Corn Picking with Confidence

This is a 1949, Bick Farm Equipment Co. Calendar picture. It was among the "treasures" that was saved by Elaine's folks and Dale brought it out to us recently. My family had Oliver's and Virgil Bick was "our dealer". My brother "Don" had a 77 like the one pictured that he bought new from Bicks. What really fascinated me in the picture was a reminder of the mechanism involved in getting the wagon hooked up to the corn picker. While I was still at home, we had a very similar set-up except I pulled it with a Model A John Deere.  We lived in "the Hills" and maneuvering the rig across gullies, up and down hills, was a challenge. It was always necessary to turn to the right because of the wagon not turning very short. I distinctly remember one day when the field I was working in presented some special challenges. I got the rig turned into the standing rows and just stopped for a minute to take a deep breath and question whether I was up to the challenge. I decided that since I was the one that planted the corn, I had cultivated it and there was no one more capable than me of meeting the challenge. (At that time my Dad  did very little with the tractor since he still used horses for some of the farming.)  I went on with confidence and had the wagon full when Dad got out with a team of horses and an empty wagon. When I became Director of Personnel for SCS in USDA, I had more than one opportunity to tell this story. When a new State Conservationist was selected, they were brought in to D.C. and taken up to meet key members of Congress with whom they would be having contact. They would usually come to visit with me after the hill visit. It wasn't unusual for them to question what they were getting in to and whether they were capable of doing the very demanding job. They understood my analogy, and I was able to give them the confidence they needed since no one was more capable of doing the job than they were.