NOVEMBER 141 



forty l)iish('ls in ten hoiii's is reported; and one 

 hundred and thirty bushels in the same time, as 

 part of a total of twelve hundred busliels in ten 

 days. Of the social aspects of cornhusking' in the 

 old days, including the furiously fast labors of 

 rival teams, one finds a spirited account in the once 

 famous Circuit Elder. But the corn is not all 

 gathered in November, nor even in December. One 

 may see the high-boarded wagons among the yel- 

 low stalks into January or later. The unreaped 

 crop is not injured by frost or snow, but it has its 

 enemies. ''Our Forefathers' Song" which has 

 been traced as far back as 1630, says of the maize : 



And when it is come to full corn in the ear, 

 It is often destroyed by raccoon and by deer. 



This is also a season of extensive prairie fires. 

 This year destructive fires were reported from 

 Minnesota about the middle of this month. Last 

 year, a fire raged in Indian Territory over an area 

 three miles wide and twenty miles long, destroy- 

 ing hundreds of acres of standing corn. 



In his Autohiography^ Black Hawk thus speaks 

 of the Sac rejoicing over the corn crop, though he 

 does not specify any calendar period, and his ac- 

 count of the supernatural gift of the maize, and of 

 the ''crane dance" at the time of planting are con- 

 siderably more extended : "When our corn is get- 

 ting ripe, our young people watch with anxiety 



