Singing to the Corn

Singing to the Corn Sometimes farmers in a dry year instead of using hoe or plow which opened up the soil and let the damp escape, would simply cut or pull the weeds and sing to rows of thirsty stalks. But corn loves rain, loves rainy weather and wet soil, prefers the river bank and branch and creek and edge of maple swamp. Corn sends its roots down to subsoil to search for salts and minerals, and sips and sucks the water table to fuel its long lush leaves and spurts of jointed growth. But seasons when the rain would never come they found that music helped to cool the field in boiling noon and fatten seeds on milky cobs as sweet as cream or curds of sun, as if the song drew moisture from the air like dew to quench and flush the wilting leaves, and pulled grease from the shining dirt to plump the kernels tight as berries. And singing soothed, inspired the hands who labored on the baked, sharp clods and sang for rain and harvest yield and, joking, said the ears were thrilled. —Robert Morgan 51 ...