In 1856, a patent was granted for a hoe equipped with a seed canister on its shank. About 1 acre of corn could be planted per day with this method. Corn was planted by one person digging a hole with a hoe - or a dibble - followed by another farmer who dropped two, three, or four seeds into the hole before covering them with soil. The practice made cross-cultivation possible, which assured better weed control.įor hundreds of years, Euro-American farmers planted corn using Native American techniques. The term ‘checkrow’ is derived from the checkerboard-like appearance of a corn field when viewed from above, with each corn hill planted exactly at the intersection of imaginary lines that cross at right angles the same distance apart. Thus, those Virginia Native Americans were the actual inventors of ‘checkrowed’ corn. These ‘hills’ were planted in rows, ‘each row spaced half a fathom or a yard from the last, and the holes in each row are the same distance apart,’ Harriot wrote. Then they used a wooden ‘pecker’ or dibble to dig a hole in which the planter placed four seeds – not touching – and finally covered them with soil. Indian lessonsĮarly Americans were keen observers of native skills, and Thomas Harriot reported in 1588 that the American Indians first loosened the soil with wooden hoes. Modern hybrids commonly grow about two ears stalk, while a healthy, mature ear contains about 1,000 corn kernels -quite a return from one seed. That technique is still used today, although the rows are planted closer together, and the weeds are killed with herbicides rather than by hand or cultivator.Īlthough corn began as a tiny grass-like plant with ears less than an inch long, it was selectively bred by Native Americans and eventually became America’s foremost crop because it out-yields just about any other grain. Squanto taught the settlers that corn would thrive if it were planted in rows and cleanly cultivated. Captain John Smith wrote of the American Indians in 1609, ‘The greatest labor they take is in planting corne.’ In colonial times, farmers learned that the biggest problem with corn was the huge amount of labor required to plant, cultivate and, especially, to harvest the crop.

Small corn planters