So in the days before corn pickers, corn was cut, stacked in shocks, brought back to the farmstead on hayracks, then stacked. As it was needed for feed, the ears were shucked out, and the stalks were chopped up and fed to the livestock. This improved life by cutting the stalks off, notice the edges on either side of the seat area. These look like saw blades, which they were, cut the corn off at ground level, 2 rows at a time! Previously it was cut by someones strong arm wielding a corn knife, aka machete. Looks like it was pulled by a single horse which was hitched to the yellow clevis on the single front wheel. Woiuld not have been a smooth ride, but sure eliminated a lot of walking. Corn was planted in one size rows back then, 42 inches, which was the width needed for a horse to walk through. I doubt many of these survived, very neat. If I remember correctly, Dain also made a corn sheller, and the company was later bought out by John Deere? A big farm tool, labor saving.
