Crops Grown in 1920s Nebraska
Native Americans were the first to grow corn, also known as maize. When
European settlers came to America, Native Americans taught them how to cultivate corn for themselves. Today corn is the biggest U.S. crop today
and was the most widely planted crop in the
1920s. Corn grows
on a mostly
hollow stem to be an average of eight feet tall. Plants have long, narrow leaves. The "flower" (or tassel) is a spike with many pollen producing flowerlets. The ear has many kernels
(seeds) attached to a hard cob wrapped in thin leaves (husks).
Corn is planted in the spring and harvested in the fall.
In the 1920s, corn was usually picked by hand and could
be sold as a cash crop or used as animal feed.
Wheat has been cultivated since prehistoric times. Today,
there are many varieties bred to grow in different climate
conditions. Wheat grains are tightly enclosed in tiny scale-like
leaves and form a head. Depending on the variety, wheat can
be planted in the spring for summer harvest or in the fall
for harvest in the spring or early summer. The latter is known
as "winter wheat." Most of the wheat planted in
Nebraska are winter wheat varieties harvested in the spring
or early summer.
Oats are used primarily to feed cattle and horses. Seeds
are wrapped in an indigestible hull. Plants can also be cut
for hay; the straw (stalk) is good for livestock bedding.
Oats are sown in the spring and harvested in mid- to late-summer.
Barley is one of the world's most ancient cultivated
plants and is drought resistant. Barley grain, hay, straw,
and byproducts are used for animal feed. Barley is sown in
the spring for summer harvest.
Millet is a very small seeded grain that contains more protein
than rice and will grow in poor soil. Millet is sown in the
spring and has a short growing season.
Milo/sorghum bears seeds on large heads and is drought tolerant.
It is used for animal feed and stalks were often used to make
Written by Claudia Reinhardt.