Abstract: Tobacco plants are harvested by having an operator ride a harvesting vehicle along a plant row so that as plants are successively cut from the ground by a cutter on the vehicle, the operator may grasp the severed plant and impale the same onto an upright stake likewise carried by the vehicle. As the stake becomes loaded with plants, the operator may remove the loaded stake from its holding socket on the vehicle and lay the same on a rearwardly disposed deck. He then replaces the loaded stake with an empty stake obtained from a supply thereof carried by the vehicle, and repeats the cutting, impaling and replacement steps until a sufficiently large accumulation of loaded stakes has been obtained on the deck. Thereupon, the deck is tilted to an inclined position so as to dump the plant-loaded stakes onto the ground in a pile, whereupon the cycle is repeated.

Abstract: Tobacco plants are harvested by having an operator ride a harvesting vehicle along a plant row so that as plants are successively cut from the ground by a cutter on the vehicle, the operator may grasp the severed plant and impale the same onto an upright stake likewise carried by the vehicle. As the stake becomes loaded with plants, the operator may remove the loaded stake from its holding socket on the vehicle and lay the same on a rearwardly disposed deck. He then replaces the loaded stake with an empty stake obtained from a supply thereof carried by the vehicle, and repeats the cutting, impaling and replacement steps until a sufficiently large accumulation of loaded stakes has been obtained on the deck. Thereupon, the deck is tilted to an inclined position so as to dump the plant-loaded stakes onto the ground in a pile, whereupon the cycle is repeated.