Two Disc-Plows and a Corn Drill - Near Buell, MO - Old Agricultural Equipment on Waymarking.com

County of display: Montgomery County
Location of display: MO-161 & Airport Rd., 2 miles S. of Buell

"When farmers used horses for cultivating, they had to plant rows as wide as their horses’ hips – 40- to 42-inches. In fact the most common practice was to plant “cross-checked rows” with hills of corn planted equally both north and south and east and west. A wire was stretched across the field with knots every 40 or 42 inches. When the planter hit that knot, it would drop three or four seeds into the hill. Then, later in the season, the farmer could cultivate with horses in both directions.

"As farmers bought row crop tractors with wheels that could be adjusted to fit narrower rows, agricultural researchers discovered that single corn plants more closely spaced in rows yielded more corn per acre. In addition, the mechanical corn pickers that were being introduced did better in rows. So, farmers began resetting their planters to drill rows of corn rather than dropping hills of corn.

"There was still the problem of precision – planting just one seed at the prescribed interval. Allis-Chalmers and others boasted that their rotary drop mechanism dropped seeds at the same speed as the forward motion of the planter, so that seed dropped straight down for accurate spacing.

"Grain drills used for planting wheat and other closely spaced crops were also getting bigger as the decade went on. In addition, boxes for dry fertilizer were added to both corn planters and grain drills so that both operations could be accomplished at once." ~ Farming History