The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-11-16
FARM LIFE IN ILLINOIS.

Principals John Galloway OF the
Mckinley school and Frank h. Craig
of the Wethersfield school in Kewanee,
ILL.,, spent day in the country near
that place recently They report a
pleasant day spent along the country
roads and at the farms they visited.
They found the farmer everywhere
busy husking his corn. The yield var
les in different fields from 40 to
/ 70 bushels per acre. The corn is OF
good quality and is we'll matured
Never did nature yield more abund-
antly of her yellow store than this
year. Corn is indeed King" and the
Mississippi Valley may well be called
the "granary'' of the world.
Mr.. Craig was thoughtful enough
to make notes of what he observed
and had the good Judgment to submit
them to The Star-Courier which prints
them in its editorial columns. Fol
lowing is an excerpt from his re-
port:
Machinery is taking from corn
husking the hard work OF former
years. The "unloader" is one of the
most perfect of these machines. 1t
consists of an elevator which carries
the corn from the wagon to the top
| of the crib and there drops it through
hole in the roof, 1t will unload
forty bushels of corn in from three
to five minutes. The use or the uu-
loader saves time formerly used in
unloading. This time can be used
IN husklng and it enables the farmer
TO musk from 100 to 1870 bushels as
easily as he could once husk seventy
or eighty bushels.
! Probably the thing of chief inter-
! est was the corn-husker" which was
in operation on the farm of NJ. S.
Craig near Saxon. The men were at
work with the corn lusker in a field
of sod corn averaging about seventy
i bushels per acre This machine con
lsists of a gatherer, husker and an
elevator combined in one machine.
i The gatherer is so arranged as to
straddle one row of corn at a time.
/ 1t picks up down" stalks and sepa-
rates the ear from the stalk. The
and the elevator carries the husked
q d
of the machine.
This machine is averaging SOC
bushels of corn per day and is husk.
ing it as clean or cleaner than corn
husked by hand.
4 In down corn some is left in the
field. Many farmers have their fields
fenced for hogs. BY allowing the
j hogs to run in the fields after husk
ing it, no loss is sustained because
of corn left by the huskers. The loss
Of rough" feed or husks, silks and
leaves Is much less than one would
suppose.
There is so much corn that many
farmers are finding their crib room
inadequate. Already is seen the wo
ven wire crib which takes the place
of the temporary rail crib of former
years. The crib is made from four
foot woven wire, is about fourteen
feet in diameter and OF sufficient
height 10 hold the surplus crop
The farmer not only has abundant
crops Of the cereals from the soil
this year, but the finest and healtnies
lot of hogs, cattle, sheep and horse!
that has been seen in this vicinity
for long time.
Mr.. Craig reports that the pas
ten years of good prices have mad
: possible many changes in the hom
of the farmer which adds to his com
fort Nearly all who own thei
farms have either steam or hot-wate
heat. Many have installed sanitar
and lighting systems. Washing AM
churning which make up large par
of the drudgery of the housewife