HANDLING POTATO CROP

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28630, 5 July 1958, Page 9

HANDLING POTATO CROP

Two New Machines Two new potato harvesting machines of interest to the commercial grower have recently made their appearance in Chriscthurch. One is a double-row digger of English manufacture imported by a Timaru firm, and the other, built in Balclutha, is a complete harvester—digging, grading, and bagging the potatoes. The harvester is one of the few complete units to be used in New Zealand. Bought by the Templeton Farm School for domestic use.

it has proved, over the last few ( days on short trials, to be com- ■ pletely satisfactory. Utilising a conventional digger ■ share and elevating aprons set at a higher than normal incline, the harvester is powered by two light petrol engines. The dug potatoes pass up the aprons and fall on to adjustable fluted rollers, through which they pass. Pig potatoes are collected in a hopper below the unit to be discharged on the headland, while the seed and table lines are bagged. The unit is capable of handling up to 70 bags an hour under normal working conditions. ♦

About five or six men are required to operate the harvester, ‘ although in good conditions one could be dispensed with. Two of ' these stand at the top of the apron removing rubbish and clods. i Part of the unit’s efficiency is j due to the preparatory clearing of the rows by a rotary chopper, , similar to a rotary hoe, mounted : on the hydraulics of a tractor. , This is shaped to the moulded rows and chops all surface material to a depth of about half an inch in the mould to a condition ■ which will pass through the apron J with the soil. This limits the > amount of rubbish to be removed I by the men on the machine and 5 makes for better grading. . The cost of the harvester is J about £l5OO, and the rotary top- ’ per costs about £l5O. 1 A demonstration model of an 1 English potato digger designed to

lift two rows at the same time will shortly be shown to Canterbury commercial growers. Powered from a tractor power takeoff, the unit utilises two shares, with an intervening coulter lifting on to an apron of double width. Fitted to the tractor hydraulics, the unit is of simple design but of rugged construction.