Planting Corn the Old Way

Several posts ago I told how Harold was getting the old 2 row corn planter ready to use.  It had not been used to plant corn with since 1986, and needed some work.  Well, he got it all working nicely and today took it out to the field for a trial run!  He planted 8 rows of corn today, but will plant more later on.   This was just a test run.
     Imagine it is 1940, and you have a small farm.  You might have used something like this to plant corn with.

The old 1940 corn planter all set to use.  But Harold is using a 1975 tractor to pull it with. He has an old 1946 Allis Chalmers tractor he could use, but it spits oil and needs some engine work. 

Driving down the road to the field.

A close-up of some of the mechanics of this thing.  The lever Harold is holding raises the planter up or down.

And now for the trial planting!:

It works!  Still a few things to tweak, but it is planting.

Harold has a rope tied to the the bar that raises and lowers, called the trip.

And here is 8 rows planted already.

The old horse pasture makes for a pretty big garden, eh??  We can really go nuts planting here!

The pasture garden is on the edge of the other lake in our farm, which we call "Lake Harold" (it has no name).  We intend to use a gas powered pump and a hose to pump water out of the lake to water the corn and other crops with.   Harold is looking for a good place to put the pump, in this photo.   He used to have an area specially made for the pump.

We just love getting the old machinery to work.  Makes for an interesting afternoon.  And puts a lot of fun into farming and gardening!  Harold says he has an old cultivator to get going also.   We shall see..........maybe a future article??