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Honest Day's Work:
Corn huskers redefined concept of labor
By Gary Van Hoozer
This fall, as you drive by a field of corn ready to be harvested, imagine doing that job by hand. No combines. No tractors. Just a man, a horse, and a wagon.
Beginning in the 1920s, labor-saving machinery was available for the corn harvest. But even into the '40s, horses still plodded along on many farms, as men hand-husked corn, then threw ears into a high-sided wagon. A hand-husked field was picked clean, and the ears were virtually free of shucks, which meant the ears could be air-dried in cribs. Plus, horses had the easy work, so feed wasn't as heavy a requirement. It's hard to imagine improving the efficiency of the process ... unless, of course, you were the one doing the hand husking.
More than 50 years have passed since Chester Larson last husked corn by hand. But memories of the work have not faded for the retired Griswold, Iowa, farmer.
"Husking corn is very tiring," Chester said. "I haven't worked so hard since, and we did more things by hand then, such as some of the haying."
Most farmers - loath to waste even one ear of corn - saw no alternative.
"If you used a mechanical picker in dry weather," he said, "more husk was left on the ear, and more corn was left in the field."
A husker's day began at first light. Most huskers arrived at the field as soon as they could see, and didn't quit until sundown.
"Sometimes when I was dog-tired after husking 90 bushels," Chester said, "I scooped off the last load after I'd eaten supper and rested a bit."
Harry Broermann, a retired farmer from Atchison County in Missouri, recalls a rapid-fire juggling act.