Page 101 - barefoot-in-the-sand-remembering-the-waning-days-of-the-hopewell-community-(1998)-bruce-c-gragg

Barefoot In The Sand: Remembering the Waning Days of the Hopewell Community (1998) Bruce C. Gragg 97/123

MAKING THE CROP

Spring of 1951, found Mama and me making the crop, Papa had developed
a problem with his heart. The two of us broke ground planted and
plowed about 18-20 acres of corn, peas, some peanuts and well as did
most of the work in preparing and planting the gardens. After turning
the ground in early spring we had Curtis Pafford to harrow it before
planting time. One field of about 5-6 acres I harrowed it myself with
a harrow we had borrowed from Mrs. Mills and adapted it with a
trailer hitch to hook to the jeep. All this with a horse that was not
a work horse by breeding, she was of running stock. This helped when
plowing and you wanted to get on with it and get it done. Where as a
mule or work horse would have been much slower, but a better job of
plowing can be done with a slower moving animal. We laid off the
rows, planted, cultivated and harvested the entire crop. Laying off
the rows straight was a bit harder than it might sound. We had three
poles about ten feet long with a couple of bands of white cloth
wrapped around them. Beginning on one side of the field, the three
poles are aligned, then sighting the pole markers with a tree or
something in the distance, you just plow toward it. Results a
straight row, keep measuring off the poles for subsequent rows until
finished. Then it is ready to begin distributing the fertilizer and
planting. The fertilizer distributor, had a large wooden box on the
frame and a iron wheel with cogs and an arm that drug across the cog
and caused the fertilizer to fall through a trough to the furrow.
That was a noisy piece of equipment. Planting was done with a Cole
planter, that used cogs, and plates with notches to plant the right
amount of seed at the right distance. Each plate and cog had numbers
and a chart imprinted on the plate telling what the distance would be
with different combinations of the two.

To protect our arms when plowing corn about waist high it was
necessary to wear long sleeved shirts. When plowing we had to put a
wire mesh muzzle on the horse or she would eat too much green during
the day. What a pretty sight to be plowing a field of corn when it is
about waist high, and you look across it and watch the leaves gently
waving in the breeze. Mama would plow most of the day until I came in
from school, then I would work until after sundown. We did have some
stumps to watch out for while plowing, they were always an annoyance
to put up with. When cultivating crops with a horse drawn plow there
is a sound created that is relaxing, really it develops almost into a
rhythmic cadence that can lull you off into a daze if you let it.
This kind of work requires a diet of any kind of high protein to keep
strength up, and fats or sweets to supply the quick energy. Besides
the ’’Dixie1' turn plow and sweep stock of ours we borrowed from Mrs.
Mills a "steel beam" turn plow and her sweep stock and a two scooter
plow.

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