I recently purchased this post card on the Internet. I’m sure it was bought at one of the Maple Hill general stores during the 1920s, although there are no dates on the card and it was never used.

I wouldn’t be able to identify with this scene, were it not for the fact that I worked at Swiss Heritage Society in Berne, Indiana for three years. Berne is in Adams County, Indiana where there are more than 5,000 Amish residents. If you drive almost anywhere in the county, you’ll feel like you’ve gone back in time because much of the farming is done with horses.

I have heard my Grandfathers Corbin and Clark, and my father, John “Tim” Clark talking about cutting corn, making it into shocks and then either letting the cattle graze on it and eat the corn or coming back later and husking the ears from the corn stalk. I have also heard them talking about husking corn. Farmers tried to get their corn out of the fields by Christmas but it wasn’t always possible because of weather or other family needs. I’ve heard them say that they have picked corn in January and February when it was freezing cold, and I’m heard them say just the opposite, that it was a rainy fall and they picked corn until March in the mud. Both were very unpleasant.

I’ve included a photograph of a selection of corn knives. There are going to be some old-timers who will say that they would have rather used a machete but most farmers thought that too heavy. They preferred the lighter weight corn knives.

They would go into the fields with their knives and cut 10 to 20 shalts of corn, hold them under their arm, and then take bailing wire and wrap it around the top of the shock. This allowed the bottom of the shock to be spread so that the stalk and ears could dry. Most of our fields were fences at that time, and at the appropriate time you could turn cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, etc. into the field and they would do the work of taking the shock of corn apart and eating everything.

If you were feeding cattle in a lot or other confined area, you would have to go into the field, load the shocks and that them to the feed lot where you’d throw them off the wagon to the animals.

I’ve included a couple of photographs of corn stalk cutters, which greatly improved the farmer’s work. This implement cut the stalk and the feel onto the bottom of the stalk cutter, and there was a large “pole” sticking up at the back of the implement which held wire. You could cut two rows of corn with these cutters which meant you had enough corn stalks for two shocks. The wire for binding the tops was kept on the pole which made it easier to twist it around the shock.

In the 1920s, as mechanization progressed, a new implement was made that allowed the farmer to ride and just drive the team. The implement did everything else. Here’s a Youtube Video that shows one of these in use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeusX3xU7OE

I have all three of the husking pegs. That’s the glove-like implement that has the brass “peg” attacked to the upper end of the leather harness that fits around your hand. The peg allowed you to walk through the corn rows and speer ears of corn, which were then pulled off the stalk, the husks removed, and the ear was then thrown into the horse-drawn wagon, which had a big board attached to the back side to keep the corn from falling back into the field when the farmer missed. These were called “Bang Boards” because of the noise that the corn made when it hit the board.

During the 1920s, 1930s and until World War II, there were corn picking contests in every state as well as a National Corn Picking Contest. Farmers would come from near and far to participate and usually there were generous prizes. These contests have been revivied in many corn producing states today, and men and women enthusiastically participate. Women were not allowed to join in the contest during the 1920s and 1930s and I recall that one Indiana farmer was disqualified after winning the National Corn Husking Bee during the 1930s, because he removed his shirt and that was just too risque!! I’ll attach a NewsReel of the 1938 contest which is rather lengthy but very interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21vWSJpgXwE

Farmers in the Maple Hill area grew corn for their own use but they usually planned to sell some of their production to area ranchers. Horace G. Adams and the Tods both bought a great deal of corn locally to feed to their cattle. The photograph with the large white house in the background, is of Horace G. Adams headed back from the elevator in Maple Hill with a load of corn. My Grandfather, Robert Corbin, worked for Mr. Adams during the 1930s and he told me that 40-50 bushels of corn picked per day was considered very good while there were some people who could pick 60 or more bushels per day. The prices varied widely, but during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Adams Ranch was paying $.75 to $1.20 per bushel depending on quality and whether or not it was delivered to the ranch. There were often advertisements in Wabaunsee County newspapers to attract farm sales.

That’s probably enough information but when I found the pretty colored post card of this tranquil fall scene, I just had to tell “the rest of the story.” Farming was a lot of hard work!!!