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MEMORIES OF CUTo» IHoau. %E. Wagner /ton Centre 59, Mi»«acbusr(larows Pa changed fcis horse to atight drag that corned two row*nt a time I *#at and rested while he went the round to put theMtil under damp aud l'tun we'dOurPrairnFarm Machineryfarm tools on Ten Mile around 1880 were an O-liver Chill turning plow, a bull tongue and a shovel plow and a Georgia stock to handle them. We had a wooden double shovel with flat faced steel points whichpush it up against small anil a drag made of a pun-with brush attached andHe had a black .tiuth make bun plant tour inure* n*ws, and io on a dozen or fifteen steel knives, ’That wa* slow, and 1 could notneverplantseheonwith handloh at each end, the handles sharpened and turnedhark to set Mato the holes inhis log section and stand out erven ly around it Wlw-n done, ti was a roller cquiiHHii with sharpcutters, He rigged a frame onpitched the soil hut could J hJS wagon running gear thatpermitted the removal of the coupling pole and the arrangement of the cutter Ik4ween (root crush • ancj rt,ar hounds Whin the weI*weighted with a log torluds and smooth plowed grond.lgon u.as drawn forward the cut There were* several “Nigger’ j u.r roilwi ovw the ground willho«-s. Yes, Hu* Nigger hoc rs whiit preceded the goose-neck” hoe.It was too heavy, and impossibleopposite the «slg** and a handle was too heavy, and impossible to use easily. With that i-quip-ment we raised several crops.I think it was to 1882 that we had a fine cotton crop and the stalks grew to a size which madeground withlt;*arh knife rutting a few inchesdeep He even arranged a sent j over the frimt whorehe could sit to drive his tainMother ordered him to keep me'off that seat, test the team runaway, 1 full off and the stalkcutter become « hoy dccimatcr When he hooked up si team and straddled a row of heavy cottonmanage to get the seed in a nar row row When it came up there* was a wide row of *mall plants.1 whn h are hard to hoe to an I even stand So Pa set himself to j build a cotton planter He madea drum about thirty inches iw diameter and bored a row of holes around the middle of it. Ihe emts of the drum were U»r* ger than the i*t*nter ao that the drum cirnld roll on them if we planted »*rmuui iloor was fixed un ooe aide of the drum to permit seed coitos to be put in umi ciMild be fastened shut. The holes urotind tlve center were about a half-inch in diameter and two *tr three inches apart. A frame was built ’round the drum with handles from a wlt;ra out plow to manage ilt; When ahorse was hitched lo «l. theUung wradd follow him A Sho-them hard for a two-horse, nine- stalks the cutter worked perfect- v* ' plow opened a row Indore theA-’ft ^ s I r e m a a A ,jmb w* - • k *. » * a*. . Jinch, turning plow to handle. So Fa. who had both inventive genius and skill with tools, made himself a stalk cutter, the first he had ever seen He sawed a section about thirty inches longthe largest tree trunk he find and bored u row ofaround it near each end.fromcouldholesvered theperfectlywith the better to FaWHY WAIT!1ONLY Sti MJNt’TESFOR LOANfonAirros — CATTLEfurnitureFARM. RANCn AND CITY PROPERTYiREX M. GATESLoan CompanyPhone 218Ik arilly Every stalk was reduced toshort sections that were easy toturn under** with the plow.The first day he used it. Pa had company. I*d helped the other boy spread the news and niegh-bors who also had heavy cottonstalks came to watch It was not a heavy lewd and it did perfect work I've heard since I movedinto the effete East that machinery companies provide stalk cutters. I'll venture ttmt not one of them does a better job thanFa’s crude invention.** Fa cut a-bout ten acres of stalks a day with it, and when Gnandpa hadfinished his lt;oofton fields theneighbors borrowed it Seemslike they did their beat to wearit out, but it was still in use! when we moved to Foastoak m 1888 I think Fa gave it to Grandpa, who remained on Ins farm forseveral years, in fact died thereabout i*ya.For our firs! cotton crop, after the sod was broken up, Fa laid and oats The l**M plowmanoff rows. 1 followed with a pail could turn an more than two of seed in one hand and strewed acres a day, working from sunrow of holes and a drag behind flattened tjhe ground ok I co-Agom it workedafter some jockeyingholes to .shape themlet the seed through could plant eight or ten acres u day and more important, the plants came up in a narrow' rimv that was etsy to hoe to a proper standAgain Fa Iwul cmmfuuiy wtuw he began planting cotton Againbus invention served severalfarms, and when we moved toIHwbxik was leR ut Grandpa’*. Frobobly it was used till somemanufacturer pot a better ia-vcntion on the market It was no good for planting corn Holes *»hich put cotton sor'd down jusf right wiHild never do for ctmNot a very exciting yarn, but ju.it stop and think how thoseoldtimers worked to get started!fences* hand-planted cors and cotton, hand-iswed whestand rmts 'Hie beatthe seed in the row with the other. When we’d planted fourto sun, diiwu to twilight**■ • •* '.lt;r srsnrI
Newspaper Details
Henrietta Clay County Leader
Henrietta, Texas, US
Thu, Mar 11, 1954
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Max B.
USA 10 Apr 2021
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Henrietta Clay County Leader
