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Show It's Its ' ' Alvlays Always Open Season SeasonF Seasonor SeasonFor F For or Corn Ii Jitters tters , It Seems SeemsThe The little lady IS atnong a song the ' \ \ ' " ' " tall tallcom tallcorn com corn 111 in a r rell fell fellat ell ellat at Long LongBeach LongI I 1 1K K " , y Beach Calzforllla California a cIty cItyttlllch cityuliich ttlllch uliich uliichhas has jtrarnplanted a reputatIOn for berng being bernga beinga beinga a a / j trarnplanted transplanted part of 10 lotta Ita The Thetall } , tall tallcorn corn IS also 1I11dltestern nudtiestern + t tspringing 1 1spnngrng spnngrng springing from 10lta Iowa seed seedsty sty r rcr cr-- cr crI - - - ' - \ I ' tj j t , t tS S It ItJ d tld , tl s J 6 6s sk a at ' t d ! p'7 p7 p'7s p'7as ' + + 1 s as wa tt ttw tt2) w i z wz f fa a " , /2) 2) 2 / w ) w By PAUL T STURGISReleased STURGISReleased STUKGIS STURGIS STUKGISReleased ( Released by Western Newspaper Union ) I don t know wh ch is the hardest hardestworrymg hardestworrying hardestworrying worrymg worrying about a corn crop or p ck ckmg ckmg cking mg it 1t If I had my choice I d take takethe takethe takethe the p ckmg eking every bmeIf timeIf time bme timeIf If the corn com crop doesn t fail fall at atleast atleast atleast least tour four t mcs mes every year there IS ISsometillng issomething issomething sometillng something wrong out here m in the theCorn theCorn theCorn Corn Belt Four times bmes is the least leastThat leastThat leastThat That spar s par Although Allhough I do know fel fellows fellows fellows lows who can figure out a crop fall fail fallure failure failure ure any day of the year yearI I haven t any figures to prove It it itbut , , but I d make a bet there s more head headaches headaches headaches aches caused from worrying worrymg about aboutthe aboutthe aboutthe the corn crop than there is about aboutbalancillg aboutbalancing aboutbalancing balancillg balancing the budget And the war wor warrymg worrying worrymg rymg rying can always start early earlyStarts earlyStarts earlyStarts Starts in FebruaryTake FebruaryTake February FebruaryTake Take February for instance mstance There Thereis IS a good month tor for a failure fallure A Abunch Abunch Abunch bunch has dropped into mto the harness harnessshop harnessshop harnessshop shop to soak up a little I1ttle heat Out Outs s de theI the w \I I a \ nd is moan ng around ill m illthe mthe inthe the bleak cornstalks and the over overshoe overshoe overshoe shoe is m ill in its prime pnme Seems like liketh liketh liketh th s cold is hanging hangmg on somebody somebodysays somebodysays somebodysays says with a doleful shake of his hishead hishead hishead head Don t bel ve ye the frost will willget willget willget get out of the ground in 1D time bme to tomake tomake tomake make a cropWell cropWell crop cropWell Well the word gets around that the thecrop thecrop thecrop crop has failed The racket store storeman storeman storeman man tells tclls h s w fe it is going gomg to be a hard summer and she better betterstart betterstart betterstart start do ng her own washing washmg The Thebank Thebank Thebank bank d rectors scrape the frost off offthe offthe offthe the window willdow and begin to wonder If Ifthey ifthey itthey they ought to rent the room for a abeauty abeauty abeauty beauty parlor and move down mto into mtothe intothe intothe the basement basementOf Of course the cold breaks up ill in inMarch illMarch inMarch March and a te fe v robins robms show up upThe upThe upThe The boys start flying flYillg kites and the thedrugstore thedrugstore thedrugstore drugstore puts on a one cent sale salefor salefor salefor for a feeler They start staking out outthree outthree outthree three new filling stat ons Then Thencomes Thencomes Thencomes comes a heavy sno v and aUIS allis all aU is sunk sunkagam sunkagain sunkagain agam again The corn com sure won t make makeit It now We got to get along With Withthe withthe withthe the old bus another yearAh year yearAh Ah Things Thmgs Look BetterApril Better BetterApril April Apnl shows up Th ngs look bet better better better ter But all the t me the wind wmd keeps keepsblo keepsblo keepsblo blo ving vmg First it Just ] ust b\ov b ov blow blo \ ' , s stumble tumble stumbleweeds tumbleweeds tumbleweeds weeds and garbage cans around aroundand aroundand aroundand and then it starts moving movmg shed roofs roofsand roofsand . and the soil itself A cloud of gloom gloomsettles gloomsettles gloomsettles settles down dotty over everyone The Thedrugstore Thedrugstore Thedrugstore drugstore cuts its order for Ice Icecream icecream icecream cream cones in m half and the hald hard haldware hardware haidware ware store doubles its order for forrope forrope forrope forropeIt rope ropeIt It gets drier and drier Every Everybody Everybody Everybody body in m town is out on the street streetwondermg streetwondering streetwondering wondermg wondering where all the farmers and andra andra andra ra n have gone to The Wednesday Wednesdayevenmg Wednesdayevening Wednesdayevening evenmg evening bridge club meets and it IS islke is1 1 lke ke a wake Nobody brags about aboutthe aboutthe aboutthe the o a 1 burner or the tr p to Florida FloridaThen FloridaThen Then the BluesAbout Blues BluesAbout About this time tlffie it starts to ram rain ramRa rainRa ramRa Ra ns for about a week The first firstfew firstfew firstfew few days there isn t room in ill town to topark topark topark park a razor blade Everybody IS ISbuymg isbuying isbuying buymg buying seed and ' wondering ondermg .here here where wherethey . wherethey .herethey they can get a vacant lot and plant planta a few spuds But as the rain ram keeps keepson on worry ng starts agam again and no v vthey vthey vthey they are wonder ng it If it is ever go gomg going going mg ing to quit raining rammg long enough to toget toget toget get a crop in m Maybe they better betterplant betterplant betterplant plant water 11 es and start a frog frogfarm frogfarm frogfarm frogfarmEverybody farm farmEverybody Everybody has the tbe blues Corn s ssure ssure ssure sure to rot in m the ground A bunch bunchgathers bunchgathers bunchgathers gathers in m the street . . They talk talkabout talkabout talkabout about the r opcrat operat ons or they got gotto gotto gotto to have their teeth pulled and andthey andthey andthey they ve ye just lust been putting puttmg it off or orother orother orother other cheerful subjects 1 ke What WhatIS Whatis IS the country coming commg to anyway anyway7 anyway7The ? The sun comes through at last lastand lastand lastand and everybody starts d gg ng dande dandehons dandelions dandelions hons lions and getting gettmg into mto arguments argumentswith argumentswith argumentswith with their wives about wallpaper wallpaperThe wallpaperThe wallpaperThe The corn com is up and the world is all allnght allright allright nght right agam again But not for so long It starts to toget toget toget get cold and the thermometers get getdown getdown getdown down m ill in the thirties That means a aMay aMay aMay May frost A catastrophe All the thecorn thecorn thecorn corn will have to be replanted and andIt andit andit It will wllJ never mature Dumps are areransacked areransacked areransacked ransacked for tin tm cans to set over overthe overthe overthe the tomato plants Something Somcthmg has hasto hasto hasto to be saved savedMore More l\Iore l Iore \ Weather ComesThat Comes ComesThat That night mght the sky clouds over and andthe andthe andthe the frost isi IS s detracked The next nextday nextday nextday day turns oft off warm By noon there thereis IS hardly a bl bt businessman SJlessman slnessman } in m town townThey townThey townThey They are all out in m the country look looking looking looking ing up and down the corn rows for forprospccts forprospects forprospects prospccts prospects for sellmg selling everythmg everything everythmgfrom everythingfrom everythingfrom from washing washmg mach ncs nes to side de dehvery delivery delivery hvery livery rakes That s when the bad badnews badnews badnews news leaks outThe outThe out outThe The cutworms have sneaked up on onthe onthe onthe the corn and are laying laymg it low Any Anyway Anyway Anyway way that is what the farmers tell tellthem tellthem tellthem tellthemAfter them themAfter After that there is a period of ofcool ofcool ofcool cool damp weather mterspersed interspersed mterspersedWith interspersedwith interspersedwith With warm days Whatever kind kmd of ofeather ofweather ofweather \\eather eather weather \ is on hand something somethmg is issuffermg Issuffering issuffering suffermg suffering It If it isn t corn it is the thepobt thepolit thepolit pobt polit clans for the June primaries primariesare are not tar far off Cand dates don t tknow tknow tknow know whether to let their t11elr hair grow growlong growlong growlong long and wear a black hat like a astatesman astatesman astatesman statesman or wear overalls overdlls and get getthe getthe getthe the vote out on their milking mllkmg rcc rccords rccords rccords ords If crops look good gaol ! the states statesman statesroan statesman man roan pose is the best But if it looks lookslike looks1 . like 1 ke the ch nch bugs might be able ableto ableto to get gct ,11 11 m ] , in and do their dirty work worklook worklook look out |