Potato picker's tickets, ca. 1910

Title: Potato picker's tickets, ca. 1910
Creator: <a href="https://www.mainememory.net/search/?entity=Presque+Isle+Historical+Society">Presque Isle Historical Society
Creation Date: 1900–1980
Subject Date: circa 1910
Location: Presque Isle, Aroostook County, ME
Media: Ink on paper
Dimensions: 19.4 cm x 14.5 cm
Object Type: Physical Object

Contributed by an individual through Presque Isle Historical Society

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Description

Barrel tickets were well known to many Aroostook County residents. They were used during potato harvest especially during the earlier part of the 20th century.

Potatoes were picked from the ground by hand after a potato digger removed them from the rows. The potatoes were first put in a basket and were then carried and dumped into a barrel. The picker would put a ticket on the barrel when it was full. When the farmer loaded the full barrels onto a wagon or truck he would take the ticket off the barrel and put it in a box that is usually on the body of the truck towards the headboard. At the end of the day the farmer would collect the tickets and use them to total the number of barrels each potato picker filled.

The potato picker would be paid anywhere from 6 cents per barrel in the 1930s to 25 cents per barrel in the late 1950s. Today the few farmers who still harvest with barrels pay around a dollar per barrel filled.

The tickets would be returned to the picker the next day with the number of barrels filled the previous day written on the top ticket. The number 14 written on tickets 42 means that that person filled 14 barrels the previous day. A good worker can fill more than 100 barrels per day.

More mechanized farming methods made the tickets obsolete. There are a few small farmers who still use barrels and tickets during potato harvest.