The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1891-05-03
HUSKING CORN.
Still Done by Hand, Though the Fur
Has Gone Out of 1t.

husking peg worn on the hand. And
| so does the modern farmer. King Corn
| will not capitulate to the cunning and
| skill of the inventor, but must still be Sc
cured ear by ear, as it was one hundred
years ago. But while there have been
! slight changes made in the machines used
IN husklng corn, the methods for doing
the work are quite different from those
once followed. In the extreme East,
where fields are only patches" and
where most OF the corn is housed for fod-
| der, the old methods are still largely in
vogue, and corn huslings and husking
bees are common. 1t is in the West
where the changes have been most notice
able. Any countrybred man of so or
Whereabouts can recall the time when he
a boy OF 10, was kept at the task, so
thoroughly despised by every farmer boy,
OF helping to keep up the down row.
HuskIng corn used to be much more of
social, family matter than it is now. All
OF the male members of the family of
working age would gather around one
wagon and discuss whatever topics were
! uppermost in their minds and incident
ally husk corn. Sometimes the women
or girls Of the household would join in
the work, and then all the amenities of
the tireside circle would be represented in
the field. Five rows Of corn were husked
at time, two at either side of the wagon
and the ''down row. between. The lat
ter was always assigned to the small boys
of the household, because, like turning
the grlndstone, sprouting potatoes and
| other similar tasks, it was too disagreed
! bic for the older members.
There was no mad haste manifested by
the corn-huskers of those DAYS. Every
body chatted along pleasantly, and the
father, or possibly the hired man, who
had come from the big outside world,
entertained the rest Of the company with
humorous, strange and interesting remi-
niscences. Then, too, the usually large
| or peculiarly marked ears Of corn were
exhibited to the members Of the husking
party, and, i'll short, nothing that would
serve to distract attention from the dull
! monOtony of the labor was sufficed to
pass unnoticed and undiscussed. And
why not? The husking of the corn was
the closing labor of well-rounded year.
Through the long months Of spring and
summer, during the seeding time and the
haylng and harvest season, everyone had
worked with will and had been ''on the
jump" from daylight till dark, and when
the farmer at last realized that the years
work was so nearly completed, and
looked forward to the prospect of long
winter months of rest, what occasion was
there for further hurrying and worrying.
And so all chatted along pleasantly,
While the small boys on the down row
cast wistful chances toward the school
house, standing over there in nook of
come when the winter term of school
would open and relieve them of further
work in the field
! But sometimes this peaceful scene
would be changed TO one of the widest
activity. The near approach Of the noon
hour or some other incidental cause
would start the huSkerS in race to see
which would be the first to reach the end
of their rows. 1t was a rule in these
races that stalks leaning over so that the
wagon wheels passed over them belonged
to the down row. This fact was taken
undue advantage Of by the huskers at the
sides of the wagon. a gOOdly share of
the hills of the inside rows would, by
well directed pressure Of the foot, be SO
inclined that the wagon would pass over
them and make them part of the down
row. In this way the huskers at the
sides of the wagon would soon forge
! ahead to such a distance that the bows on
to do, could not keep within throwing
distance of the wagon, and the race would
be called at an end and awarded to the
side that had by the greatest amount of
trickery or superior skill or numbers
gained the lead. In races of this kind the
members of either side were always ready
to declare that each hill in their rows of
corn contained sixteen stalks, with six
teen ears on each stalk. At the termina-
ton of race all hands would assist in
helping up the boys on the down row,
never forgetting to chide them for not
being able to keep up Just one row. nor
to goOd-naturedly remind them that zone
boy is boy, two boys are half boy, and
three boys are no boy at all.''
| At length, by even their slow process,
the husking would be finished and the
event celebrated by an oyster supper, a
dance, or some other unusual occurrence.
Them if there was neighbor who, by
sickness or other misfortune had been
delayed with his husking, all hands
Joined in helping him out. In recalling
those merry old husking times one al
most forgets the burrs, whose sharp
points often caused the husks to be
stained with crimson, and the cold, crisp
mornings when the frost would bite the
buskers' fingers. But the old, sociable
family style of husking corn has gone out
of fashion. Now there is usually but one
husker with each wagon; never more
than two. The down row is only a mem
ory, having passed away, to the delight
of the farmers boy, who now works
with the men," who take two rows at
| one side of the wagon.
A high 'bang board'' at the other side
of the wagon prevents throwing the corn
over, and the husker of to-day goes at his
work with an earnestness his forefathers
did not entertain. Where the family of
five or six members used to husk fifty or
| seventyfve bushels a day, the single
worker now brings TO the crib from fifty
to one hundred bushels q day But he
doesn't chat or tell stories, or discuss
large or speckled or red ears, or bother
with down row. He works diligently
from dawn till dark. 1t is the fashion to
do So brought about by the exigencies of
the times, which make it necessary for
the farmer, if he would compete with his
neighbors and make q living, to do
greater amount of work than formerly in
less time and at less EXPENSE. COmDati-
ton and tiercer struggle for existence
have blotted out much of the poetry and
sociability of the farmers work. 1t is
becoming more mechanical, more intense,
more earnest.
Machinery now takes the places for
merly occupied by merry parties of NOW
ers and Graders and harvesters, but in
husking corn, methods and not machines
have wrought the change. But notwith-
standing its obstinacy toward the in
ventor, corn is more truly king to-day
than it was when the poet Whittier. years
ago, wrote:
Heap high the farmers wintry hoard;
Heap high the golden corn;
No richer gifts has autumn poured
From out her lavish horn.
Let other lands exulting CLEAN
The apple from the pine
| The orange from its glossy green,
The cluster from the vine
We better love the hardy gift
| Our rugged wales beStow
| To cheer us when the storm shall drift
Our harvest fields with snow.
Chicago Herald.
A SONG OF SPRING.
Blow, softly blow sweet springtime wind,
| Ger budding lanes and fields of green
| II must get Mike TO fix that blind;
! The back door needs new wire screen).
Brown robins fiutter from the hedge