Check Row Planting

My how planting has changed. 24 and 36 row planters, monitors that tell you everything. 35 to 40 thousand seeds per acre. Compared to check row planting, with a 2 row planter. WOW!!!

I did a little research on check row planting, and it sounds very labor intensive.

A 1944 study revealed that approximately 50 percent of the time it took to plant a field with short, 20 rod rows was taken up in handling check wire and stakes. Check wire usually came in 80 rod lengths, because that was the common length of a typical 40 acre field in the corn belt.

Most versions of a typical 2 row planter had a seed can for each row, with a revolving seed plate in the bottom of each. A series of notches around the seed plate's circumference picked up and counted the desired number of seeds per hill. Each notch picked up only one seed, but it moved far enough between checks to drop the desired number of seeds into the tube.

At each side of the planter was a check head consisting of two pairs of rollers and a check fork. The rollers held and guided the check wire as it slid through the check fork. Each time a wire button reached the fork, it caught and forced the fork to the rear before sliding past the fork's open end, which then retured to its upright position. Each time the fork was moved to the rear by a button, it opened the upper and lower valves in both seed tubes. At that time, seeds on the lower valves dropped into the furrow, seeds on the upper valves began their drop toward the lower valves, and the seed plates measured out the proper number of kernels onto the upper valves.

A poorly checked field can't be hidden. From the time corn plants break through the ground until late June, the field is a public demonstration of how much care was taken in laying out wire and adjusting the planter. Therefore, most farmers took great care in planting corn, or they were sure to hear about it from their neighbors at the general store or at church on Sunday morning.

I didn't see in any of my reading how many acres could you plant in a day? I am guessing, 20?