17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, July 21, 1912: Went to Sunday School this morning. Had to go through the mud coming homeward. Hence it rained today. Went over to see Miss Caroline May, though it rained, for it won’t hurt me.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma saw rain and mud. . . Did her father give a sigh of relief and see more corn? (Somehow this brings to mind that crazy country song about rain making corn.)
Farmers worry about the weather–too much rain (not good) . . . too little rain (not good).
This year so many farmers are worried about a drought and the possible failure of their corn crop. Did Grandma’s father have similar worries a hundred years ago?
To get lots of corn in the fall it is vital that the corn plants get enough water in July when the corn is tasseling, and the ears are beginning to form.
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Miss Caroline refers to Grandma’s friend Carrie Stout. Carrie lived on a nearby farm.
A Hundred Years Ago 
Hi. I often say, the rain won’t shrink me! Again, I am amazed at the personality that shines through in your grandmother’s words. Jane
RAIN…that welcomed or unwelcomed sight. A former Nebraska farm girl and now at the age of 89, my mother-in-law still talks more about the weather and the corn crop than anything else.
Your post reminds me of my teenage summers spent detassling corn–it was so hot out there – but made a lot of good summer friends.
I had never heard of detasseling so I Googled it and learned all about it. And I would never have known this if not for you!
Glad to see your grandmother was so stoic about the rain and mud. I guess she was going to get out of the house for a bit no matter what the weather!
Now to go see what detasseling is. My uncle used to say “knee high by the 4th of July” which my Michigan grarden corn never was. He said it only counted for field corn but I used to get my children or grandchildren to stand out there with their short selves and get photos of my very short corn reaching their knees.
I really worry about the draught condititions we are experiencing globally. In Edmonton, we’ve been lucky to get a lot of moisture in June & July even though there was very very little snow last year and it was super mild. This site indicates that 2005 was the warmest year on record (globally) in the 1200 years of Earths history. I don’t know if it’s good to become knowledgable or if it just makes me more nervous, but it’s interesting information, here’s the link
http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7x.html