Making the Farm Pay

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Monday, September 29, 1913:

9/29 – 30: These days have come and gone. They ground me working on my job.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma must have been too tired to write anything a hundred years ago today (and tomorrow). She was spending long days out in the field harvesting corn—but past entries have indicated that she was pleased to be making some money:

I’m on duty now out in the corn field. The beginning took place this afternoon. Somehow or other I imaged I would accomplish more than what I did. This is an opportunity to earn some money of which I always seem in need.

September 25, 1913

I assume that Grandma was working for her father—and that he was paying her. She was happy about the money; but was her father happy or worried about the profitability of the farm?

Did he worry about rainy weather that might prevent completion of the harvest before the snow flew? . . . or low market prices that would prevent him from recouping the cost of growing the crop?

Maybe he read a 1913 book called Making the Farm Pay by C.C. Bowsfield. Here’s an abridged version of what the first page said:

The average land owner has a great deal of practical knowledge, and yet is deficient in some of the most salient requirements. He may know how to produce a good crop and not know how to sell it to the best advantage.

Worse than this, he may follow a method which turns agricultural work into drudgery, and his sons and daughters forsake the farm home as soon as they are old enough to assert a little independence. The farmers are deprived on the earnest, intelligent help which naturally belongs to them, rural society loses one of its best elements, the cities are overcrowded and all parties at interest are losers.

—

You may also enjoy reading (or rereading) a previous post that I did on the Country Life Commission. A hundred years ago the federal government sought to make farming more profitable, and to make farm life more appealing for young people, by appointing the Country Life Commission.

1913 Publisher’s Weekly Bestsellers

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Sunday, September 28, 1913: Went to Sunday School this morning. Most of the people went away this morning leaving Ma and me at home. I got pretty lonesome for awhile, but afterwards got company.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

I suppose Grandma and her mother had to stay home to feed the livestock and milk the cows. Where did everyone else go?

Before the company came, what did Grandma do? Maybe she read a book. When I’m lonely I often read books.

A few weeks ago, I gave you a list of 1913 books that are still popular according to Goodreads.

I’ve found another list of books—the Publishers Weekly list of 1913 bestselling novels.

The lists are very different—many of the 1913 bestsellers were written by authors I’ve never heard of –and many of the books that stood the test of time were sleepers a hundred years ago.

Bestselling Novels in 1913

1. The Inside of the Cup by Winston Churchill

2. V.V.’s Eyes by Henry Sydnor Harrison

3. Laddie by Gene Stratton Porter

4. The Judgment House by Gilbert Parker

5. Heart of the Hills by John Fox, Jr.

6. The Amateur Gentleman by Jeffrey Farnol

7. The Woman Thou Gavest Me by Hall Caine

8. Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter

9. The Valiants of Virginia by Hallie Erminie Rives

10. T. Tembarom by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Hmm. . . I read Pollyanna when I was a child. I think that it’s the only book of this list that I’ve ever heard of. I wonder if people still read it.

I googled The Inside of the Cup by Winston Churchill, and discovered that there were two Winston Churchill’s—the British statesmen and the American novelist who wrote this book.

What Did 18-year-old Girls Think About a Hundred Years Ago?

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Saturday, September 27, 1913: Ditto

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

The previous day Grandma wrote that she was “still pegging away.” In order words, she was using a husking peg to remove the husks from corn as it was being harvested.

Click here to see an awesome YouTube video of people husking corn the old-fashioned way at the 2009 Nebraska State Hand Corn Huskers competition.

Husking corn sounds like a mindless, repetitive task. I bet that Grandma’s mind wandered while she pegged away.

What was Grandma thinking? . . . hmm, what did I think about when I was 18? . . . guys? . . . my friends?. . . chores? . . . nice things someone said about me? . . . not so nice things that others might be whispering about me? . . . books I was reading? . . . the future? . . .

Corn Husking Pegs

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, September 26, 1913: Still pegging away.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

The previous day Grandma wrote that she was “on duty out in the corn field.” This diary entry makes it clearer how she was helping with the corn harvest.

Grandma was using a corn husking peg, and “pegging away” at husking corn.

After the corn ears were broken off the stalks, they were husked by hand using a husking peg.

Lehman’s still sells Finger-loop Corn Husking Pegs. According to their website:

To use, slip over first three fingers, push peg under husk, grab with thumb and pull.

On Duty in the Corn Field

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Thursday, September 25, 1913: Went to Watsontown this morning. I’m on duty now out in the corn field. The beginning took place this afternoon. Somehow or other I imaged I would accomplish more than what I did. This is an opportunity to earn some money of which I always seem in need.

Last year on the farm where Grandma grew up, there was corn in the field right next to the barn. Was Grandma working in the same field a hundred years ago today?

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma, I’m glad you’re earning some money, but exactly what are you doing in the corn field? It’s the right season to harvest corn, so I suppose that you are somehow helping with it.

Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Wednesday, September 24, 1913: Nothing much continues.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma, I know that you were writing the diary for yourself . . .and that nothing much happened, AGAIN.

But for those of us glancing over your shoulder a hundred years later we care about even the little things like, what did you eat for dinner?

It’s getting to be Fall, maybe you ate winter squash from the garden. . . . and if it was a small squash perhaps it was stuffed with meat, vegetables, and cheese.

—

Here’s a recipe I often use to stuff acorn squash. It’s not an authentic hundred-year-old recipe—they definitely wouldn’t have had sliced American cheese back then—but I like it and it gives a sense of how people used miscellaneous fall vegetables and other common ingredients to stuff squash.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Delicata or other small winter squash can be substituted for the acorn squash.

1 acorn squash

1/4 pound ground beef

1/2 cup celery

1/4 cup onion

3 slices American cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

butter

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Halve and seed squash. Place cut side down in shallow baking pan; pour approximately 1/2 inch very warm water in pan around squash. Bake until tender—about 1 1/4 hours.*

About 10-15 minutes before the squash has completed cooking, brown ground beef in skillet. Add celery and onion; cook until tender. Add cheeses and stir constantly just until cheese melts. Turn squash up on serving dish; dot with butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then fill cavity with meat mixture.

*Or squash can be microwaved until tender—about 15 minutes.

Yield: 2 servings

1913 Nestle’s Food (Baby Formula) Advertisement

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, September 23, 1913: Don’t know how to express myself.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’m going to share an advertisement for a baby formula, Nestle’s Food, that appeared in the October, 1913 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

A few days ago I did a post that showed several pictures of the “right” and “wrong” way raise a baby. Readers’ comments about that post led me to do this post. It contained pictures from the October, 1913 issues of Ladies Home Journal where both the “right” and the “wrong” way showed the baby drinking from a bottle. Several people commented that it was interesting that breastfeeding wasn’t mentioned.

After reading the comments I looked at the magazine again–and I discovered that this ad was positioned right next to the picture article about the right and wrong ways to raise a baby.

Maybe I’m in a cynical mood today, but somehow it feels like the magazine was trying to please the advertiser, and that the advertisement drove the content.