[AT] IH Grain Binder, now corn planting

charlie hill charliehill at embarqmail.com
Sat Oct 6 05:09:11 PDT 2012


Herb it's amazing how farming has changed over the years.
If I remember right the guys around here now are planting
corn on 30" rows and placing the seed about 8" apart.
That gives you a plant population of about 25,000 plants per acre.
The  way it was done back in your dad's day gives you a plant
population of about 4,000 plants per acre.   Quite a difference!

Charlie


-----Original Message----- 
From: Herb Metz
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2012 3:00 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] IH Grain Binder, now corn planting

Woops; forgot to mention the BOSS shucking gloves that had two thumbs on
each glove. When the high traffic areas started wearing holes, one could
switch the glove from left to right, and vice versa. Doubt if these two
thumb gloves are available today as very little corn is hand shucked; could
not find them on google.
Most corn planters were set up for 42" rows; Dad' s goal was just under 3'
apart for each plant.  Farmers fortunate enough to have all dark, fertile
soil would use "check" planters, but seldom took the trouble to "check"
plant..  We always used a combination lister-planter.  A lister dug a 14"
wide furrow (best described by bolting or welding a 7" right hand plow to a
7" left hand plow), now mount a normal planter behind.  Set the lister for a
7" deep furrow and the result would be a 12" elevation difference between
the furrow and the resulting ridge of loose soil. This ridge of loose soil
would be leveled during three cultivating  operations a couple weeks apart
(cultivator consisted of several cultivator spades and several disc blades).
This 7" deeper plant had roots 7" deeper, thus providing a sturdier
root/stalk more resistant to any wind, and also providing a root better
located for surviving dry weather.
My trips to central KS are only in Sept for high school class reunions and I
have not discussed todays method of corn planting with old friends; it
probably has changed to the surface planting associated with check planting
because this is less expensive/involved. The furrow planting may no longer
be necessary as todays shift to hybrid seed and commercial fertilizer and
irrigation has provided sturdier plants capable of withstanding the winds
and dry weather.  Also rows of corn are much closer than the 42", and plants
are much closer together than approx 3'.
Herb



-----Original Message----- 
From: Larry Goss
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 8:33 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] IH Grain Binder

LOL!  I figured you would know about BOSS shucking gloves, Herb.  You did
not disappoint me.  :-)  We didn't have the luxury of a team, and had to use
the John Deere-L to tow the wagon.  So we shucked a wider path, and threw
the corn father because the driver was also a shucker.

Did you have to "check" your corn when planting?  The old two-row planter we
had came with a checking wire that must have been 40 rods long.  We took the
touble to "check" the corn once so it could be cultivated both E-W and N-S
with a horse, but since we had to borrow the horse from one of our
neighbors. It was more trouble than it was worth. Can you imagine planting
corn so sparsely that you could get a horse between the plants regardless of
which way you cultivated?

Larry

----- Original Message -----
From: "Herb Metz" <metz-h.b at comcast.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 3, 2012 6:49:34 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] IH Grain Binder

Dad normally raised around 100 acres of corn; a good yield back then
(central KS - before hybrid seed, before commercial fertilizer, before
irrigation) was forty bushels/acre.  I can remember only two years when he
hired help to pick the corn. On Saturdays I would pick the row next to wagon
and Dad would pick the next two rows (and sometimes part of my row).  I
remember one day when the mules would not advance the wagon, even after Dad
commanded them. Then he spotted a small foot deep hole some animal had dug
trying to get a field mouse.  Using the reins he guided the mules around
this hole, and then back into the proper row.  After my gripping about the
mules he noted we should be thankful for their intelligence because many
horses would have just gone ahead and maybe stepped into that hole and hurt
themselves.  He also noted that mules will seldom ever founder themselves;
also they are more apt to just stand still if they get a leg caught in fence
wire, etc whereas a horse will jerk around and further injure the leg.
Ideally, the shucker (man) would support the ear with left hand while
pulling back with the right hand against the ear causing the Boss shucking
hook to expose a clean (husk free) area of the ear, the left hand then
helping the right hand break the ear free from the stalk and surrounding
husks, and then the right hand momentarily grasping the husk free ear and
then throwing it into the wagon.  There were many stories about the
capabilities of a good corn shucker; I am sure urban legend was involved
occasionally.  One I remember was a good corn shucker often had two shucked
ears in the air at the same time. In good corn a good shucker could get 100
bushel a day.   I remember reading about corn shucking contests, every year,
mostly in upper midwest where yield was much higher.
In above pick and shuck mean the same.
"Pulling sand lugs", would appreciate an explanation.
Herb

-----Original Message----- 
From: Larry Goss
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 11:33 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] IH Grain Binder

You had to pick the ears cleanly because you didn't want husks in the bin.
We had two kinds of hook-- a BOSS shucking hook that strapped over your
Jersey gloves, and a husking peg that fit over just the fingers of the
glove.  Dad would rig a bank board on the side of the wagon so we could hit
the target easier and pick three or four rows each.  It was a cold job.

Larry

----- Original Message -----
From: "charlie hill" <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 2, 2012 9:50:22 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] IH Grain Binder

John did you ever pick corn by hand?  When I was a child (before age 9) our
farm was tended by tenant farmers.  My dad ran a service station from 4 am
to 8 pm 6 days a week and my mom taught
school.  The tenant farmers were often my "baby" sitters.   I can remember a
couple of days helping them pick corn by hand.  They had a wagon they pulled
with an Allis B that they named "Alice Mae".
We would walk along beside that B and break the ears by hand and throw them
in the wagon.  I'm sure I didn't do much but I can remember doing it.   I
also picked cotton one day when I was about 10 or 12.  That has to be the
hardest work I ever did.  Much worse than pulling sand lugs.   Not as dirty
but harder work.   We got paid a penny a pound for picking.  I think I
picked 40 lbs. all day long.  LOL.
I told daddy I wanted to do it and he let me.  If I had ridden in the truck
with him running errands he would have spent more than 40 cents keeping me
in honey buns and Pepsi's for the day.   Now you
know why I only picked for one day!

Speaking of your Dearborn picker, I've always wanted one of those Gleaner
tow behind snappers.  I just like the looks of it.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: jtchall at nc.rr.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 10:01 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] IH Grain Binder

We used to pick corn for squirrel food to sell at a local lawn and garden
store. We sold it for 4 times what it would go for shelled. Then Lowes and
Home Depot started selling it. It is much poorer quality and sold for more
than the store I sold it to got for it. That didn't matter since folks
migrated to the larger stores thinking they could get better deals. Finally
our market dried up. It was good while it lasted. At least we had a lot of
fun running my Dearborn picker. It was about 99% covered in rust and looked
like a pile of junk. Man would that thing pick corn! Dad swears he has never
used or seen another that would do as good as it. It's definitely an odd
machine for our area--most of the pickers were New Idea or either the usual
green or red brands.

John


----Original Message----- 
From: charlie hill
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2012 11:19 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] IH Grain Binder

I went in a store a few years ago that had paper board cartons just like the
old Pepsi or Coke cartons (you know the kind that folded flat and
folded out to hold six bottles) except they had a fancy logo on the with
pictures of squirrels or something.  Each of the six holes that should
have held a bottle of Pepsi instead held an ear of corn.   I think they were
getting 6 or 8 bucks for that piece of paper board and 6 ears of corn.
It's amazing what folks will pay for decorations or to feed wild animals and
then complain about the price of food.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: jtchall at nc.rr.com
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2012 10:05 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] IH Grain Binder

I have a cousin that would bind bundles of Silver Queen and sell to pumpkin
patches. He did it for a few years and made some pretty good pocket change.
I tried it but never could get the knotter on our binder to work correctly
so I just gave up.

John


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