DOCUMENT RESUME ED 363 554 SO 023 452 TITLE [Corn.] INSTITUTION Iowa State Historical Society, Iowa City. REPORT NO ISSN-0278-0208 PUB DATE 93 NOTE 33p.; For related items in this series, see ED 349 215. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Instructional Materials (For Learner) (051) -- Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Goldfinch; Iowa History for Young People; v14 n2 Spr 1993 EDRS PRICE MFOI/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Childrens Literature; Elementary Education; Grains 4 (Food); Instructional Materials; Periodicals; *Reading Materials; Social Studies; *State History IDENTIFIERS *Corn; Corn Culture; *Iowa ABS7RACT This theme issue focuses on corn. Iowa is the number one corn producing state in the United States. The featured articles in the issue concern, among other topics, Iowa children who live on farms, facts and statistics about corn, the Mesquakie Indians and corn shelling, corn hybrids, a short story, and the corn palaces of Sioux City. Activities, short biographies, and puzzles and games also are included. (DB) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. * *********************************************************************** 4 er 4 In . 4..01., II AIIII in 1! en N.0 en A 1111# cal Volume 14, Number 3 S 1963 4 . eto "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCETHIS UI. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTEDBY Office of &mown* flematc sodlonotoompni EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION L.; CENTER 'ERIC) C It:document Ps Pen 'produced as mmod from dm pada or ocoonettlion oroatishooa 0 Mina Champs hap bead mode foPromo nostaduction "moldy TO THE EDUCATIONAL Points of yew ot opinions staled m Pus docu- RESOURCES men' do not necessarily repreeeM OIPIN INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) " OERI pomp or poPy r\r BEST COPY AVAILABLE Wild5asie's Timeline 1975 Seed Savers Exchande in Decorah. iowa. created to si3ve GTOldfach v.enetat)le and fruit seeds from extinction Volume 14, Number 3 Spring 1993 1940o vesting machine; increase corn production 4.4.` , 19209 aria 1930o National corn husking contests EDITOR: Deborah Gore Ohrn PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR: Chris:le Dailey 1926 Iowan Henry A. Wallace establishes Pioneer Hi-bred Corn ACTION EDITOR: Steven Bleak! Company CONSULTING EDITOR: R. Douglas Hurt, professor and director, graduate program in agricultural history and rural studies, Iowa 19005 Scientists creating hyPrids State University. CONTRIBUTING WRI1ERS: Susanna Ashton and Jen Guttenfolder. EDUCATOR'S ADVISORY BOARD: Jan Carlson, 1887 First Sioux City Corn Palace Oui It South Clay School. Gillett Grove: Margie Hood. Horn Elementary, Iowa City; Pat Rod. North Hill Elementary, Burlington. 1870s Hybrid corn experiments begin CHILDREN'S ADVISORY BOARD: Audrey Ann Coffleid, Montezuma Elementary, Montezuma; Mathew Kendall, Taft Middle, Cedar Rapids; Amber Massa. Roosevelt Elementary, Iowa City; Ha Nguyen, Novak Elementary, Marion; 1846 Iowa becomes a state and Jill Pennington, Horn Elementary, Iowa City. 1837 John Deere invents steel plow THANKS TO: The Quad Cities League of Native Americans for reviewing articles and to E. Eloise Alton, editor. Bangboard. Corn Items Collectors Association, Shelbyville, Illinois. for newsletter copies. Articles on pages 8 & 9 adapted from materials published by the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. West Des Moines. The article on page 24 originally appeared in the October 1984 issue of The Goldfinch on Exposition Palaces.The characters of Wild Rosie and Goldie by Jerry Brown, exhibit deNgner, State Historical Society of Iowa. COVER DESIGN: Strong Productions. Cedar Rapids. Iowa. Photograph from State Historical 1492 laino indiansintroducx corn to ColumPus Society of Iowa. Des Moines. The Goldfinch (ISSN 0278-0208) Is published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Iowa, 402 Iowa Avenue, Iowa City, Iowa 52240-1806 (319-335-3916). Second-class postage paid at lowa City, Iowa. Subscriptions are $10 for four issues. Postmaster Send address changes to: The Goldfinch. State Historical Society of Iowa. 402 Iowa Avenue. Iowa City, IA 52240-1806. State Historical Society of Iowa. 1993 1000 B.C. Evidence of corn from this period in Southwest (Arizona) No portion of The Goldfinch may be reproduced without prior permission. 2 TheGoldfinch On the Cover: Phyllis Gott and 3r son David, 3, on their farm IN THIS ISSUE 011ie, Iowa. Taken in 1958, the photo shows the corn harvested by friends and Features family. Rosie's Timeline 2 Kids on the Farm 4 mussela shel I f is h Corn News 8 ,Sirnikirtoaclam Corn Shelling With the Mesquakies 10 Buel Lathrop's Big Adventure 12 SPECIAL FEATURE Coveralls, Seed Caps, and Big Corn 13 Corn Dictionary Scrambled Corn 15 Your key to understanding words and phrases throughout A-MAIZE-ing Corn Thingamajigs 16 the issue The Cornhusking Caper 18 Battle of the Bangboards 22 Plowing Game 26 Departments Old Places: Pretty Peculiar Palaces 24 It looks like a newspaper! Read Who's Who 27 all about itcorn that is! History Makers 28 See page 8. Jokes 29 Answers 30 The Roost 31 Check outAle new jke page on Vb. page 29! `.1 The Goldfinch 3 Story and photos by Millie K. Frese 1; AdINW Q: Why can't you tell secrets in 11. a corn field? A: Because corn has ears! owa farmers grow a lot of corn. While some farmers S. N.. raise corn as a cash crop, others grow it as feed for 't'zim6btio4;4t1S6t;3't . their livestock. Either way, corn 11100, production is a job which often 116 involves every member of the David Frazier of Van Horne, Iowa, talks about growing corn in the 1990e. family. David Frazier, 12, is a sixth sisters on a 1,900-acre farm north David says, "you can't make a grader at Benton Community of town. About half of their land is living off of just corn." Middle School in Van Horne. He devoted to raising cornboth field Kari Krogmann, 11, is the lives with his parents, Bill and and seed corn. The Fraziers also daughter of Bob and Janet Paula Frazier, and two older raise beans and pigs because, Krogmann of rural Manchester. 4 The Goldfinch 5 BEST COPYAVAILABLE Anything else you do before harvest? For seed corn, we have to detassel. That's pulling the tassels ummokil- out of just the male rows. We have to rogue the seed corn, too. Roguing is taking out cont plants \ that aren't growing right or are from last year's seed that didn't . come up until this year. We use hoes or spades to dig it out. .1bor- What is the harvest like? } *fa We harvest field corn with a OLA: combine. It takes the corn off the , 1. - cob and throws the cob back onto ' the field. We dry our own corn, Helping to raise dairy cattle is Just one of Karl Krogmarm's chores. then store it in a bin. It's got to be She has two brothers and one parents used to farmmy dad and dried down to a certain level of sister, and is in fifth grade at St. my uncle farm it together. moisture. Mary's Elementary School in What are your jobs during corn Do you keep any of the corn you Manchester. The Krogmanns growing season? grow? raise dairy cattle on a 386-acre I drive the tractor a lot, and I help We used some of our field corn to farm. Of the 250 tillable acres. 130 during planting. When we pick feed the pigs. We also bale the are in corn. seed corn. I help haul the wagons cornstalks into those big, round If corn listened, here's what back and forth. bales. We use them to keep the those ears would hear David and Once the corn is planted, are you pigs warm in the winter. Kari say about growing corn and finished with it until harvest? Do you want to be a farmer for life on the farm.We first talked No. Once the corn gets to a the rest of your life? with David: certain height, you've got to spray Yes. I want to be a farmer because it with chemicals mixed with water that's how I grew up. But I How long have and your family to kill weeds. Buttonweed. wouldn't mind taking the winters farmed? horseweedthere's a ton of them! off. Cleaning hog pens in the DAVID: I've farmed all my life, and And you have to get rid of them winter gets pretty cold. my dad's been a farmer all of his because weeds take all the water life. We farm where my dad's from the c'vn. The Goldfinch 5 5 Kids on the Farm(continued) Karl, what is a typical day's ort routine for you? Kari: In the summertime, I get up and go outside to scrape down the parlor after the cows are milked. We clean parlors out with a power washer. Then I help Mom finish with the calves. We give them their milk replacement and 7 sometimes have to bottle feed es el ir them. What are "parlors?" That's where we milk the cows. There are stalls for eight cows at a time to standkind of in a circle. There's a lower level in the middle for someone to stand ana hook When she's not feeding calves, Karl Krogmann of rural Manchester pitches In to help them up to the milker. We milk her family with the corn harvest. the cows at night, too. But it is after the morning milking that we corn grows, then Dad cultivates it. him out there. And Mom does, clean the parlors. How do you help with the har- too. I help more around the house What happens to the milk? vest? ...folding clothes and making It goes into a tank, then the It's time to pick the corn...when lunch and supper while they're in milkman comes and takes it to the it's taller than Dad! He gets the the field.