Here’s a story of the joy a farmer had when he got a new corn picker after World War II… and of where the few bucks to pay for it were hidden.

And this is his corn-picker, a rust-colored contraption of belts and chains and gears and conveyors that revolutionized farming when Magee was a boy. He grew up picking corn by hand.

Sweet corn, a summertime staple of New England clambakes and backyard barbecues, is piling up at local farm stands.

A good picker - also known as a husker, shucker or even jerker - could work two or three rows simultaneously, snapping the ears off the stalks, removing the husks, and bouncing the now-cleaned ...

Don Magee, who farms southeast of Lincoln, found and has restored a 1940s single-row corn picker. He tried it out in front of his neighbors Monday afternoon.

Combines, an even more intricate harvester that also shelled corn, would soon replace pickers. Husking competitions are still held today, though they no longer attract crowds in the tens of thousands.