USA > Iowa > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, and its townships, cities and villages from 1836 to 1882 > Part 42
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The committee on exhibition, appointed by the Association, is composed of Messrs. H. W. Lathrop, Z. C. Luse, and Col. E. W. Lucas.
356
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
IOWA CITY HORSE MARKET.
The following report made by H. W. Fyffe, on March 16, 1875, shows well for Iowa City as a market for horses:
"In looking up the horse market at Iowa City, I find the amount as given by the parties purchasing or at the livery barns. Mr. Fisher fur- nished me the amount purchased by himself; Messrs. Smith & Foster the number purchased at their barn by other parties, and the Abbott Broth- ers the same. Mr. G. W. Kettlewell, the number shod at his shop. To all of which gentlemen I am under obligations for their kindness, and for the information furnished.
Name of Parties.
Year.
No of cars.
Cost of cars. $2,000
Total cost.
No. horses.
O. H. Fisher
1872
S
$ 16,000
136
1873
17
1,900
32,300
289
66
1874
16
1,900
30,400
272
" to Mar. 15,.
1875
4
1,800
7,200
68
Smith & Foster's.
1872
5
2,000
10,000
S5
1873
8
1,900
15,200
136
66
1874
10
2,000
20,000
170
" to Mar. 15,
1875
2
1,600
3,200
34
At Abbott Bros. .
1874
3
2,000
6,000
51
73
$140,300
1241
Average per head, $113-67.
DR. CLAPP'S JOLLY SPEECH TO THE STOCK BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION.
In June, 1875, a few men assembled at Cedar Rapids and organized the "Iowa State Improved Stock Breeders' Association." Dec. 13 to 15, 1881, the eighth annual meeting of this association was held in Iowa City. The opening address of welcome was delivered by Dr. E. F. Clapp, who was then president of the Board of Trade and also Professor of Anatomy in the Medical Department of the State University. Dr. Clapp's address has so many good points, so humorously and yet effectively presented, that it is worthy of 'permanent preservation in this volume of history. The doctor said:
Gentlemen of the Breeders' Convention: On behalf of the Board of Trade I stand here to greet and welcome you to Iowa City. We con- gratulate ourselves, gentlemen, on the honor you have conferred upon us in making this your place of meeting. We congratulate you upon the wisdom of your choice. We congratulate ourselves upon the pleasure it gives us. We congratulate you upon making this educational, agricul- tural, commercial, as well as manufacturing center of Iowa-the great State of Iowa-the place of your annual conference. I suppose there is not an individual in this house but feels a just and legitimate pride in the noble State of Iowa, which you represent. If there be others from out- side of the borders of our State, certainly they cannot but feel with us a kind of pride in a sister State, especially since it is the younger member of the family, strong of limb and sturdy, giving promise of great and good things.
357
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
But we offer you a full and hearty welcome. We should be pleased if we could offer you pleasant weather-if we could make the heavens shine. We should have arranged this if we had attended to it sooner, for we have the weather clerk, who is here to attend to these things. I think Prof. Hinrichs should be held responsible for the miserable weather, and cen- sured accordingly. I understand the object you have in view to be the improvement of our domestic animals-the horse, the cow, swine, and especially the dog. Certainly the object is a laudable one, indeed, a noble one. (Applause.) Anything that we can do to enhance the commercial interest and wealth of our State, or good of its inhabitants, is certainly a laudable undertaking. I trust you may be prosperous, and succeed beyond your most sanguine expectations. We have only to look back a few years to find the time when such a thing as a stock-breeders' associa- tion was hardly thought of; or, if so, it was in some of the eastern parts of the country, where a certain number of gentlemen meeting for the improve- ment of domestic animals, came together in Massachusetts, or somewhere else; but certainly not west of the Mississippi. We can remember dis- tinctly when endeavoring to serve our country by eating Uncle Sam's rations and standing picket duty, when sent down to the commissiary to draw our daily rations, I could take a good-sized steer and carry it off without any trouble. (Applause.)
One of the pleasant recollections of my boyhood is in regard to driving up the cattle, when, with a fleet horse, I used to race with them, and would often be outrun by them in their efforts to get away. (Applause.) At the present time these animals are built on a broader and more liberal basis. We find every day that our cattle, hogs, and especially horses, are being improved. They are being adapted more nearly to the purposes ยท for which they are required. I trust the ideal bullock and cow has not yet come to pass. I am looking forward to the time when the ideal cow, swine, and horse shall be reached. Then I trust some of you gentlemen who represent this Breeders' Association may have a little time to turn your attention to another class of stock which certainly stands as much in need of improvement as the horses and cows-I mean the human cattle. (Applause.) In the rearing and breeding of stock, whatever the class, due attention is paid to the parent stock-to the sire, to the dam. And it is with a great amount of solicitude and care that these are selected. They must possess certain points physically, mentally and morally-for I think animals to a certain extent are morally constituted. You will for- give a doctor of medicine for talking cattle just as you allow a doctor of divinity to talk horses. (Applause.) I have said that I hoped that the day was not far distant when these subjects would be taken up. The careful breeder avoids the use of vicious animals and those of a bad tem- per. He equally avoids monstrosities and those which are deformed. I have sometimes thought that the same thing would apply to the human family, but did not dare to speak above my breath. The day will come when we will treat the human subject with that same kindness that we now treat cattle. That is to say, we do not allow the vicious, monstrous, or bad-tempered animal to beget his kind; and when a monstrosity appears, mentally, morally and physically, we should kindly put him where he could do no harm. We are gradually moving in this direction, and the time will come when this kindness will be extended. People will then look into this matter as carefully as they now attend to the breeding of
23
358
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
their swine. Such a monstrosity, if kept within a State asylum, would not have the power to do the injury to people that it would otherwise do.
But, gentlemen, speaking upon a subject of this kind, one is apt to ram- ble and take up too much of your precious time. I suppose I am to say something of the city you are visiting here. Many of you who have not visited Iowa City for ten years, remember it as the place where the capi- tal used to be. For some years our city slept the "Rip Van Winkle" sleep. But two or three years ago a change was brought about, through the enterprise of a few men of our town. . They thought it best to hold out inducements to capitalists and manufacturers to come here and make it their place of abode. We were very much surprised to find that the invitation was not accepted. We came to the conclusion that the only way was to go to work and build these manufacturing interests ourselves. Then we formed what is known as the board of trade, an imperfect board of trade, gentlemen, but sufficiently perfect to do something in building up the interests of Iowa City. To-day we can point with a great deal of pride to the ten or twelve manufacturing interests that are carried on in Iowa City. We do not wish to boast. We are too modest in this respect. (Applause.) In this regard we resemble Cedar Rapids and Marshalltown to a certain extent. (Applause.) We have as large a glucose works as you can find in the country, and doing just as good work. It is nothing for them to turn out thirty or forty barrels of maple molasses from one barrel of New Orleans syrup. (Applause.) You who live at a distance, and put down buckwheat cakes lavishly covered with maple syrup, may not have suspected that it came from Iowa City! We can furnish you with the very best maple syrup without going outside of the corporation for the material. So we have our glass works, not as large as we intend they shall be, but we send out its products throughout the entire country. This might not be the kind of audience to mention our brewery to, because you might take advantage of the knowledge. (Applause.) Besides, gen- tlemen, you who drink milk at home may not find that it will agree with You. But it is not a Jersey cow, and is not expected to be drained to the last drop. (Applause.)
But, gentlemen, we are glad to meet you, and are happy to make your acquaintance. I see 'among you some of our own citizens-some men with gray hairs, which stands for wisdom and experience: also, young men with bald heads, that may or may not stand for piety. (Applause.) I hope that this meeting will be only one of the very many interesting meetings we want to have like it in the future. I hope that the interest that you now have will only deepen and grow from year to year. And then, when you have perfected the thoroughbred stock, we will all join with you to improve the human family. You are welcome, thrice welcome.
Hon. W. A. Morrison, mayor of Iowa City, also warmly welcomed the visitors, and invited them to inspect the manufactures and public institu- tions of the city, after which the president of the Association, Hon. Z. C. Luse, called upon Hon. James Wilson, of Traer, who represented the As- sociation in the following
RESPONSE.
Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of the Board of Trade of this municipality:
I am called upon by our worthy president to respond in his behalf and ours, to the very cordial welcome you have extended us. As plain farm-
359
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
ers, we would have felt ourselves very highly honored and very much at home if our welcome had only come from a small fraction of the people of either Iowa City or Johnson county. We would have felt very much gratified to have been welcomed here by plain farmers of Johnson county, and to have addressed ourselves immediately to the discussion of questions that call us together.
But when the welcome comes from a member of the great State Uni- versity, we as farmers, knowing it to be the greatest educational institution in the Mississippi Valley, feel on that account more highly honored. The scientific man who reaches up to the cloud-levels of intellect and brings down the facts, we have by one hand, and the worker who tills the soil and toils to create the wealth of this great State, we have by the other. We have to help us in the capacity of a Breeders' Convention in the deter- mining of the adaptibility of the facts, the scientific man. We want to take new bearings, and to see how far along the scientific man would have the farmer go. We want to see to what extent suggestions are practical before we turn to the man who works in his shirt-sleeves. "We feel greatly honored and greatly interested in the welcome from the Board of Trade of Iowa City. These gentlemen are doing much for us. They are manufacturing things which it would have been impossible to manufacture a few years ago. Glucose could not have been manufactured here a few years ago; glass could not have been manufactured here a few years ago; pork could not have been manufactured, but the time came when capital was cheap enough so that the enterprise of your citizens could go to work with it and establish these manufacturing institutions, too numerous to mention, thereby doing more for the farmer than many of us dreamed would be done; you are making a home product for the American farmer. Now, only five per cent of the home products go abroad for market-the home market consumes ninety-five per cent. We feel particularly inter- ested in being welcomed by the representative of the Board of Trade. Our future depends, in a great measure, upon the success of the Iowa manufacture. We do not need to be told that Iowa City people are hos- pitable.
We have had opportunities of knowing much about the towns of Iowa. They are different as men are different. Some towns are rushing, push- ing, business towns; other towns are educational towns: other towns com- bine both qualities. Some towns have learned the art of being kind and hospitable to strangers, and some have it yet to learn. Iowa City is one of the most friendly, neighborly, hospitable of cities it has been my for- tune to visit. We are not surprised when we come here to find your hands, hearts, and doors open to receive us. We appreciate with gratitude all these things.
I might close here did I not desire to vindicate the Breeders' Associa- tion in one regard. Prof. Clapp would like to have us extend our obser- vations beyond brute life, and to have us study and discuss everything pertaining to mankind as well; he would like to have us study humanity. Well, we do this. We have commenced on ourselves, and are whittling away at our own hide-boundness, and just how thick-skinned and how hide-bound we are, we haven't determined. And if we ever get through. our own hide-boundness in all respects as Iowa farmers, we will be ready to meet him on a dead-level*, and discuss the matter farther any time he
* Did he mean the "dissecting-table" in the Medical Department of the State Univers- ity ?
.
360
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
wishes it. We thank you for the cordial welcome, and hope our stay here will be profitable to us and not wearisome to you.
HORTICULTURE.
A . Johnson County Grape Growers' Association" was organized in August, 1867. Officers-president, H. W. Lathrop: vice-president, Levi Robinson : secretary. George J. Boal; treasurer. M. W. Davis.
Some meetings were held and questions discussed of special concern to grape growers. But the organization was not long kept up. In Sep- tember, 1867, they had an exhibition in Metropolitan Hall, Iowa City, at which Dr. Kimball showed 57 varieties of apples. 25 of pears, and 20 of grapes. all grown in Johnson county. Many other exhibits were made, but this one took the lead.
FRUIT LIST FOR JOHNSON COUNTY.
The Iowa State Horticultural Society has divided the state into twelve fruit districts. The fifth district comprises the counties of Benton, JOHN- SON, Iowa, Tama. Poweshiek, Marshall and Jasper. The representative of this fruit district in 1850-81-82, was H. W. Lathrop. Esq., of Iowa City.
Fruit lists have been made, discussed, revised, amended, at each annual session for a number of years. but as it is supposed that every change made was based on practical experience. it is hardly worth while to put into this history any but the latest revised list, which is presumed to be the last, best result of all the preceding years' experience. The Eastern Iowa Horticultural Society held its last meeting on December 21, 22, and 23. 1851, at Le Grand, in Marshall county. Among the offi- cers elected at this meeting were two well known Iowa City pomologists, to-wit: H. W. Lathrop was elected secretary, and H. Strohm treasurer. The fruit list as revised at that time, stands now as practically the best varieties known for this section of country, up to the present time- 1852.
APPLES.
Summer list .- Oldenburg, Benoni, Early Joe (top worked).
Fall list .- Bailey's Sweet. Dyer, Gros Pomier, Lowell, Fameuse, Utter's Red. Wealthy, Plumb's Cider.
Winter list .- Jonathan, Paradise, Winter Sweet, Iowa Blush, Ben Davis, Willow Twig, Walbridge, Lansingburg. Robinson, Grimes' Golden, Iowa Russet, Flora, Beilflower.
For Trial .- Constantine, Yellow Transparent, Black Annette, Shuck's Red June, Pewaukee, Scott's Winter, Wolf River and Magog Red Streak.
361
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
The following table will be useful and helpful in connection with the above apple list:
Oldenburg .- Medium large size; roundish oblate form; yellowish red color: season, September: origin, Russia: a favorite in all parts of the State.
Benoni .- Medium size: roundish obtuse conical form: yellowish dark crimson color; season, August and September: origin, Massachusetts; is tree hardy on dry, light-colored soils.
Eurly foc .- Small size: obtuse conical form: yellowish red color; season, August and September: origin, New York. Prot. J. L. Budd, of our State Agricultural College, says: "It is hardy in tree, but is a slow grower in the nursery: the fruit has few equals for dessert."
Bailey's Sweet .- (Description not known.
Dyer .- Medium to large size, roundish form, greenish or vellowish red color; season, September and October: origin, Europe.
Gros Pomier .- Medium size, roundish oblate form: yellowish red color ; season, November and December: origin, Sweden; tree perfect, fruit good for dessert if ripened in cellar.
Lowell .- Large size, roundish oblong conical form, greenish yellow color; season, September and October; origin, Pennsylvania (?)
Fameuse .- Medium sized, roundish oblate form, whitish red color ; season, October and November; origin, Canada.
Utter's Red .- Medium large size, roundish oblate form, whitish red color; season, September and October; origin, Illinois; one of our best autumn varieties.
Wealthy .- Medium large size; roundish form; yellowish-red color: season from October to April: origin Minnesota ; a perfect iron clad.
Plumb's Cider .- Medium large size; conical form: yellowish red color ; season November and December.
Jonathan .- Medium small size: roundish conical form: yellowish red color; season November to February: origin New York: on account of its quality this favorite variety is on northern list for topworking.
Paradise Winter Sweet .- Large size: roundish form; yellowish white color : season December and January; origin Pennsylvania.
Iowa Blush .- Small size: roundish conical form; whitish red color; season November and December; origin Iowa: tree hardy but fruit too small for market.
Ben Davis .- Medium to large size; roundish conical form; yellowish red color : season from December to March: origin Kentucky.
Willow Twig .- Medium large size: roundish conical form; yellowish red color: season from December to March ; origin American; tree subject to blight in dark soils.
Walbridge .- Medium size; roundish conical form; yellowish red color:
362
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
season January and February ; origin Illinois; one of our hardiest and best late keeping varieties.
Lansingburg .-- Medium size; conical form; yellowish red color; season Mav; origin Ohio; is of good quality and a very late keeper.
Robinson .- [Description unknown.]
Grimes' Golden .- Medium size; roundish oblate form: greenish yellow color; season December and January; origin Virginia.
lowa Russet .- Medium size; roundish oblate form; yellowish russet color ; season January to March; origin Russia (?); very promising.
Flora Bellflower .- Prof. Budd says, "is an apple of perfect form and good quality, and keeps as long as Jonathan."
Constantine .- Prof. Budd says, " is a very valuable apple that was intro- duced into England from Russia, and from England to this county, and it would take the place of the Maiden's Blush."
Yellow Transparent .- Dr. T. H. Haskins of Newport, Vermont, and also our own Prof. Budd, vouch for it, as being of the same season (August) as Tetofsky, but earlier ; medium size; clear straw yellow color. Is a great bearer, does not drop, and transports well for a summer apple. It was imported from Russia by the Department of Agriculture in 1869.
Black Annette .- [Description unknown.]
Shuck's Red func .- Small size; obtuse conical form; yellowish red color; season July and August; origin America; very good, but subject to scab.
Pewaukee .- Large size; roundish oblate form; yellowish red color ; sea- son December and January ; origin Wisconsin.
Scott's Winter .- Dr. Haskins says, is of medium size, yellow, heavily striped, and sometimes covered with bright red; "hard as a rock" until April-sour, and only useful for cooking. Grows mellow, mild and aromatic in the spring. Keeps well into July when properly handled and stored. The tree is true "iron-clad," a profuse bearer on alternate years. Origin, Orleans county, Vermont, seedling.
Wolf River .- Large size; oblate form; yellowish crimson color; season November and December; origin Wisconsin; promising as a strict "iron- clad."
Magog Red Streak .- Large yellow apple, with red streaks on the sunny side; mild rich sub-acid flavor; good keeper until April. The tree is hard, thrifty, and a free and early bearer. Seedling of Orleans county, Vermont.
SMALL FRUITS.
The following is the list as finally revised at the December meeting, 1881:
Strawberries .- Wilson, Green Prolific, Chas. Downing, Kentucky Crescent, fertilized with Downer's Prolific. On trial-Cumberland Triumph, Glendale, Bidwell, Endicot No. 2.
363
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Raspberries .- Turner, Mammoth Cluster, Doolittle Improved, Ph ila- delphia, Gregg.
Grapes .- Concord, Worden, Coe. On trial-Moore's Early, Dracut, Amber, Elvira.
Currant .- Victoria, White Dutch.
Dwarf funeberry .- On motion of Prof. Budd, the Dwarf Juneberry was added to the list of small fruits.
Huckleberry .- J. W. Sanders: I have got huckleberry plants from Michigan, and from four bushes I got four quarts, and that was but half the crop. The plants succeed well on our prairie soil.
The fruit lists adopted for Johnson county do not name pears, peaches, quinces, plums, or cherries. The reason for all these omissions is not apparent. But to supply in some measure these deficiencies we make some extracts from several personal reports on fruit matters by Johnson county men.
MR. LATHROP'S FRUIT REPORT.
H. W. Lathrop, of Iowa City, made a report on the fruit crop of John- son county in 1880, and it furnishes the best summary of general results in this line that is attainable. He said:
Fruits of all kinds matured early and developed to the highest degree their best qualities. In size, color and flavor no season on record has been more generous with our fruits. Early Richmond cherries in perfec- tion were on the market before the 10th of June.
The Red June apple, which we have stricken from the list, was never larger, fairer or better than the past season. No fair brunette could ever show a cheek crimsoned with the beauty that adorned the cheek of this old discarded favorite with its entire freedom from freckles.
As usual, the Oldenburg, Willow and Ben Davis surpassed all others in productiveness.
The Jonathan, Grimes' Golden and Wealthy are varieties that should be harvested early, and by early I mean just as soon as they attain their size and color, without any reference to the month or the day of the month.
Summer and fall apples in our market sold as low as twenty cents per bushel, and many went to waste for want of buyers at that price.
Many of our orchardists needed a good, cheap drying apparatus that would enable them to send their apples to distant markets in a dried state.
The Miner plum that has for so long a time been the cause of fruit- less disappointment, this year made up for its past delinquencies by superabundance of fruit. In Iowa City market they sold as low as fifty cents per bushel.
Grapes, which are raised in Johnson county by the ton, find a market in Nebraska, Minnesota, and in the western and northwestern portions of the State, and during the vintage the express companies are kept busy in their shipment. They net the vineyardists from one and one-half to four
364
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
cents per pound. They have been free from rot and the depredations of insects the last year. Concord is the only variety that finds its way to market. All others are only raised in quantities sufficient to meet the wants of the grower for home consumption.
Pears were more abundant this year than usual, yet I know of no one who is raising them to any extent. The apple men on the street corners buy all that are offered in the market, and cannot get enough of them to supply their customers.
The Snyder blackberry has been introduced to some extent and has given good satisfaction thus far, but in this district it has been subjected to no such ordeal of extreme cold as it is now passing through; nor has it yet been subjected to one of our driest summers.
Currants and gooseberries are receiving less attention than formerly, being crowded out by the raspberry, of which Doolittle, Mammoth Clus- ter and Purple Cane are the leading sorts.
The Wilson is the standard among strawberries, but not enough are raised for home use, the market supply being furnished from southern Illinois by way of Chicago."
In 1881 Mr. Lathrop reported thus:
"The year 1881 has not been a favorable one for fruit-growers of the fifth district. All our fruits, except strawberries and raspberries, were in very meagre quantity. It was hardly to be expected that a full crop of apples would immediately succeed such a bountiful one as we harvested in 1880, for in that year many of our trees were so over-loaded with fruit that a year's rest became one of their necessities.
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