Show its always open season for corn jitters it seems the little lady is among the tall corn ita a field at long beach california a city which has a reputation for being a transplanted part of loica the tall corn is also midi vestern springing from lativa seed fm f 17 I 1 x 4 by PAUL T STURGIS released by western newspaper paper unton union I 1 dont know which is the hardest worrying about a corn crop or picking it if I 1 had my choice id take the picking every time if the corn crop fail at least four times every year there is something wrong out here in the corn belt four times is the least par although I 1 do know fellows who can figure out a crop failure any day of the year I 1 any figures to prove it but id make a bet theres more headaches caused from wording about the corn crop than there is about balancing the budget and the worrying can always start early starts in february take february for instance there is a good month for a failure A bunch has dropped into the harness shop to soak up a little heat outside the wind is moaning around in the bleak cornstalks corn stalks and the overshoe is in its prime seems like this cold is hanging on so somebody says with a doleful shake of his head dont believe the frost will get out of the ground in time to make ackop well the word gets around that the crop has failed the racket store man tells his wife it is going to be a hard summer and she better start doing her own washing the bank directors scrape the frost oft off the window and begin to wonder aft if they ought to rent the room for a beauty parlor and move down into the basement of course the cold breaks up in march and a few robins show up op the boys start flying kites and the tha drugstore puts on a one cent sale for a feeler they start staking out three new filling stations then comes a heavy snow and all is sunk again the corn sure wont make maka it now we got to get along with the old bus another year ali ah things look better april shows up things look better but all the time the wind keeps blowing first it just blows tumble weeds and garbage cans around and then it starts moving shed roofs and the soil itself A cloud of gloom settles down over everyone the drugstore cuts its order for ice cream cones in half and the hardware store doubles its order for rope it gets drier and drier everybody in town is out on the street wondering where all the farmers and ra rain in have gone to the wednesday evening bridge club meets and it is like a wake nobody brags about the oil burner or the trip to florida then the blues about this time it starts to rain rains ains for about a week the first few days there room in town to park a razor blade everybody is buying seed and wondering where they can get a vacant lot and plant a few spuds but as the rain keeps on worrying starts again and now they are wondering if it is ever going to quit raining long enough to get a crop in maybe they better plant water lilies and start a frog farm everybody has the blues corns sure to rot in the ground A bunch gathers in the street they talk about their operations or they got to have their teeth pulled and just been putting it off or other cheerful subjects like what is the country coming to anyway the sun comes through at last and everybody starts digging dandelions and getting into arguments with their wives about wallpaper the corn is up and the world is all right again but not for so long it starts to get cold and the thermometers get down in the thirties that means a may frost A catastrophe all the corn will have to be replanted and it will never mature dumps are ransacked for tin cans to set over the tomato plants something has to be saved more weather comes that night the sky clouds over and the frost is sidetracked the next day turns off warm by noon there Is is hardly a businessman in town they are all out in the country looking up and down the corn rows for prospects for selling everything from washing machines to side delivery rakes when the bad news leaks out the cutworms cut worms have sneaked up on the 1 corn and are laying it low anyway that is what the farmers tell them after that there is a period of cool damp weather interspersed with warm days whatever kind of weather is on hand something is suffering if it corn it is the politicians for the june primaries are not far off candidates dont kow whether to let their hair grow long and wear a black hat like a statesman or wear overalls and get the vote out on their milking records if crops look good the statesman pose is the best bit if it looks like the chinch bugs might be able to get in and do their dirty work look out |