[AT] Checked rows - Corn planting?

[Dean VP]

Al:

Boy, you sure are right about the checked field being a "thing of beauty".
Well, until the third time cross cultivating and the tractor would beat you
and the cultivator to death. :-)

One of my Dad's favorite Sunday afternoon habits was to drive slowly around
the neighboring farms and admire the fields as the corn came up and grew
overnight. I suspect he was also the local "correct police" relative to who
had not gotten their check rows exactly straight. :-)  There was a bit of an
art to that.  

I have a vision yet of my dad pulling back on that checked wire with a
seemingly trained tug to get each movement of the wire exactly the same from
planter pass to planter pass. His checked rows had to be perfect!  I never
saw a checked row out of place on his fields and I spent many, many hours,
days and years cultivating those same fields.

A good JD model 290 corn planter has been on my want list for years. Never
have found one in good enough shape or at a price I was willing to pay. I
did find two rolls of check wire still on the spools a few years back when I
visited NW IA. Stored inside and in good shape. They were inside a building
at a farmer who also had a farm equipment salvage business. I picked up a
bunch of parts and told him my next trip I would pick up the two spools of
check wire.  The next year I went back to pick them up and the whole salvage
yard was gone.  Scrap iron prices had reached a point where the owner just
cleaned everything up and it was all gone including the two rolls of check
wire. I have kicked my self repeatedly over and over for not picking them up
when I saw them the first time.  A dumb move. Haven't found a good 290
either.



Dean A. Van Peursem
Snohomish, WA 98290

I'm a walking storeroom of facts..... I've just lost the key to the
storeroom door 


www.deerelegacy.com

http://members.cox.net/classicweb/email.htm



-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Al Walker
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 1:46 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Checked rows - Corn planting?

A nicely checked field of corn was always a "thing of beauty" and a 
"sight to behold" for me.  It sure seemed
like you could cultivate on the diagonal, but don't recall ever seeing 
anyone do it that way.  My planter is equipped for "checking", but I 
haven't yet followed up on any of the leads that I've been given on 
locating some check wire.  Some day . . . .

Al in NW MN


>As a youngster on the farm I have a lot of memories of the issues related
to
>planting corn in checked 40" or 42" rows so that the rows could be
>cultivated both ways. But I have no recollection of ever cultivating at a
>diagonal. Was this ever done in any part of the country?  I would think it
>would have required completely different settings on the rear wheels of the
>tractor and cultivator. And not be all that beneficial anyway. 
>
>Just curious if it was ever done and for what reason. Senility is setting
>in!
>
>Dean A. Van Peursem
>Snohomish, WA 98290
>
>I'm a walking storeroom of facts..... I've just lost the key to the
>storeroom door 
>
>
>www.deerelegacy.com
>
>http://members.cox.net/classicweb/email.htm
>
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>AT mailing list
>http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
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