^f.:.. 



'**». '• 



ARTHUR C. PAGE. ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

 of The Prairie Fanner, broodcast much oi 

 the state contest from his perch atop a 

 20 foot platform. 



y^LLINOIS has a new corn husking 

 01 champion. Wm. Rose, Henry 

 \^_J County, dethroned Adam By- 

 czynski, Bureau County, 1936 champion, 

 before a crowd of 70,000 on the Frank 

 Grisell farm near Van Orin, Bureau 

 County Nov. 1. 



Rose is 27, married and has one child. 

 He farms with his father and is not a 

 stranger to Illinois corn husking fans. 

 In 1935 he set a new county record, was 

 runner-up in the state contest and placed 

 4th in the National. 



His efforts in the National at Marshall, 

 Mo., Nov. 4 were seriously hampered by 

 Old Man Weather's untimely downpour. 

 Although he actually husked 28.9 bushels 

 of com, the water soaked husks on his 

 100 pound sample weighed 29% oz. 

 which accounted for a deduction of 

 1341.56 pounds or 661/4% of his gross 

 load. That didn't leave much for the 

 records and a disheartening 8.98 bushels 



WnjJAMROSE. ... HE HUSKED 39.55 

 bushels in eighty minutes. 



Hail to the Com Shuckenl 



:i 



Farm Boreaos Play Leading Part la 

 Developing This Popular Sport 



By CAP MAST 



was accredited to him after all deductions 

 were made. But Bill can take it and 

 will be in there again next year defend- 

 ing his state title and hoping for a better 

 break. 



The com husking contest has become 

 an integral part of the harvest season. It 

 has all the glamour of the old husking 

 bee and more. In a comparatively short 

 time, it has gained an enviable f>osition 

 in the world of sports. For many, the 

 farm classic of the bangboards is looked 

 forward to with as much enthusiasm and 

 heart throbs as the deciding fall game of 

 the World Series. 



This new comer in the sports field 

 dates its birthday back to a meagre begin- 

 ning in 1922 when Editor Henry A. 

 Wallace, now Secretary of Agriculture, 

 decided to have a show-down in Iowa 

 between the base ■ burner dumpions of 

 the country store and the honest to good- 

 ness buskers, to determine the champion 

 by deeds rather than words. 



His was the task of setting up the rulcj 

 for such a contest and oddly enough, 

 Wallace's rule on penalties for com left 

 behind in the field still st^ds although 

 it was changed at one time. 



(Continued on page 33) 



AERIAL VIEW OF THE MEET 

 lust before the final gun the crowd 



gathered at the enclosure to witness 



weighing and grading. 



ADAM BYCZYNSEI, LEFT. 1938 

 winner takes a "once over" of 

 Lester lohnson. who husked 42J)7 

 bushels in the Knox county event. 



DEC04^EB. 1937 



17 



