Corn husk

“ The ingenious budder, without bass, often finds a substitute for it, and a very good tie, in the soft husks of corn ears, the inner husks are torn into strips and used a little damp, when they are pliant and easily tied, answering a very good purpose. Many nurserymen, who have tried the corn-husk, prefer it to all other material, because it saves them the trouble of removing the bandages, as it decays rapidly, and yielding to the growth of the stock, it falls off before it cuts the bark, which a firmer bandage is apt to do. ”

“ Salt should also be added to the corn meal, if the broth in which it was mixed had not been seasoned. Put a layer of corn meal into the corn husk and on this put two tablespoonfuls of the chicken and tomato mixture. Let the chicken come nearly to the ends of the corn meal, and the corn meal well up to the ends of the husk. Keeping the husk between the fingers and the meal, fold the meal over the chicken, from each side, to enclose the chicken completely; roll the husks over the whole, turn up the ends and tie them securely, using narrow strips torn from the husks for the purpose. ”

“ The Ripe Corn Harvest Husking
As the corn in the fields began to show signs of ripening, the people of Like-a-fishhook village went hunting to get meat for the husking feasts. This meat was usually dried; but if a kill was made late in the season, the meat was sometimes brought in fresh.
When the corn was fully ripened, the owners of a garden went out with baskets, plucked the ears from the stalks and piled them in a heap ready for the husking. The empty stalks were left standing in the field.
A small family sometimes took as many as three days to gather and husk their ripe corn ”

“ Corn (or you may prefer calling it maize) is gathered in the husk, that is, by breaking each large ear from the stem. These ears are first thrown into heaps in the field, and afterwards carried in carts to the barn, or, as in this instance, and in such portions of Kentucky, to a shed made of the blades or long leaves that hang in graceful curves from the stalk, and which, when plucked and dried, are used instead of hay as food for horses and cattle. The husk consists of several thick leaves rather longer than the corn-ear itself, and which secure it from the weather. ”

“ Another row of husks was laid over the first, transversely to them; and so until four or five layers of the green husks were made, each lying transversely to the layer of husks beneath.
The shelled corn, pounded almost to a pulp, was poured out on this husk sheet, and patted down with the hand to a loaf about seven or eight [39] inches square, and an inch or two thick. However, this varied; a girl would make a much smaller loaf than would a woman preparing a mess for her family. ”

“ Indian corn is a kind of corn tree, so that it would be exempt from the sneer of the Tartars who despise the men that live on "the top of a weed." The top of Indian Corn supplies the place of hay or of straw for fodder: it is the flower of the plant, and bears the farina like the wheat-ear, but the grains are deposited in the ears which come out of the stalk lower down. These ears are enveloped in their leaves which are called the husk. The number of ears varies in different plants, three is the common number. ”

“ There are four sorts of Indian corn: two of which are early ripe, and two late ripe, all growing in the same manner; every single grain of this when planted produces a tall upright stalk, which has several ears hanging on the sides of it, from six to ten inches long. Each ear is wrapt up in a cover of many folds, to protect it from the injuries of the weather. In every one of these ears are several rows of grain, set close to one another, with no other partition but of a very thin husk. So that oftentimes the increase of this grain amounts to above a thousand for one. ”

“ When the qualities of the soil and conditions of the atmosphere have been propitious for the production of husk fiber, we look at the husk upon the corn or the beard of the wheat head and declare solemnly to our friends that the coming winter will be a severe one. We say that Nature knows what is about to occur and has provided for the protection of the grain. ”

“ You know too how it comes from the shop, all wrapped up in soft green husks, with the long silk hanging out of the end, that little girls in the country use for dolls’ hair, and ridiculous little boys try to smoke in pipes. The ear is the mother corn, and the kernels wrapped snugly away in the green husk are her children. Or rather they are her eggs, with the little corn plants inside, almost ready to be dried over winter and be planted and start life for themselves. Each kernel of corn has one fibre of silk, which is joined to it at one end and hanging out of the ear at the other. ”

“ Husk, silk, and put into boiling water as soon as possible after it is brought from the garden. Let it boil twenty minutes, or, if large kernels and cob, thirty.
The small early corn that will not cook in fifteen or twenty minutes is too old, or wholly worthless for cooking. As soon as [Pg 444] the corn is done, put it on the plates with a napkin under, and send it to the table hot. If you prefer it cut from the cob, as soon as it is cooked cut it off, and to three pints of corn put one spoonful of butter, with pepper and salt to suit your taste ”

“ The rural custom denominated corn husking or corn shucking is peculiar to the Southern States. It occurs at night, in the autumn of the year, is participated in by negroes alone, and has for its main object 142 the husking and the gathering into barns of the yellow maize or corn. ”

“ It is of little use to attempt to drive them away with a gun: they only fly from one part of the field to another. And again, as soon as the tender corn has formed, these flocks, now replenished by the growing of the year, once more swarm in the cornfields, tear off the husks and devour the tender grains. Wilson has seen fields of corn in which more than half the corn was thus ruined.
"These birds winter in immense numbers in the lower parts of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia, sometimes forming one congregated multitude of several hundred thousand. ”

“ Corn grown for the grain is harvested when it is fully ripe and dry. The ears are gathered, husked, and stored in slat cribs, through which the air passes freely, thus drying the corn and preventing attacks of mold. This method of harvesting corn is known as husking, picking, or shucking, the first being perhaps the most common. The term ‘snapping’ corn refers to gathering the ears with most of the husks attached, which is sometimes done when ripe corn is fed directly from the field. ”

“ Looking upwards we see hanging gardens and what may be called farmlets, tiny homesteads with minute patches of wheat, Indian corn, and clover on an incline so steep as to look vertical. Most beautiful and refreshing to the eye are the little hayfields sloping from the river, the freshly-mown hay in cocks or being turned, the shorn pasture around bright as emerald. Harvest during the year 1891 was late, and in the first week of September corn was still standing; nowhere, surely, corn so amber-tinted, so golden, nowhere, surely, ripened so near the clouds. ”

“ Amongst the many animals whose forms the corn-spirit is supposed to take are the wolf, dog, hare, fox, cock, goose, quail, cat, goat, cow (ox, bull) , pig, and horse. In one or other of these shapes the corn-spirit is often believed to be present in the corn, and to be caught or killed in the last sheaf. As the corn is being cut the animal flees before the reapers, and if a reaper is taken ill on the field, he is supposed to have stumbled unwittingly on the corn-spirit, who has thus punished the profane intruder. ”

“ Harvesting, done after the grains have become hardened is by cutting the stalks from the hills where grown, by hand or machinery, and standing them in large shocks to be husked later, or, husking the ears directly from the stalks without cutting or shocking. No machine equal to human hands has yet been invented for husking corn. The yield ranges from twenty-five to one hundred bushels of sixty pounds, shelled, or seventy pounds unshelled, per acre. The stalks and husks, whether harvested or not are used as food for live stock, and somewhat in manufactures. ”

“ When you are husking corn your mind is apt to be more on your tender hands than on your work, but still one has a chance to do a little thinking from time to time. Husking corn—in fact, all the work of this last harvest, such as digging potatoes, pulling roots, and caring for vegetables—brings one into a closer dealing with nature than the grain harvest earlier in the season. Wheat, oats, and barley are reaped by machinery and thrashed by machinery, so that your contact with them is never intimate. ”

“ And they are all as greedy of corn food as ever, for behold! No sooner had the old Raven recovered than he espied one of the ears of corn half hidden under the mantle-covers of the trays. He leaped from his place laughing. They always laugh when they find anything, these ravens. Then he caught up the ear of corn and made off with it over the heads of the people and the tops of the houses, crying.
"Ha! ha! In this wise and in no other will ye find thy Seed Maidens." ”

“ A piece of corn on some remote side-hill near the mountain, or between two pieces of woods, is most apt to be frequented by them. While the corn is yet green they pull the ears down like hogs, and, tearing open the sheathing of husks, eat the tender, succulent kernels, bruising and destroying much more than they devour. Sometimes their ravages are a matter of serious concern to the farmer. But every such neighborhood has its coon-dog, and the boys and young men dearly love the sport. ”

“ At times, however, the damage to corn becomes a serious problem, and were it not possible to make use of such deterrents as coal tar upon seed corn there would be little friendship for the crow in some sections of the East. The “pulling” of corn is a trait most prevalent in small-field areas. Wheat and oats suffer similar damage at times, especially in the Northwestern States, where these grains predominate. About the only safeguard to ripening grain is the constant use of powder and shot or the scarecrow. ”

“ Certainly the soft corns in some of their varieties present a kernel that is larger, softer, and less fitted to the struggle with natural conditions than is the kernel from any of the other groups. Yet soft corns are the prevailing form in the mummy burials of Peru and of our Southwestern states. The popcorn, on the contrary, has stronger regerminative powers than have the other groups, is better fitted to contend against natural vicissitudes, and is the kind that has been reported as found growing wild in Mexico under the name of Coyote corn, Zea canina Watts. ”

“ After a time he sends for a thrashing machine, with the help of which he is able quickly to separate the corn from the straw. The grain is placed in sacks, and these are put away in a dry barn, until the farmer can sell them to some miller or maltster, who will take the grain away, and make it into flour, horse-corn, or malt. The farmer must take care, however, that his corn does not get wet, for if it does it will turn mouldly and spoil; and he must also see that the rats and mice do not reach it, for if they do he is sure to lose some of his precious harvest. ”

“ The harvest commences in April, when the corn is cut with a sickle, close to the ear, and the straw is appropriated for fodder, or converted into fuel. The ears, having been carried from the field in baskets, are laid upon the ground. A sort of sledge drawn by oxen is then driven over it, which answers the end of thrashing, separating the corn from the ears. [2] It is next stored, and the husbandman having none of the labors of ploughing, furrowing, or manuring his land—​those duties being superseded by the bounteous Nile—​he is at leisure till the next overflow. ”

“ As the day passes the excitement mounts and at last, as the cool evening breeze begins to rustle the corn leaves, the feasting begins.
The pits are opened and the steaming, tender ears are passed out to the famished crowd. It is a joyous feast for green corn is a favorite delicacy. Great quantities of food are consumed and a contented silence settles over the gorged, happy people. ”

“ It is not proposed, however, to reduce the product to the equivalent of merchantable corn, or "sound" corn, as no crop ever is free from immaturity or imperfection. There always are some Northern fields caught by frost, some neglected acres, some choked with weeds or flooded by over-flows, and so on—corn, which is mainly "nubbins." ”

“ The grain varies in color; it may be white, yellow, violet, purple, blue, slate, black, or variegated.
A good corn ground is rich, warm, deep and mellow. Unlike the other cereals, the work of culture in the cornfield is only well begun when the plants appear above the surface. Being in rows there is a fine opportunity offered for weeds to come in and occupy the soil before the corn plants make enough growth to defend their rights to the land. The first enemy to the corn is the cut-worm, and the next is the crow. ”

“ After its maturity, it is also prepared for use or the granary with little labor. The husking is a short process, and is even advantageously delayed till the moment arrives for using the corn. The machinery for converting it into food is also exceedingly simple and cheap. As soon as the ear is fully formed, it may be roasted or boiled, and forms thus an excellent and nourishing diet. ”