This is an example of a late-19th century draft-powered potato planter. It is unclear when this particular model was produced and by whom. The mechanical potato planter, also known as a “bell planter”, was invented in the mid-19th century to alleviate the tiresome and tedious labour of planting potatoes by hand. Even with the help of the planter, the process still required quite a bit of preparation. Prior to planting, the farmer had to cut up the potatoes that had sprouted eyes, or “seed potatoes” as they are known. The seed potatoes would then be placed in the metal container on the planter. As the potato planter was pulled by a horse or other draft animal, the seed potatoes were manually fed into the metal drum where the rotating blades grabbed and deposited the seeds in the soil in predetermined intervals.