What do you suppose the original cemony of lottery was like?

Because Mr. Summers is presented in jeans and a white
shirt and I know a little about the author, I place this story in my brain about early
to mid 1900s. It seems by the intermittent comments of Old Man Warner that he has
experienced the lottery as far as he can remember. He is presented as in his
70s.

This edict "lottery in June, corn be heavy soon"
demonstrates that this likely began when people felt like a human sacrifice to the gods
or to God was necessary to receive the blessing of a good corn crop. This could have
been a Puritan or Pilgrim era idea.

Obviously by the early
1900s farmers began to know through science a thing or two about watering and
fertilization. So, it is a wonder that the group hadn't yet realized that their idea
about their crop had come and gone.