Modified Cub

[Cub-Bud]

I was looking around and saw this picture....very interesting.

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=7652

What is/was the purpose of de-tasseling To prevent cross-pollination

[Bigdog]

What a neat set-up! George's next project no doubt!

The de-tasseling was to control pollination as you guessed.

[Donny M]

Talk about High Crop...pretty

[George Willer]

C.B.,

That's how they raised hybrid seed corn. The female corn was planted in several rows (I think four) and the male corn in only two rows. The tassels were removed from the female rows. The male rows fertilized all. Only the female rows were picked for seed. The others were just corn.

The big seed corn growers around here used similar machines that were made from model A Fords. I'm sure there were many other similar machines... mostly farm built. I recently saw one built from an 8N Ford.

[Larry in IN]

C.B., B.D.,George & the board...
You are correct that the tassels are pulled form the seed parent.
Corn is the classic example of controlled plant breeding because the male [tassel] and female [silk/ear] flower parts are so well defined and far apart. That allows a big field to all be a controlled [known parentage] cross.
In the begining tassels were pulled by hand by workers walking the field.
Detasseling machines came along after seed corn operations got big enough that they made more sense than walking. The first of those, I'm sure were farmer built using things like the Cub, Ford, etc. The modified Cub in the pic would be more stable with the two drive wheels, but harder to rig the drive train than the front engine tricycle mahines.
We had two, a Hagie, which company is still in existence and makes ag sprayers that look like a descendant of the detasseler. I am having a senior moment as to the make of the other machine. One had a centrifugal clutch variable speed drive, and the other had a gear tranmny.
Both had 4 cycle gas engines, one [front] drive/steering wheel, {the engine was mounted out front and turned with the wheel} and two rear auto size wheels on the rear at the bottom of the rear frame.
They were very easy to turn over and almost as easy to set back up on their wheels. They were not good in mud, so sometimes we gave up, took the shoes off, and wallked.
We used high school kids a lot. 10 - 25 cents per hour and all the water you could drink. Good duty for a high schooler myself - I managed to run the girls crew as much as possible!
George is correct [as usual] there were 4 or later 6 seed parent rows, then two pollen parent rows across the field.
Today it is common to plant solid fields of regularly spaced seed parent, then interplant the pollenator between those rows. After pollenation, they go in and cut out the pollen plants so that at harvest time the whole field is the much higher value seed parent.
More than you wanted to know?

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Larry, thanks for the info. I like your signature line, but it worries me. With the number of stupid mistakes I've already made I can't have too many left. Does that mean I getting old, or just stupid?

[beaconlight]

I don't think either in your case John. As you got older you got better. For some of the rest of us ....... well enough said.

Bill

[Larry in IN]

Thanks John,
I enjoy the humor in the signature lines, but there is a very real element of truth in many of them, including Bill's just above. Wish I'd thought of that