Uhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
319 
Vegetable Planting 
A Spotting Machine 
For transplanting small plants close to¬ 
gether of such vegetables as onions, beets, 
kohl-rabi, lettuce, etc., this machine 
known as a “spotter” or “dotter” is a 
great labor saver. The individual plants 
of these kinds of vegetables are not worth 
enough to warrant spending very much 
care or time on the transplanting of each 
one, so a device which facilitates rapid, 
wholesale setting, is a great convenience. 
Early Spring beets are transplanted quite 
extensively by growers around Norfolk, 
Virginia, and many other market garden¬ 
ing sections. Also onions are transplanted 
quite extensively in many sections where 
the so-called “new onion culture” is prac¬ 
ticed. Other small vegetables are trans¬ 
planted less extensively. The advan¬ 
tages of transplanting are: Earliness, 
superior yield and quality of product, and 
economy of seed. 
The spotter is a simple homemade af¬ 
fair which a gardener can put together 
in odd moments before the outdoor work 
opens up in the Spring. Different growers 
be lumpy, it may be smoothed down with 
a ileeker harrow, dragged again and per¬ 
haps rolled. Then spotter is run over 
the freshly prepared soil as it is neces¬ 
sary to have the soil a little moist so that 
the holes will not fill up as fast as they 
are laid out. The plants are set promptly 
behind it to insure their coming in con¬ 
tact with moist soil. If soil was prepared 
sometime previously, it may be freshened 
up by running a spike-tooth harrow or a 
plank drag over it. j. t. e. 
Colorado Potatoes 
In our old home in Kansas we fre¬ 
quently bought from our grocers Colorado 
potatoes as in those days they were 
shipped in from the West by the carload. 
The potatoes were great, smooth, noble¬ 
looking tubers, having been grown “under 
the ditch” in the level, fertile areas of 
the northern section of the State. Since 
coming to Colorado to live we have 
le.ariuHl. however, that there are Colorado 
potatoes and other C’olorado potatoes; 
and we have learned also to discriminate 
when we come to lay in a supply for the 
’ Spotter ” for Small Plants 
who are using this tool have varied the 
details of construction to suit their own 
ideas, but the following will give some 
idea as to how one may be made. Six or 
eight circular pieces of two-inch plank 
are sawed out 12 inches in diameter. 
Holes are bored in the center of each disk, 
and the disks are placed on an axle of 
one-inch gas pipe. These disks or 
“wheels” of the spotter are spaced from 
eight to 12 inches apart, according to the 
distance desired between the rows of veg¬ 
etables, For beets this is generally eight 
to 10 inches, and for onions, lettuce, etc., 
12 inches. If the same machine is to be 
used for vegetabb'S requiring different 
spaces, the disks will have to be adjusta¬ 
ble, as can easily be arranged. Around 
the center of the outer edge of the disks 
holes three-eighths of an inch in diameter 
are bored three inches apart, and round 
pointed wooden pegs are fitted into these 
holes so that they project about two 
inches beyond the surface of the disk. A 
handle is attached from the ends of the 
axle, with long grips on the end of it so 
that two men, one on each side, can draw 
the spotter along without tramping over 
the soil of the sp(‘ciiilly prepared beds. As 
the spotter is drawn along in this m.'in- 
ner, each peg on the disk leave.s a hole 
in the soft, moist earth, laying out the 
bed in rows the same width as the dis¬ 
tance between the disks, and with the 
holes three inches apart in the row and 
two inches deep. Promptly after the holes 
are made, the little veget.able plants are 
dropped in by hand and the earth i>ressed 
up to them. Transplanting in this way 
is a rapid proposition. If over-head irri¬ 
gation is available, it is a great advantage 
to wet down the beds well soon after 
setting the plants. Where lettuce or 
other crops are set. requiring more than 
three inches space in the row, plants* are 
set only in every third or fourth hole. 
The machine is shown in accompanying 
picture, 
T.and has to be specially jirepared 
where a spotter is used to mark off. Reds 
which are to be covered with cold frame 
sash are very often laid for plant-setting 
with a spotter, and the cold frame i)laeed 
in position afterwards. The soil where a 
spotter is used should be plowed deeply, 
disked well and harrowed. If inclined to 
season’s demands. While potatoes grown 
in the large irrig.ating sections are good 
to look at, when it comes to cooking they 
are found, to be somewhat coarse-grained, 
lacking in flavor, and some of them have 
an ugiy-looking Aoicuum in the center, 
caused undoubtedly by the rushing pro¬ 
cess during the gi-owing season. F.arther 
south our immediate, high-])riced orchard 
lands are considered too valuable for crop 
prwluction. other than market gardening, 
.so we must needs look farther for the 
potato supply. And we do not have so 
far to look, either, as one might imagine; 
for, if we travel the winding roads leading 
up from our little valley in almost any 
direction and follow them far enough, we 
will_ find ourselves in the cattle-ranching 
territory, wli“-e farmers have settled 
down to the business of i-aisiug feed along 
the meadow lands of the creek bottoms, 
and i)asturing their herds during the Sum¬ 
mer on the m nmtain ranges. Stretching 
up all about them and on the slopes of 
every hillside belonging to these ranches, 
we may see the ubi(|uitous potato patch, 
the green growing vegetation .showing up 
in sharp contrast to the rich, black loam 
that produces real, old-fa.shioue<l “back 
East” potatoes with the flavor we leariual 
to know among the hills of old Wis¬ 
consin. 
It tiikes very little care to raise po¬ 
tatoes in these upper regions, and no irri¬ 
gation whati'ver. If the ground is made 
ready, the seed planted, not much else in 
connection with growing the crop maul be 
thought of until the potatoes are ready 
to_ dig in the Fall. The cool atmosphere, 
with freipient mount.-iin showers, coupled 
with plenty of sunshine, does most of the 
woi'k, and tlm result at harvest time is 
tons upon tons of the “best sellers.” 
One indu.strious family on our street 
Avill serve as an illu.stration of how a 
little extra forethought and exertion may 
supplement the income from the home 
fruit ranch, if one cares for a wider range 
of interests. Our neighbor carries the 
mail twice a week over the Star Route, 
about .”>0 miles up a mountain road. As 
he drives a span of horses part of the 
time he conceived the idea of bi-eaking 
out 10 acres of raw land and getting a 
potato crop fo:* its use. On each trip 
he put in his spai-e time on the ground, 
and at planting time his efficient wife 
was deputized to look after the route un¬ 
til the job was completed. Then when 
Octolx'r came the family found a vacant 
log cabin in that vicinity, put uj) an extra 
tent, hired sufficient Indp and kept at 
the task of “potato lucking” until a grati¬ 
fying supply of marketable potatoes were 
safely stowed away in temporary cellars 
provided for their .shelter. During the 
succeeding months the Star Route carrier 
has been bringing down a few sacks of 
potatoes on each trip and selling them 
out among his neighbors. 
CLARA A. GEBnARDT. 
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