arvestin^ the Crop 
in the Corn Belt 
T he great American grain.— one stiii 
morning a few days ago the writer was working 
on a strawpile several miles from town, getting it 
ready for baling. This particular—stack—I was 
going to say, but that would not properly describe 
it. for straw is seldom stacked here. The thrashers 
simply blow it into a pile, much the shape of a 
pyramid. This pile was on high ground, command¬ 
ing a view of the country for many miles in every 
direction. As I stopped to rest a minute and glanced 
about the country the soft “plunk'’ of the ears of 
corn striking the “bump boards'’ in the fields all 
around came to my ears. I could easily pick out 
dark spots here and there moving slowly along in 
the dun-colored cornfields that I knew were the corn 
“Shucking” wagons busily gathering this principal 
Middle Western crop. It was a setting to inspire 
a rural poet to break forth into verse, but I’m no 
poet, so perhaps I would better get down to plain 
English and tell you how this one great native 
American crop is harvested here, where it is king 
and Alfalfa is queen. 
FEW SILOS.—Here in the so-called corn belt but 
one-man job with us. Ter haps a description of a! 
shucking outfit would interest you. A common farm 
wagon with a double box about 35 in. high is used. 
The rear raid hoards are taken out and replaced with 
what is called a “scoop board.’’ This scoop board 
is built of inch lumber, in something the shape of 
a scoop shovel without a handle, and is fitted to 
the wagon in an upright position while in the field, 
and extends several inches above the wagon box. 
When the load is ready to be shoveled off. the upper 
end of the scoop board is unlocked and pulled down¬ 
ward and backward till it is nearly in line with the 
bottom of the wagon box, where it is stopped by a 
brace or guy rod on each side. This arrangement, 
prevents any ears falling on the ground, and also 
makes a very convenient place to start shoveling off 
the load. 
THE CONVENIENT “RUMP BOARD.”—The 
right-hand side of the wagon box is temporarily 
built up from 2 to 4 ft. higher than the left. This 
is what is called the “bump boards.” The idea is 
that the shucker when at work will throw the ears at 
the wagon without looking up. Hearing them strike 
extensively used in the West in its original form, 
as well as many modified forms. They are generally 
worn near the heel of the right hand, so that the 
husk can be torn open and the ear grasped and 
pulled out all with the same motion. That leaves 
the husks and shank in the left hand and the clean 
ear in the right ready to throw at the wagon. It is 
all done much quicker than I can tell you about it. 
A quiet team is used, and on arriving at the field 
the team and wagon are driven astride a row of 
corn and the lines tied up at some convenient place 
along the side of the wagon. The team guide them¬ 
selves till the far end of the field is reached. Some 
old, experienced teams are so well trained that the 
driver does not need to either start or stop them, 
except at the end of the field. The crop is usually 
gathered from a field in “lands” of from 20 to 30 
rows at a time, rather than to go “round and round” 
the field, as is sometimes done iTi plowing. 
SIIIJOKERS’ PAY.—The average man will gather 
from 60 to SO bushels per day, depending on his 
ability, the condition of the crop, yield, etc. The 
man who makes 70 bushels this year is the excep- 
A Tioga County, N. Y., Holstein and Her Triplet Calves. Fig. 15 
a comparatively small percentage of the corn crop 
is cut and put into silos or shocks to be fed out 
later. This is not because silos are scarce, for there 
are a great many of all kinds, but because cornfields 
are so very numerous and large, and with such a 
heavy tonnage of fodder, that the silos can scarcely 
make a showing on the total corn acreage. But few 
farms grow less than 40 acres, and many have from 
80 to 120, or even 200 sometimes. While the corn 
intended for fodder and the silo is cut about the 
time that the kernels begin to glaze, the gathering of 
the main crop does not begin till the ears are dry 
enough to put in the crib. That is usually late in 
October or early November in this latitude (40 de¬ 
grees). The one principal exception to this is the 
earlier gathering of a load at a time for immediate 
use in feeding hogs where all of the old corn has 
been fed up. Mbst of our farmers wait till after 
several hard frosts and a good rain have loosened 
up the corn husks before they begin “shucking,” as 
it is called in the West. 
A ONE-MAN JOB.—Shucking is usually a strictly 
the bump board, he knows that they are going into 
the wagon all right. That saves a great deal of his 
time, and is easier for him than having to toss each 
ear carefully into the wagon. He gathers the 
two rows next the wagon, and all the ears that may 
be on the ground between his outside row and the 
next, or third row. That leaves a clear space so that 
he eJn drive his wagon astride that second row the 
next time around. Sometimes, though, it is necessary 
to keep the horses and wagon one row farther away, 
or else muzzle the nearest horse. That’s to prevent 
him doing too much damage by biting off the tips of 
so many ears, and incidentally tearing down many 
stalks with ears on. There are always too many 
ears on the ground, anyway, to suit the average 
shucker. 
THE HUSKING HOOK.—While some use the 
common old-style husking peg, made of fiat steel, 
most of our shuckers use a hook, of which there are 
several different kinds. The principle on which the 
hook is used is very much the same as that of the 
peg. It was invented in this county, and is now very 
tion, for Fall rains followed by hard winds broke 
down a great many stalks that carried large ears. 
It breaks off hard, too. This year 7c or 8c per 
bushel and board is being paid to shuckers where 
the corn is being unloaded with portable farm 
elevators, and from 8c to 10c when the shucker 
shovels off his own loads. I judge that about half 
of our farmers now have elevators operated by gaso¬ 
line engines or tractors. 
STORAGE.—Most of our corn is stored in good 
wooden cribs, although a very large part is put into 
temporary slat fencing cribs without roof. The idea 
is to shell out and sell that part in the open cribs 
before Spring. As we usually have but little snow, 
that plans works fairly well, as a rule. Big power 
sliellers begin operating about November 1. going 
from farm to farm, as thrashing machines do in 
(lie East. Three or four men to operate and feed 
the machine and three or four men with teams to 
haul the corn to town are required to keep one of 
these outfits going. Three to four cents per bushel 
is charged by these big sliellers, depending on how 
