In October, 1917 my grandfather(22 years old) left Douglas County, Kansas and took a train to St. Edwards, Nebraska to pick corn for Henry Burns. They would get up every day early enough to milk, chore and eat breakfast in time to be in the field as soon as there was enough light to find the corn. He would pick a load in time to shovel it off before dinner and another in the afternoon and chore in the dark before supper. He stayed there until the middle of December when he got so home sick he came back to Kansas even though the farmer had 40 acres left to pick.
His letters indicate he was paid .07 per bushel and that he was averaging $4.90 per day so he must have been picking about 70 bushels per day or 35 bushel per load. He wrote that the corn varied but averaged about 35 bushel per acre. That must have been hard work but pretty good pay for that time. Quite a bit better than his pay when he was drafted in August, 1918.
Few of us today can fully appreciate how hard folks worked in those days.
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Today's Featured Article - Restoration Story: Fordson Major - by Anthony West. George bought his Fordson Major from a an implement sale about 18 years ago for £200.00 (UK). There is no known history regarding its origins or what service it had done, but the following work was undertaken alone to bring it up to show standard. From the engine number, it was found that this Major was produced late 1946. It was almost complete but had various parts that would definitely need replacing.
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