SuperEx Heritage Corn Exhibit

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SuperEx’s Aberdeen Pavilion featured a heritage display on the history of corn, a popular crop among the farms of Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec for more almost two centuries.

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President Jeff Cronin introducted the SuperEx Heritage Corn Exhibit at the RTHS October 2006 meeting.

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Since the year 2000, representatives from the Rideau Township Historical Society have worked with the Central Canada Exhibition Association, Agricultural Division, to develop the heritage program.

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The homestead served as a ‘corn store’ this year, which included some of the 2500 corn by-products in use today, as well historic corn harvesting tools from a private collection.

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The homestead served as a ‘corn store’ this year, which included some of the 2500 corn by-products in use today, as well historic corn harvesting tools from a private collection.

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Coral Lindsay, cofounder of the Rideau Township Historical Society, was on hand daily to present research, explain artifacts and answer questions from from fair growers.

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University students and graduates represented the province’s farm animal council which advises on animal rights and protective measures.

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Producers of pork and poultry were well represented as their commodities rely heavily on corn as a key dietary component.

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\Dalton and Joy Hodgins of Shawville provided the hand-operated corn silage cutter which dates to about 1890.

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Urbanites, rural residents, and tourists (even a Mayan descendant) came through the corn display over SuperEx’s ten days.

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80,000 years ago corn was growing in Ancient Mesoamerica, now known as Central America, and its cultivation began 8,000 ago as Mayan ancestors migrated to the area.

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This modern central American valley is plentiful with cornstalks and reminiscent of the primitive farming techniques applied by the region’s first known human inhabitants.

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These 20th dolls are of aboriginal women who grew corns, beans and squash together and collectively called them ‘The Three Sisters’, a descriptor which applies to this day.

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This newspaper article illustrates corn harvesting techniques along with the history of an Eastern Ontario indian village once located by the Roebuck near Spencerville.

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These fossilized corn cobs show how much smaller ancient corn was than modern varieties, plus a typical woodchuck skin bag for storage and transport of corn seeds.

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Unknown to many Canadian consumers, modern recipes often are derived from the original native uses of corn meal.

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The first corn mill in the province was built by pioneers for the aboriginal people in Coldwater in 1833.

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This corn silage cutter was manufactured by the Moodie Brothers of Terrebonne, Quebec, over one hundred years ago.

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Corn cutting was hard work as stooks were brought into barns, sometimes in a frozen state, cranked through the silage cutter by hand, and fed directly to the livestalk in their mangers.

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Silage cutters pre-dated the use of silos and using them to prepare livestock meal was often the job of junior members of the family.

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The picture on the right shows a stook being bound in the cornfield; on the left a farmer demonstrates a nineteenth century cob husking machine.

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Evening ‘husking bees’ were a chance to socialize while husking con cobs by hand.

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Corn became a more viable crop for the Canadian climate once new strains were developed to suit our shorter growing season.

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Companies emerged to offer corn cutting and crushing to farmers who could not afford their own equipment.

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Salesmen from feed and seed companies, such Spratt & Richie on York Street in Ottawa, travelled throughout the region selling corn and other grain seeds and processed feed to area farmers.

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The Corn Store homestead at the 2006 SuperEx contained products derived from corn, such as corn syrups, cereals, body care products and more.

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Many of the young visitors to the Corn Store were surprised to discover corn is an ingredient in such diverse products as toothpaste, talcum powder, and engine fuel.

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Enamel on spark plugs, garbage bags, detergents, bird seed, glue and crayons are only a few of the 2500 consumer items that include corn as an ingredient.

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The common practice of feeding corn syrup to infants and young children gained great popularity once it became associated with Dionne Quintuplets born May 28th, 1934, and led to a court between Canada’s two largest manufacturers.

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The world famous quintuplets of Callendar, Ontario, were used to sponsor an American corn syrup supplier, Karol brand, while Canadian manufacturers fought each other in court over the disputed marketing rights.

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These two popular brands were manufactured by the St. Lawrence Starch company of Port Credit, Ontario.

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William Kellogg, an early inventor of processed grain products, created corn flakes in 1895 as a novel breakfast cereal.

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Other cereal leveraged the popularity of Kellogg’s products to market similar cereals, but Kellogg’s Corn Flakes remain the most popular to this day.

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At the turn of the 19th century, Korn Kinks were manufactured in Hamilton, Ontario, while advertising its rejuvenating affects for hard working Canadians.

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Many corn by-products were wrapped in the British flag to inspire product confidence with consumers through the Empire.

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The mainstay of baby care, talcum powder, has used corn starch as its base for more than one hundred years.

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Packing ‘peanuts’ made from corn starch base are biodegradable. Newer applications include golf tees.

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The woman in this 1940s magazine ad had ‘nothing to live for’ since she failed to use Lifebouy soap made with corn oil and starch.

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Ethanol can be made from a variety of grains, though corn remains the most affordable.

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Candy and pop manufacturers rely on corn syrup to safely and inexpensively sweeten their products.

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Pioneer children made their own checkers from corn cobs, and were wise to store them in mouse-proof containers.

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August is the month of corn roasts, corn boils, roadside stands, and corn-on-the-cob much to the delight of young and old.

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SuperEx hosted the corn display in 2006 thanks in part to Agriculture Adaptation Council and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.