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| Bag One: DAAHA Original Collection |
Since its beginning in 1936, the DeKalb seed bag has been evolving. Often overlooked, the seed bag is a combination of utility and art for each product. Since corn is one of the widely grown crops in America and in the northern Illinois region, this Artifact of the Month will examine the changes in the corn seed bag.
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| Bag Two: Donation from Charles Lindhart |
One of the first things to look at when determining the differences between the each corn seed bag is the design of the bag itself. If one looks closely at bag one (shown above), the catch phrase in the center box states “The Corn the Farmers Like.” This may not mean a lot to an average person; however, this phrase was used before the commonly known slogan “More farmers plant DEKALB than any other brand” as can be seen on bag two (shown on the left). What this tells us is that the date on bag one is around 1940-1943, while the date on bag two is after 1944.
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| Bag Three: Donation from David Smith |
Another factor with dating the bag is whether it is made from cloth or paper. Both bags one and two are made from cloth, whereas bag three, shown on the right, is the new paper material. But why does this matter? As seed technology improved, so did seed bag technology. Newer seeds had chemical treatments that could leak into the cloth bags. Paper bags have four layers – paper, brown kraft paper, plastic, and brown kraft paper – each layer helps to control the chemical seed treatment so that it does not leak through.
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| Bag Four: Donation from David Smith |
