PEI Potato Bug Picker - Potato Museum
History Of The Artefact:
This PEI made Potato Bug Picker would have been used to debug potato plants. This particular picker is an Island invention. An Allan Hunter of Dundas, PEI, patented this machine in 1894.
The picker would have been guided by the handles, and the operator would walk up and down the rows of potatoes with it. As the wheel turned, the belts moved and the paddles swung, hitting the potato plants and knocking the bugs (Colorado potato beetle) into the floating tray at the bottom. The tray would have previously been filled with kerosene. Later, when full of potato bugs, the tray would be scraped out, and the contents burned.