Submitted by Ellen Knoernschild & Written by Edwin Knoernschild when Edwin was 85 years old.
As early in the spring as the ground was dry enough, it was plowed for corn. Towards the end of April, the corn was planted. The ground was harrowed until there was a good seedbed. Then the field would be marked in rows four feet apart. This was done with one horse and a small plow, first in one direction over the field and then crossways. Four or five kernels were dropped in the center where the two furrows met. To plant 5 acres of corn was a day's work for the whole family. My father and a hired man would make the furrows, the smaller children would plant the corn, and the older children followed with the hoe to cover it.
We got our first two-row planter about 1902. The planter used a rope stretched across the field and anchored at both ends. The rope was threaded into the planter. There were buttons on the rope and these operated a trip lever, planting as many hills as there were buttons. The only problem with this planter was that the rope would expand when it was wet in the morning and shrink when dry so that the hills were closer together earlier in the day.
During the summer the corn had to be plowed four or five times with a one-horse plow to keep the weeds down, and the leftover weeds had to be hoed. The corn was harvested in September or October. A corn knife was used to cut the corn by hand, and it was put into shocks. The corn was later husked, and the shuck used for pillows and mattresses.
Those were the days when corn-husking parties were popular. The farmer invited the young folks in the neighborhood, each boy bringing a girl. They sat around the corn pile in pairs. The rule was then whenever anyone found a red ear of corn, he was allowed to kiss his partner. The farmer always saw to it that there were lots of red ears. The more red ears they would find, the faster they worked.
The corn knife was replaced by the corn binder, which would cut the corn and tie it into bundles for putting into shocks. It was replaced when corn pickers came along.
