Institute To Display Auglaize Corn Planter
NEW KNOXVILLE – A corn planter purchased in 1931 for 25 cents by Clayton Kantner, who resides on a farm east of New Knoxville, was acclaimed last week as in “excellent” condition and acceptable for display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C.
A truck picked up the planter Monday to be taken to Washington where visitors will soon view the method area farmers used to plant corn.
“I bought the old planter at an auction sale at Waynesfield in 1931. I really wanted the tongue on the planter for my own wagon,” Kantner said. “I remember a bystander commenting, “You really bought an old one.”
William C. Kendall, assistant curator of agriculture at the Smithsonian Institute estimated it to be over 100 years old and nearly as old as the Institute itself. He told Clayton he had inspected two other planters, but neither were in as good condition or as old.
The Institute issued notices in newspapers last summer listing items needed by the Institute for display. Perry Kantner saw one of the notices and wrote about the old corn planter, stored in the loft of one of the farm buildings.
Curator Kendall was amazed at the condition of the planter. Made of hardwood (believed to be white oak), the construction is in good condition. The iron seat was for the driver (of horses) and a wooden stool seat at the front was where the person who controlled the planting sat. Two levers on either side released corn seed from the bottom of two bins at the will of the planter. A marker extended out the side and rows were planted forty-four inches apart. The result was much the same as later wire row planting. The iron wheels of the planter are welded and the spokes are wooden.
Curator Kendall traveled throughout the New Knoxville area looking over antiques.
NOTES:
This article was published in the Lima News in the fifties. The Kantner farm is located at what is now 09624 State Route 219.
When planting was done with horses, the rows were spaced at least 40 inches apart to allow a horse to walk between them while pulling a cultivator. The wire row planting method mentioned in the article was also known as “checking corn”. A wire that had knots placed at the desired distance between rows was stretched across the field. Each knot would trip the planter to drop from 2 to 4 seeds in “hills” spaced the same as the knots. This method was usually used with a two row planter having the same spacing as the knots on the wire. This resulted in rows that had the same spacing both ways across the field. The corn could then be cultivated both ways.