In the early 1960s I had a part time "govmint" job in Iowa during the summer measuring fields of corn to make sure the farmers did not overplant their allotted acres during that era"s corn loan program (called Kennedy acres). The ASCS had crude photos of fields, but had to physically send someone out to measure the planted acreage for compliance.
I used a surveyor"s chain; very easy to figure acres as "20 chains long (1320 ft or 1/4 mile) and 10 chains wide" equalled 20 acres.
A "rod" was 16 1/2 ft long. Four rods equal one chain. I remember farmers in those days referring to a field as "80 rods long"... which was 1/4 mile, or 1320 ft. One mile is 5280 ft.
Measuring wheels with the little counting device were not invented yet, and hand held calculators certainly were not invented yet! Calculators were called "adding machines" and were large and powered by 110v so you would have had to have a very long extension corn to measure in the field!!
I ended up buying my own device because many farmers wanted me to measure all sorts of acres for various reasons. This device has a large ring with a handle for carrying, and has metal wire stakes with a loop at one end....when you get to the end of a "chain", you stick in another stake, push the chain thru the loop and walk another chain length. I could go a long distance without having to stop and reset. The device has a crank handle and when you were finished you just cranked up the chain and all the metal stakes came back to you and you walked away.
I remember when arriving at the field the corn would be planted the full length of the field and at the width of the corn I would find a little red flag...that flag was put there before planting. The ASCS guy had pre-measured the field so the farmer knew when to stop planting.
I rarely found a farmer cheating by moving the flag because he knew that come summer some guy like me would show up and check on him. If he did over plant, he had to plow the corn up right away as we had to recheck in a week or so.
Those chain and rod measurements came from England, I think. George Washington did a lot of surveying in his life...it"s possible he used something similiar.
I haven"t looked at this device in a long time...I think it has 10 stakes, but maybe more. The chain looks like a narrow heavy duty measuring tape. It never rusted and is very well constructed. I think I got it thru the ASCS at that time.
When I see it hanging on the wall I often think I should use it "one of these days", but that day has not come yet.
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