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- Helen A. Ray, Veradale, Wash.

JD hay buck query

Boiler mystery

- Robert Rauhauser, P.O. Box 324, Thomasville, PA 17364; (717) 792-0278

Corn shucking recollections

I read with interest about shucking corn (Farm Collector, December 2002). I had no idea that it still would be a fun thing. Our wagons had 14- and 12-inch boards to make 26 bushels, then you could add 10-inch, 8-inch and 6-inch boards to make 50 bushels, and you were expected to fill them twice a day. The bangboard was on top of that. We had an elevator to unload, which made it easier. To get that many bushels you didn't lollygag around. The 8- and 6-inch sideboards on the side of the shucker were put on top of the bangboard to make it easier to hit the wagon, then lowered into place when needed. Shucking gloves had two thumbs on them so at noon you turned them backwards on your hands to make the afternoon. We used new gloves every day. Some people made heavy sleeves to protect their cloth sleeves from the stalks. We were generally in the field just when it was light enough to see the ears and did 80 to 125 bushels of corn.

Open-pollinated corn ears might be any height and made it difficult to pick, forcing us to stoop to get the low ears. Hybrid corn helped to make uniform height. One year I picked some white corn, and sometimes you had to break the shank over your knee. That messed up your bushels for the day. My father, however, demanded as few husks in the wagon as possible, as you would have trouble with rats and mice in the crib. I still have a bangboard around some-where. I got paid 10 cents a bushel, which might seem low, but it was a good wage those days. This was in the early '30s. Thank God for mechanical corn pickers!

- Glenn Stockwell, Route 1, Box 102, 9220 Alembic, Riley, KS 66531

More about scoop boards

The December Farm Collector, there is a photo of a corn wagon with a scoop board on it. You say the iron rods serve as ground supports. The position the rods are in, they are holding the scoop board up. When the scoop board is lowered, you uncross the rods and let it hang on the rods. You'll also notice that the rods have big eyes on the lower end that will not pass through the scoop board. There's a fixture that slips over the top of the wagon box that protrudes through the scoop board with a hole in it that the top of the rods hook into.

- Wayne Weiss, 2226 5th Ave., Boelus, NE 68820


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