost kills the 
vines. Last year we had a live-acre plot of Hoosier 
potatoes planted the tirst week in July, after straw¬ 
berries. that gave a yield of over 1400 %-busliel 
baskets of potatoes for the live acres. Less than 
o', would grade as seconds, other growers have 
done even 1 e'.ter than that. 
STORINO THE CROP.—Because of the solidity 
and keeping qualities of these potatoes most of the 
crop is stored. To store, a pit is dug about two 
feet deep. Potatoes are poured in to make a coni¬ 
cal shaped heap; this is then covered with a layer 
of hay. then a thick layer of soil. There is a slope 
to this so as to shed rain: a trench is dug around 
this heap or mound to allow the water to run <>ir 
without entering the pit. Late potatoes stored in 
this m a n n e r 
come out solid 
and tirm in the 
Spring, and can 
be held without 
cold storage un¬ 
til May 1st or 
I 5 t h. Redskin 
potatoes grown 
here and stored 
as described 
have been taken 
out in the 
Spring and sold 
at the price of 
new potatoes 
from tfm Son 1 . 
Did <i I Nil 
METHODS.— 
Just now. how¬ 
ever. we are in¬ 
terested iii (he 
best methods of 
digging. The lit¬ 
tle girl is not 
concerned with 
this, but with 
growers this 
problem is up¬ 
permost in their 
minds. For the 
large grower 
who makes po¬ 
tatoes his main 
crop there is no 
question but 
what one of the 
better makes id 
potato diggers 
II o w o u t h e 
in a rket offers 
the most eco¬ 
nomical means 
of removing his 
crop. Such dig¬ 
gers are usually 
drawn by four 
horses, and the 
tubers are left 
lying on top of 
the rows where 
t li e y c a 11 b e 
easily gathered 
in basket. Sm 11- 
er growers feel 
that it would 
not be economy 
to buy one of 
these larger diggers. They must depend on small 
diggers or else do rhe work by hand. In home gar¬ 
dens or breeding plots for seed the old potato hook 
still offers the best means of getting out the tubers. 
Between these two classes of growers there are a 
vast number who produce from one to five acres of 
potatoes annually. We come in with this class. 
For removing our own crop we find the ordinary 
sweet potato digger or plow very satisfactory, and 
