Before mechanical harvesters were used, potatoes had to be picked off the rows and then dumped into barrels. A tractor (or horse) pulled a digging machine that laid the potatoes on top of the rows.

Pickers then put the potatoes into baskets like this one, then dumped them into barrels.

The potatoes would be picked into this basket. The picker would dump the potatoes from the basket into barrel until full. A barrel held about 4 baskets of potatoes.

The basket pictured here is 16 inches (40 cm) in diameter and 8 inches (20 cm) deep. Baskets were made locally, usually by Micmac and Maliseet people. The strips of wood used to make these baskets are harvested from ash trees.