Planting corn many years ago was a very slow and tedious task. To prepare the
soil at the time when the four-row planter was used, the farmer plowed the
ground with a walking plow. This had one steel blade which overturned the soil.
It also had two wooden handles, which were curved at the ends, for the men had
to have a grip on these wooden handles in order to control the plow. Usually the
reins were tied in a knot to form a loop. This loop was slipped over their head.
When they came to the end of the row they lifted up the plow by the handles and
turned it around, setting it in a different position so that a new furrow could
be plowed. This plow is still used today, although most prosperous and
successful farmers have gang plows, which have more than one share and are drawn
by horses or a tractor.
After the plowing was done the ground was
harrowed with a tool made of heavy timber. It was constructed in v shape. From
the v-shaped form of the harrow were fastened other pieces of heavy timber with
wooden or iron pegs through them. Generally they were made of the latter
material. The side timbers also had pegs. These pegs broke up the lumps in the
plowed ground, similar to the work of a drag. This harrow was pulled across the
field by two horses.
After using the harrow on the soil, the land was
marked out for planting. Four two-by-eights, made of wood or iron, placed from
three to three and one-half feet apart, were joined together. This was pulled
across the field, creating small grooves as it went. After completing this one
way the farmer crossed the field the other way, making intersections. When this
was done the tiller was ready to plant the corn in the rows as they were marked.
A farmer who resided near our county years ago used a home-made four-row
corn planter on his farm and also those of his neighbors who lived in La Salle
county. He now lives near Frankfort, Illinois. It was made out of light wood,
thought to be hickory. This apparatus was about nine to ten and one-half feet
across the top, with four troughs, which curved at the top, leading downwards to
the ground. To make the troughs the center of the hickory boughs were carved
out. This carving was done very smoothly in order that the kernels would easily
slide down. On the top of the cross-member connecting the four feeders was a box
in which the seed corn was placed. Near the container which held the corn there
was a lever that the tiller operated when he did his planting. Fastened to the
cross bough was a leather strap, used to carry it.
When planting days
came and the ground was prepared, this farmer took out his planter. He filled
his seed box with corn. Placing the planter in front of him he put the strap
around his neck. This left the farmers' hands free so that he could operate the
lever. The four troughs were set down where the intersections were. The tiller
worked the lever, and the corn was forced down the troughs to the ground. His
planter was set again and again, until the corn was planted. A man followed
behind and covered the kernels of corn with a hoe.
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 57.
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