SEGMENT: FARMING METHODS, PESTS, & LIVESTOCK FEED
Bert Aikman>UIS Collection A's>UIS Collection, Segment 3
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- CHILDHOOD WORK
- Discusses working for George Polk for $.65/day stacking wheat when he was 7yrs old during threshing. Describes stacking & threshing of wheat.
- FARMING METHODS
- Stacked wheat so they could plow field again quickly.
- PESTS
- Law passed stating you couldn't sow wheat until after September 6th when wheat would be free of "Hessian-Fly" eggs. This was beginning of experiment station. If sowed before September 6th, wheat would be full of fly eggs. Mentions cinch bug. Discusses how they dealt with grasshoppers. Describes grasshopper catcher. Grasshopper-Catcher; Describes grasshopper catcher. Describes use of grasshopper catcher towed by horses.
- LIVESTOCK
- Discusses feeding dead grasshoppers to hogs.
- FARMING METHODS
- Discusses harrowing & cultivation of corn. Harrowing killed weeds at top of ground when corn was about 3 inches high. First cultivation just put some soil up against, but not cover corn. Second cultivation done perpendicular to first cultivation direction. Created "hills" around corn plants.
- FARM EQUIPMENT
- Walked behind horse-drawn cultivators at first. Later they had seats. Last year he worked with Mr. Richardson was 1900. Cultivator pulled by 2-horse teams. Mules good for plowing because they would step around corn, but horses would step through until they learned how to turn at end of rows without stepping on plants.
- CROPS
- Discusses early and later maturing varieties of corn. Took about 84 days from planting to harvest. Describes husking corn by hand using "shucking-peg". Some could husk 200 bushels a day in contests. Most could husk 80 bushels a day. Then put in corn crib. They could start shucking corn 2 wks earlier than now using combine because cob would finish drying in crib. Describes percentage of moisture needed for corn by grain dryers today. Describes measuring moisture of corn at grain elevator.
