Cherokee County, Northwest Iowa | Met a really nice pair of brothers yesterday looking at machinery, got to visiting about a little bit of everything. They mentioned that their father used to say if a man could pick one load of corn a day by hand, that was a pretty good day. I thought my father used to say that they would plan on getting one load in the morning, scoop it off, go in for noon meal, and then get a second load in the afternoon. After i said that, I wish i would have kept my mouth shut, didn't mean to imply that my father could pick corn by hand faster than their father. Maybe their dad had a bigger wagon. Maybe their dad had a couple of hours of livestock chores to do both morning and night, I don't know.
Is there anyone here that could help get the facts straight for me.
Only reason I so clearly remember my father's story was that he would tell about another gentleman in the neighborhood, kind of a big oaf, just lumbered along all the time, never got in a hurry, never set any speed records during anything, but he had a knack for picking corn by hand. Seems like my father would have to really work at it to get the first load picked and scooped off by noon meal, only to come in the house to eat, and here sat the other fella at the table, reading the newspaper, waiting for everyone else to come in to eat, since he had his first load picked and scooped off already.
Secondly, how many bushels of corn would "one wagon" have been in those days, was the measurement in bushels of ear corn or as the equivalent bushels of shelled corn?
Boy, I sure wish I would have paid more attention all those years and asked more questions, but I didn't. Then I go visit with my cousin one year older than me, and he paid attention and had more interest in things, and he can remember everything he saw or heard growing up. |
Picking corn by hand......
