[AT] Grain Augers--Long

Al Jones farmallsupera at earthlink.net
Sat Dec 31 19:55:59 PST 2011


Ones I remember were two-story, like a Silent Flame, pulled with a tractor.  Instead of chains the croppers put the hands of tobacco on a "ferris wheel" (two per row?)which as it turned brought the tobacco up to the loopers on the top "story" of the harvester. They took it off the ferris wheel and tied it on the sticks.  I guess each wheel was at least 5-6' in diameter but it's been a while.

Yes I am an oddity. Most of my school friends hired out to farmers to earn the money for their new clothes for school each year.  Many bought their first car this way.  Meanwhile I was stuck home sloppin' hogs.

It seems to me tobacco comes off real late here now.  Some didn't harvest any until way into July.  Used to, it seemed like they had taken the lugs at least by 4th of July.  Usually everyone was done or about done by Labor Day.  This year there was tobacco in the field until October.  I remember one year in the 80s' there was talk of postponing opening school because the tobacco was late but I think it fell through.

I also remember the pageantry surrounding opening day of the tobacco market.  ALL the local news stations had reporters at the warehouses, especially our local CBS station, based out of Greenville NC which was a huge tobacco buying area, as well as Tarboro, Farmville, etc.  It's been a long time...seems like the Eastern Belt usually opened around the end of July??

Al


-----Original Message-----
>From: john hall <jtchall at nc.rr.com>
>Sent: Dec 31, 2011 9:09 PM
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: Re: [AT] Grain Augers--Long
>
>Okay AL, what's a ferris wheel harvester?
>
>I am quite in shock you've never worked in tobacco. Normally you find folks 
>that have done that but never worked with grains or hay. It's not too late 
>you know---go loan yourself out for a 1/2 day next summer to a tobacco 
>farmer.
>
>Tobacco up this way can get to running real late--in other words everyone 
>starts panicking frost will hit it before it is all pulled (that happened 
>quite a bit this year). In the mid '80's, daddy had a cousin that actually 
>cured a couple barns that were fired with wood. They used bulk barns and 
>only used stick barns for backup. This one year they needed to get it in and 
>were already running the kerosene and propane barns. I suspect it was about 
>as much as for old times sake as anything else.
>
>John
>
>-- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Al Jones" <farmallsupera at earthlink.net>
>To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2011 6:19 PM
>Subject: Re: [AT] Grain Augers--Long
>
>
>>
>> John,
>>
>> I think grandaddy's barn may have used Vann burners too.  The barn still 
>> stood 'till hurricane fran in '96 but the equipment and so forth was long 
>> gone--he built a floor inside and stored shelled corn for his hogs in it.
>>
>> The last stick barn, that I know of, used in our neighborhood was in about 
>> '90 or '91. They had a "ferris wheel" harvester you pulled behind a 
>> tractor.  Was that a Davis?
>>
>> Al
>
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