Walking Cane Garden Planter

Walking cane garden planter PLANTERS Planters 17-3-21 "I never have to bend over when planting garden seeds or seed corn test plots. I've used it for years," says Merle Bowers, Oreana, Ill., about his "walking cane" seed planter. Bowers, a retired farmer, says he's able to plant big plots of corn and other vegetables each year thanks to the ease with which he can put the seed in the ground. In fact, for the past couple years he's used it to create a profitable business putting in test plots for seed corn companies. After seeing a corn variety test plot in 1990, he sent letters to seed corn companies and talked to dealers to see if he could hire out a test plot of his own. The first year he signed up 30 companies. T ast year,. he signed up 37 seed companies and tested 104 varieties on an 85 by 190-ft. plot. All corn was planted and harvested by hand and he used horse manure from a local stable for fertilizer. All weeds were pulled by hand. At harvest, he weighed each ear on a kitchen scale and saved the four best ears from each variety and a jar of seed. He then typed up all test results. This winter Bowers took his results to farm shows and sold them to seed company representatives (you can get a copy of the 1992 test results by writing Bowers). Bowers also plants a 65 by 180-ft. plot of popcorn as well as a sizable garden. His walking cane planter consists of a long hollow tube with a curved upper end that serves as a handle. The bottom end of the tube rides between two in-line, 1-in. dia. rubber wheels. An aluminum ice cube tray is bolted to the upper end. Bowers drill a hole in the bottom of the tray to feed seed into a plastic funnel that empties into a hole drilled into the top side of the long seed tube. He pours seed into the tray and pushes them down the hole as he walks along the row. "First I make a row with a V-hoe and then I run the planter down the furrow. With beans and peas, I just fill the tray with enough seeds for a row and use them all up going down and back. With corn and other seeds that I plant in hills, I just push in so many seeds per hill. I marked the rear wheel with yellow tape and put in sheet metal screws on each side of the wheel that make a noise when they hit the brace bar each time they come up. That helps space the hills," says Bowers. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Merle Bowers, Rt. 1, Box 261, Oreana, Ill. 62554 (ph 217 877-9406).

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