Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1879 — Cora Husking. [ARTICLE]

Cora Husking.

The great com fields of the West make com husking a very much more of an undertaking than it was years ago when there were only a few acres on each farm to husk. Indeed, the com field then was often made a sort of play-ground, and the “ boys and girls” looked forward to the “com usking” with as much joy as a boy anticipates a picnic in summer. But there is not much play about com husking in the West at the present time, and the sore fingers of the huskers and the unpleasantness of the cold, frosty mornings before the harvest is ended on many a farm abundantly attest it. Corn husking, like every thing else, needs prompt attention, and should be industriously pursued until the com is all husked ana cribbed, and even then it is found difficult to complete the work on some of our large farms before snow comes. The quantity of com a man can husk in a day must necessarily depend on circumstances, the skill of the husker, the size es the com, the condition of the team, etc. In those portions of the country that produce large com, of course more can be husked in a day than could be done in less fertile sections. The amoun t will vary with different huskers and conditions from fifty to one hundred bushels of shelled com per day. To husk and crib one hundred bushels a day, it will be necessary to husk an ear about every two seconds. We have known men who were able to husk a hundred and fifty bushels a day, but this is extraordinary, and few can accomplish it. f The team should be a good one and the wagon-box large, thus saving in the number of trips. It is a good plan and almost indispensable to have a high side-board on the opposite side of tne wagon from the husker. This prevents the com from being thrown over. Where the com has been cut up, it is the better plan, we think, to haul it in before husking, as that enables the farmer to perform the husking more at his leisure, and when the weather would forbid him doing it in the field. There is often a great deal of negligence in relation to com that has been cut up. Sometimes it is allowed to stand out all winter, only such portions being drawn in and husked as are needed. This is a poor way to do, and even those who practice it will admit it. And then, again, some husk the com and let the stalks remain in the field until they are wanted, and this is a poor {>lan, too. Stalks are too valuable a odder, if of proper variety, to be wasted in this way, for almost invariably, under such circumstances, a portion of them are never hauled in.— Western Rural.