[AT] Check planting

[Len Rugen]

I've never seen check planted corn, I've seen the equipment and used some of it in "drill" mode.

I'd suspect the rows were way wider than 30", I seem to remember 42" as the number, but CRS...   

What was "good" yield in the years after the dust bowl?  I'd say 40 bu/acre might have been good in the 40's.  I would guess that there was a lot of open pollenated seed planted.  We can still get that locally and it will do OK.  I've planted 2nd gen hybrid (IE feed corn) for food plots and had good looking corn.  I've planted open polliated corn as well.  

There was more than one seed per hill, the planter still "drilled" at whatever rate, but the seed accumulated  until the knot on the wire tripped it.  What commercial fertilizer was often applied with the planter attachment.  Manure was used as far as it went.  After picking, cows were turned in and hay even fed on the field for fertilizer (and weed seed...)  

Remember, they often picked this stuff by hand.  

Now there usually isn't anything over the field after the planter until the combine.  
 
Len Rugen