"How green is corn/rye in June?" Topic

Thinking of Quatre Bras, of course…

I get the impression that the fields would be quite green in colour.

Corn fields are pretty green most of the time that they are growing. They don't really turn brown until the fall.

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Rye field in june:

Yeah, I googled them as well. When does that yellow bit at the top of the corn come on, I wonder. (I grew up living behind a farm but never paid any attention to the crops!)

I found some artificial grass mats (12" x 12") and am wondering if it would be suitable…

If you're talking about the tassel

then it depends on the type of corn. Sweet corn matures earlier than corns grown for grinding, feed, popcorn, etc. A good rule of thumb for the latter types is 100 days to maturity, with tassels appearing within two months of planting.

So now you just have to figure out when those Belgian farmers did their planting in the Spring of 1815. Edit: They wouldn't have been growing sweet corn!

I have been to the field of Waterloo in June and the corn was green as in Pictor's picture. It was not as high as the accounts of 1815 suggest and may have been planted later in the year.

"Corn" isn't sweetcorn in Europe – it's wheat.

Artilleryman, it is also possible it was a different strain of corn. Modern varieties of several crops do not tend to grow as tall.

Google the "Corn Laws of 1815"

According to the link below, all kinds of grain were referred to as "corn."

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According to this link below, "corn" in England meant "wheat." In Scotland "corn" meant "oats."

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In regards to Rye: Rye grows well in much poorer soils than those necessary for most cereal grains. Thus, it is an especially valuable crop in regions where the soil has sand or peat. Rye plants withstand cold better than other small grains do. Rye will survive with snow cover that would otherwise result in winter-kill for winter wheat. Most farmers grow winter ryes, which are planted and begin to grow in autumn. In spring, the plants develop and produce their crop.[5] Fall planted rye shows fast growth. By the summer solstice plants reach their maximum height, of about a 120 cm (4 ft) while spring planted wheat has only recently germinated. Vigorous growth suppresses even the most noxious weed competitors, and rye can be grown without application of herbicides.

Winter wheat also matures in June/July depending on where you are and when it was put in the field (September-December). Winter wheat was brought to the US in the 19th century from Europe, so it was common there……

Re height of 'corn': current varieties are rather shorter than those of 200 years ago. Taller varieties yield more straw (valuable in the 19th Century, not so much now) but are more liable to weather damage. I'd presume taller varieties may need a longer growing season too.

Two Lancers de Berg make their way between fields of corn (or rye.)

12" x 12" squares of "artificial grass" from local Dollarama. Cost $2 USD each.

There's a new-ish, very, very cheap scenery company called Wee-Scapes out here on the west coast that makes corn stocks that would probably work for 10 or 15mm. If you're in the market you might check them out. They're a lot cheaper than Woodland scenics (like half the price).

Fascinating and a subject I have researched for ages. We have here a problem with nomenclature. John Tyson beat me to it, but is totally right. Corn means something different on either side of the Atlantic and either side of a 200 year gap.

Siborne was sad enough to work out how the field of Waterloo (Mt St J, La Belle All, whatever) was covered. Good evidence for clover, grass, woods, wheat and corn.

Corn as Europeans understand it is what Altfritz's lancers are passing through or Enfant Perdu shows in those nice diagrams. Tall stems with leaves passing off the side, top to bottom, stays green till harvested. In UK it is called Maize and is solely for cattle feed. It still grows all over the battlefield and God help you trying to walk through it. It is still six foot tall with thick stems and a hell of an obstacle. In deference to Belgian farmers I have not tried it, but you could only get though it with great effort in flattening each plant. It is like a massive hedge!

Wheat is like tall grass and totally different. A stem with a fluffy bit on the top. Even if still called "corn". It also grows all over Belgium but is now about 3-4 foot tall. Green in June but beautifully yellow in July (only times I have ever managed to get there). Blocks your view, but no obstacle worth mentioning.

Altfritz's guys are perfect for a "corn" (sorry Maize) field in 1815. Pictors Studios picture is great for colour of a wheat (sorry, corn) field in June 1815 in Northern Europe (but needs to be much taller for non GM stuff back then).

I have to thank several North Yorkshire farmers for their advice on what I had brought back from two trips across the channel. None agreed on what any of my specimens were called..wheat, corn, maize, rye, grass etc…but I think I have got it right in the end.

Flowers. Poppies grow (as is so iconic) in Belgium/Flanders fields and are plentiful in June and look great in any base

An afterthought….do not try to model it. In 28mm anyway it simply does not work. That's not true, if you really work at it you can show a column of French Infantrymen trying to get through a cornfield (Maize, the tall green leafy stuff) or a squadron of Chass a Chev of the Garde in a wheatfield which is over six feet tall. I have done the latter, I worked for weeks on it………..all are agreed it was not worth it. Very clever modelling, but spoilt the figures!