ERIC ED363554: [Corn.]

33 Pages·1993·1.1 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
SO 023 452
ED 363 554
TITLE
[Corn.]
Iowa State Historical Society, Iowa City.
INSTITUTION
ISSN-0278-0208
REPORT NO
93
PUB DATE
33p.; For related items in this series, see ED 349
NOTE
215.
Instructional Materials (For
Classroom Use
Guides
PUB TYPE
Serials (022)
Learner) (051) -- Collected Works
Goldfinch; Iowa History for Young People; v14 n2 Spr
JOURNAL CIT
1993
MFOI/PCO2 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Childrens Literature; Elementary Education; Grains
DESCRIPTORS
4
(Food); Instructional Materials; Periodicals;
*Reading Materials; Social Studies; *State History
*Corn; Corn Culture; *Iowa
IDENTIFIERS
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.
***********************************************************************
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BEST COPY AVAILABLE
Wild5asie's Timeline
GTOldfach
1975
Seed Savers Exchande in Decorah. iowa. created to si3ve
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
South Clay School. Gillett Grove: Margie Hood.
First Sioux City Corn Palace Oui It
Horn Elementary, Iowa City; Pat Rod. North Hill
Elementary, Burlington.
1870s
CHILDREN'S ADVISORY BOARD: Audrey Ann
Hybrid corn experiments begin
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.
No portion of The Goldfinch may be reproduced
Evidence of corn from this period in Southwest (Arizona)
without prior permission.
Goldfinch
The
2
On the Cover: Phyllis Gott and
IN THIS ISSUE
3r son David, 3, on their farm
011ie, Iowa. Taken in 1958,
the photo shows the corn
harvested by friends and
Features
family.
2
Rosie's Timeline
4
Kids on the Farm
mussel
a shel I f is h
8
Corn News
Sirnikirtoaclam
,
10
Corn Shelling With the Mesquakies
12
Buel Lathrop's Big Adventure
SPECIAL FEATURE
13
Coveralls, Seed Caps, and Big Corn
Corn Dictionary
15
Scrambled Corn
Your key to understanding
16
A-MAIZE-ing Corn Thingamajigs
words and phrases throughout
18
the issue
The Cornhusking Caper
22
Battle of the Bangboards
26
Plowing Game
Departments
24
Old Places: Pretty Peculiar Palaces
It looks like a newspaper! Read
27
Who's Who
all about itcorn that is!
28
History Makers
See page 8
.
29
Jokes
30
Answers
31
The Roost
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,
't'zim6btio
others grow it as feed for
4;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 says, "you can't make a
sisters on a 1,900-acre farm north
David Frazier, 12, is a sixth
living off of just corn."
of town. About half of their land is
grader at Benton Community
Kari Krogmann, 11, is the
devoted to raising cornboth field
Middle School in Van Horne. He
daughter of Bob and Janet
and seed corn. The Fraziers also
lives with his parents, Bill and
Krogmann of rural Manchester.
raise beans and pigs because,
Paula Frazier, and two older
The Goldfinch
4
5
AVAILABLE
BEST COPY
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.
What is the harvest like?
.1bor-
We harvest field corn with a
*fa
}
OLA:
combine. It takes the corn off the
,
cob and throws the cob back onto
-
1.
'
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
dried down to a certain level of
parents used to farmmy dad and
She has two brothers and one
moisture.
my uncle farm it together.
sister, and is in fifth grade at St.
Do you keep any of the corn you
What are your jobs during corn
Mary's Elementary School in
grow?
growing season?
Manchester. The Krogmanns
We used some of our field corn to
I drive the tractor a lot, and I help
raise dairy cattle on a 386-acre
feed the pigs. We also bale the
during planting. When we pick
farm. Of the 250 tillable acres. 130
cornstalks into those big, round
seed corn. I help haul the wagons
are in corn.
bales. We use them to keep the
back and forth.
If corn listened, here's what
pigs warm in the winter.
Once the corn is planted, are you
those ears would hear David and
Do you want to be a farmer for
finished with it until harvest?
Kari say about growing corn and
the rest of your life?
No. Once the corn gets to a
life on the farm.We first talked
Yes. I want to be a farmer because
certain height, you've got to spray
with David:
that's how I grew up. But I
it with chemicals mixed with water
wouldn't mind taking the winters
to kill weeds. Buttonweed.
How long have and your family
off. Cleaning hog pens in the
horseweedthere's a ton of them!
farmed?
winter gets pretty cold.
And you have to get rid of them
DAVID: I've farmed all my life, and
because weeds take all the water
my dad's been a farmer all of his
from the c'vn.
life. We farm where my dad's
The Goldfinch
5
5
Kids on the Farm
(continued)
ort
Karl, what is a typical day's
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
7
their milk replacement and
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.
creamery. We take what we want
What do you like to cook?
out of the tank to drink.
Soup, because it's easy. And pizza!
Riding the four-wheeler is
Does raising corn add to the
When they're out picking, I have
the most fun. The snow-
chores you do?
to take sandwiches out to them.
mobile is fun, toowhen
Sometimesmostly when it's time
We have a four-wheeler to ride out
to pick. When it's spring, Dad
on. That's a lot of fun!
there's a lot of snow. And I
works up the field and gets the
What else do you do during
like to go sledding.
planter ready to go. He puts
harvest?
fertilizer in with the seed to help
Sometimes I get in the wagon with
the corn grow. It takes five or six
combine out and goes out into the
the corn to help push it into the
days to do all the planting. The.
field. My older brother, Jeff, helps
auger. The auger takes the corn
auger: a tool for
6
The Goldfinch
making holes in the earth
Do you want to live on a farm the
on the swingset. And ride my bike.
to the bin where it dries. Then it
rest of your life?
Riding the four-wheeler is the
gets moved into other bins.
I don't really want to live on a
most fun. The snowmobile is fun,
How long does it take to get all
farmit's too hard of work! But I
of the corn picked?
don't want to live in town, either. I
About three weeks.
I don't really want to live
like living in the country. It's not
What do you do with it once it's
on a farmit's too hard of
as crowded with door-to-door
picked and dried?
work! But I don't want to
neighbors. In the country there's
We use most of it to grind feed for
live in tcwn either. I like
space to do what you want to do. Y
the cows.
living in the country.
Is living on a farm all wark?
No, we get to play for awhile! I
hclinow:o loft in a barn or stable
toowhen there's a lot of snow.
play the piano, and I like to go
ta,.;s uz: for storing hoy
outside and play in the haymow or
And I like to go sledding.
Unlike Kari Krogmann, David Frazier, plans to make a career out of farming. But he says he "wouldn't mind taking the
winters off." Cleaning the hog pens gets'pretty cold in lowal
,
.,.
a
,
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ielv41111----upoofter
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The Goldfinch
7
bushels,
a unit of volume
for measuring grca, fruit and
iegerobies. If equals 32 quarts.
IOWA #1 CORN PRODUCING
STATE IN NATION!
1.9
Corn is big business in Iowa.
Iowa's Growing Corn
Corn production in Iowa has
One billion equals 1,000 millions-so you can see
quadrupled since 1929, from 400
billion
how Iowa corn production has skyrocketed over the
million bushels to approximately
years. Why the boom? Experts say technical
1.7 billion bushels annually. Look
advances and increased land used for
out the car window when you're out
growing corn.
and about in the state and you're
sure to see corn fields. More than
one-third of the total land arca of
Iowa is used to produce corn. You
may not see flocks of farmers, but
eight out of ten jobs in Iowa are
*Bushels of corn
N'12
199Z
1952
1932.
1912
directly or indirectly related to
products are made from corn. Now
like paint, paper products, batteries,
agriculture.
you know why people sing, "lo-
clothing, mouthwash, and
Today there are more than 360
way, lo-way, that's where the tall
shampoo! More than 1,200 different
different uses for corn products.
corn grows!"
food items in U.S. supermarkets
You can find corn products in stuff
Fueling the
Living in
Nation
the Corn Belt
Part of Iowa's corn goes into
Social studies books often mention the "corn
gasoline! This product is called
belt." It's not a belt made out of seeds to keep
MN
ethanol (eth-AH-nol) and it's a fuel
your pants up, but an area of the Midwest.
that's made up of 90 percent
Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and
gasoline and 10 percent ethanol.
Nebraska are often mentioned as states
Iowa produces about one fourth of
in the corn belt. While some corn is grown
the nation's ethanol. Ethanol may
in almost every state in America, these
help lower carbon monoxide
states grow huge amounts of corn.
emissions (a kind of air pollution)
by more than 25 percent.
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The Goldfinch
8
'901[PI
brine:
Art by Mary Moye-Rowley
salty water
Indian's Gift
Munching Around the World
Where did this wonderful food the
How do people around the world eat corn?
color of gold come from?
=deans: Corn-on-the-Cob is a
Historians trace the beginning of
fave, especially with slabs of butter
corn to what is now Mexico and the
and a few shakes of salt. You'll also
Caribbean. The Taino Indians who
find corn in soups and bread.
met Christopher Columbus in the
Iranians: Roast the corn, then soak
West Indies in 1492 introduced the
it in brine.
Italian explorer to "maize." For the
Mexicans: When it's not ground
next 20 years Spanish and
into tortillas, Mexicans add some
Portugese explorers spread the seeds
ground chili pepper for a hot cob!
throughout the world. To European
Chinese: Soy sauce, please!
Americans, maize was one of the
Southeast Asians: Brush their corn
most important gifts ever received
with salted coconut milk.
from Indian cultures. To European
Americans it was a cherished food.
But to the Indians, corn is a
sacred object. Special festivals
are held to honor it. Today (see
page 10) Mesquakie Indians in
Iowa hold special ceremonies
for harvesting corn.
Corn Contest
Ask Goldie
into foods for humans and feeds for
animals. Seed corn is field corn
grown just for seeds.
Rosie: Shh. .
I think I hear
I. Why do we
.
something. If you're standing in a
3. How does corn grow?
grow corn in Iowa'?
com field on a hot summer day,
Corn is the tallest member of the
The weather and soil are great for
there's a good chance you'll hear a
grass family. Corn produces a
growing corn. Iowa has some of the
"ssss" sound. It's the corn talking!
flower (or tassel) and is pollinated
best soil in the world.
Write and tell us what makes the
naturally ny pollen falling onto the
2. Are there different kinds of corn?
noise when corn grows and the first
silks of the ear. A fully grown ear
Sweet corn is grown and sold as a
five correct answers will receive free
of corn has as many as 600 to
canned or frozen vegetable.
subscriptions to The Goldfinch.
1,000 corn kernels on it.
Popcorn is used for popping as a
Iowa Corn Promotion Board
snack food. Field corn is the
Sbh..
most common type and is processed
to:
Contest
answers
Send your
ilear-the-Corn-Growing
Avenue
I
402 Iowa
Goldfinch,
The
52240.
City, Iowa
Iowa
1 o