Corn Borer D Question

John T

Well-known Member
A buddy is restoring a John Deere D "Corn Borer Special" and also has the McCormick Deering Stubble Beater (like a flail mower) used behind it. QUESTION IS does anyone have good reliable data or info on the correct original colors and decals etc used on that McCormick Stubble Beater ??? I'm posting this on JD and IHC Forums hoping someone has that info.

FYI
When the destructive European corn borer struck the corn belt in 1927, the USDA purchased 444 John Deere Model D tractors and 360 Fordson tractors to help power the departments campaign aimed at controlling the pest. Since the program mated these tractors to a McCormick Deering stubble beater, they were all equipped with a PTO shaft. In New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana for $1 an acre farmers could rent a tractor, plow and stubble beater to combat infestation of the corn borer by reducing or burying crop residue. The USDA ID numbers (this unit #783 of 804 total) were stenciled on each tractor

John T
 
Thanks Richard, I will let him know. He has the tractor like original and perfect with the Govt ID Number etc. but you don't see much info or good pictures on those McCormick Stubble Beaters. E Mail me a color picture of one of those stubble beaters from your vast archives ??????????? Yeah Right you say lol

John T
 
I looked here; http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/ihc/id/45438/rec/1 at the Wisconsin Museum, there are paint decisions for most IH machines, but I don't see a stubble beater, maybe some other name???
 
Thanks, the ONLY thing I've ever heard them called are "stubble beaters" (made by McCormick in the twenties and used in the USDA Corn Borer program) and he already has one but finding the correct paint scheme and colors is ???????????

John T
 
John, a government report that I came across called the implement a "stubble pulverizer." The report also mentioned the purchase of:Three hundred and sixty 9-18-horsepower tractors, pulling 1-18-inch plow; four hundred and forty 15-30-horsepower tractors and four hundred and forty 15-27-horsepower tractors, pulling 2 or 3 bottom 16-inch plow or stubble pulverizer

Four hundred and fifty 18-inch plows (single bottom), and, three hundred and twenty four 16-inch plows (3 bottom), especially adaptable for turning under completely stalks left standing. Gang plows used in the large areas.

Eight hundred stubble pulverizers (machines having revolving blades especially constructed to the destruction of corn stubble up to 10 inches high).
Reference site
 
(quoted from post at 11:02:56 04/27/17) Thanks Richard, I will let him know. He has the tractor like original and perfect with the Govt ID Number etc. but you don't see much info or good pictures on those McCormick Stubble Beaters. E Mail me a color picture of one of those stubble beaters from your vast archives ??????????? Yeah Right you say lol

John T

I'm afraid color photos from the 1920s are few and far between. I posted a photo of a D and stubble beater on the Mr. Thinker Facebook page.
Looks like white wheels and the cover over the beaters are white or perhaps galvanized. The rest of it looks quite dark compared to the green of the tractor. Didn't IH use a dark blue on a lot of its implements and tractors back then?
 

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