[AT] Was: Re: FW: Re: hello?, now "people never get rid" NOW: what are corn sleds?

[Herbert Metz]

I think we all agree that drag sleds and stone boats do not have wheels and
are "drug".
The sleds that we used for cultivating corn (and milo, and soybeans later
on) had wheels and were "pulled".  I should have so noted that at the start
of the paragraph about in the '40s,'50s, etc.
Hope this helps.
Herb

> [Original Message]
> From: charlie hill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Date: 1/27/2011 7:45:57 PM
> Subject: Re: [AT] Was: Re:  FW: Re:  hello?,now "people never get rid" 
NOW: what are corn sleds?
>
> Herb, now you have me completely confused!  Not because of your
explanation, 
> it was excellent, but I have to think my way through it.  We never had
any 
> check rowed corn so I guess that complicates it but I just can't quite 
> visualize the "drag sled".
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Herbert Metz
> Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 7:16 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Was: Re: FW: Re: hello?,now "people never get rid" NOW: 
> what are corn sleds?
>
> Alan & Others
> Yes nomenclatures were a regional thing.  Plows is the outstanding example
> in this part of the world. That is for later;,,,,,, much, much later
> <grins>.
> Yes, as Gene mentioned, drag sleds were a part of farm life at that time.
> Their use became less with the phasing out of horses, and became
infrequent
> with the shifting to hydraulics.
> In '40s, '50s, in KS, corn was check-rowed in black, more fertile, flat
> soil and was planted in the furrows of listed ridges
> in the lighter soils. I think the opinion was furrows provided better
> protection from the wind.  This was before hybrid seed corn and
fertilizer.
> Imagine taking two 7": moldboard plows (one RH and one LH) and securing
> them together; now you have a lister.   A corn planter consisted of a
> lister, with a sub-soiler iron bar that dug a 1/2" x 1/2" slot in middle
of
> furrow for the kernels of corn; a 10" dia disk on each side of the furrow
> removed soil from near the bottom of the side, and pitched that soil onto
> bottom of the furrow.  Press wheels compacted the soil on each side of the
> seed, but left an unpacked, inverter V of soil for the young plant to come
> up.
> When the corn was 4" to 8" tall it was sledded.  The sled was carried by
> one iron wheel (16" dia with 2" outer edge turned 90 degrees to provide
> width to the wheel) on each side of the furrow.  Immediately behind each
> iron wheel was a 12" disk that pitched 2" of the side of the furrow up
onto
> the ridge. This removed any weeds that were growing at the origional
ground
> level.   Behind that was a 4" wide spade type shovel that dug 2" into the
> bottom of the furrow and pitched that soil across the bottom of the furrow
> to both support the young corn stalk and to cover any young weeds in the
> furrow.  Sheet metal fenders contolled the depth of this soil added to the
> bottom of the furrow and also prevented occasional excesses of soil from
> covering these young stalks.
> A week or so later when the corn was 10" tall, the ridges were
considerably
> flattened and widened by a conventional spike tooth drag harrow.
> Soon after that a second sleding leveled the field by the disc behind the
> sled wheel, now being moved several inches onto the ridge and being turned
> so the disk pitched much soil into the furrow, and the spade shovel behind
> the disk likewise being moved close to the center of the ridge and also
> throwing soil into the former furrow.I am quite sure fenders were not used
> for this sledding.
> If time and conditions permitted, the final pass was with a six shovel
> cultivator.  Goal was to throw more soil onto the corn, providing better
> support (against the wind, etc) of the stalk, without going too deep and
> tearing into many of the surface roots.  Also to get any weeds, because by
> now the corn was tall enough to provide significant shading and thus
retard
> growth for any subsequent weeds.
> Almost all row crop was two-row back then, later most farmers shifted to
> three-row.   I have no idea about today.
> Dad raised 100+/- acres of corn each year, probably averaged real close to
> 40 bushel/acre, all hand shucked, normally by him (couple years he hired
> another guy to help).  I probably shucked 5 acres/yr, all unloaded by
scoop
> shovel, most of it was fed to 50+/- fattening calves,
> Herb
>
>
> > [Original Message]
> > From: Alan  Nadeau <ajnadeau1 at comcast.net>
> > To: Antique tractor email discussion group
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> > Date: 1/27/2011 2:16:38 PM
> > Subject: [AT] Was: Re:  FW: Re:  hello?,now "people never get rid"  NOW:
> what are corn sleds?
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Herbert Metz" <metz-h.b at mindspring.com>
> > To: <AT at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 7:57 PM
> > Subject: [AT] FW: Re: hello?, now "people never get rid"
> >
> >
> >  " He shortened the two tongues in the 2 row horse drawn corn sled and
> made
> > a compact pull type two row sled.   The horse drawn sled took every
other
> > row, with a pole connecting the two one-row sleds, and the operator sat
> on a
> > seat in the middle between the two sleds. "
> >
> > Herb, different locale and terms, along with being a bit younger than
you
> > are leaves me wondering just what corn sleds are/do.
> >
> > Al Nadeau
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at 
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at