USA > Illinois > Morgan County > History of Morgan county, Illinois : its past and present, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; a biographical directory of its volunteers in the late rebellion; portraits of its early settlers and prominent men [etc., etc.] > Part 21
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Wheat, although not an aboriginal grain, was introduced at an early day. Charlevoix, who went down the Mississippi in 1721, writing from Kaskaskia, speaks of the Illinois soil as " extremely proper for wheat," and that " if the trials made in some places have not succeeded because the corn has been blasted and mildewed, it is owing to this circumstance that the country not being cleared, the wind has not free access to dis- perse those noxious vapors which generate mildews. An evident proof of which may be drawn from this: that among the Illinois, where there is more meadow (prairie) than woodland, wheat thrives and ripens as well as in France." Du Pratz, who wrote a description of the country, then called Louisiana, in 1758, says : " The French Post of the Illinois is, of all the colony, that in which, with the greatest ease, they grow wheat, rye and other like grains, for the sowing of which you need only to turn the earth in the slightest manner; that slight culture is sufficient to
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make the earth produce as much as we can reasonably desire. I have been assured that in the last year, when flour from France was scarce, the Illinois sent down the river upwards of eight hundred thousand weight thereof in one winter." - This would be about 4,000 barrels. Monette states, on the authority of Martin, that six hundred barrels of flour were sent to New Orleans from Illinois in 1746. Pittman, in 1770, mentions that " in the late war flour and other articles were sent down the Mississippi," and notes mills " for corn and planks " at Kahoquias and Saint Phillippe. Governor Reynolds, in his Life and Times, states that the French, in 1800, " sowed spring wheat, as their common fields were occupied all winter by the cattle. The Americans mostly raised fall wheat, and at times some spring wheat also. It was tolerably well plowed in with the ox team." Even as late as his day the sickle or the reap-hook was the only implement used to cut the grain. It was stacked by the Americans, and put in barns by the French. It was threshed by horses and winnowed with a sheet, which latter process the Governor pronounces the hardest work he ever performed. Woods. in 1820, writing from what is now Edwards County, says " that one bushel of wheat to the acre is sown. Most of the wheat sown by the Americans," he says, "was after Indian corn. It was sown before the corn was gathered, and plowed in between the rows of corn. It was sown in September, or early in October. They sowed some after oats or flax, and for some they made fallows. What they sowed after the last three was generally better than that after Indian corn, when sown in good time. Most of the backward wheat was touched with the blight, more or less- chiefly according to its thickness on the ground." He states that beard- ed wheat was then generally grown and preferred.
Rev. J. M. Peck, in 1831, says, " that wheat produces a good and sure crop, especially in Morgan, Sangamon and other counties north. Few of our farmers," he adds, " have barns or threshing floors ; the grain is put up in stacks, exposed to the weather, and trod out with horses on the ground, with considerable loss and injury. And yet, with all these dis- advantages-which time and industry will overcome-the flour of Illi- nois and Missouri is superior to that of other Western States, when properly manufactured." As late as 1840, winter wheat was generally grown, and spring wheat was not much sown. As cultivation increased the lands became less easily worked ; the young growth was less luxu- riant, and diseases, insects, and winter-killing became more common. About 1850, the introduction of the drill gave a powerful impetus to this declining industry. The deep sowing effected by the drill, and the pro- tection afforded to the tender plant by the ridges left in the soil, secured comparative certainty for the crop. In Northern Illinois the transition was to the culture of spring wheat, and between 1840 and 1860 it was made a crop of great prominence. Since the latter date, however, it has declined generally, and is regarded as an uncertain and unprofitable crop, while the drill has not overcome the disadvantages of a colder climate and more open soil for winter wheat. If in the future the wheat-grow- ing districts shall be transferred to the West, it will not be a drawback to the prosperity of the State. Southern Illinois, however, in common with much territory lying in the same latitude, will produce a quality of wheat that will be profitably grown, and here we may anticipate its al-
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ways being cultivated to a considerable extent, as in Southern Indiana, Ohio, and in Virginia.
The culture of oats is not mentioned earlier than 1820. Seed was scarce, the crop was generally poor, and the grain much hurt by the dry weather. The oat crop is mainly confined to the northern part of the State, especially in Will, Cook and LaSalle Counties, and in 1870 exceed- ed any other State by six millions of bushels.
The cereals of minor importance in Illinois agriculture, are rye, bar- ley, and buckwheat. The first culture of these is more difficult to trace than that of more important grains. Du Pratz mentions rye as cultiva- ted by the French as early as 1758. Reynolds states, however, that in 1800 neither barley nor rye were cultivated in the country. Woods, in 1820, says : " I believe no barley has yet been cultivated near us, nor have I seen any growing anywhere in America ; but I saw some winter barley in a barn at Harmony, in Indiana." He had seen no rye, nor any buckwheat at the " Prairies," with the exception of about twenty rods of his own. In 1831, Rev. J. M. Peck says, that " barley is raised in St. Clair County for the St. Louis breweries." By 1840, the quantity, though very small, began to appear in the census reports. Rye, in Illinois agri- culture, has, to a limited extent, replaced winter wheat in some of the northern and central counties, on account of its hardiness. It has an in- creased use as winter pasture, in some of the southern counties, but is chiefly grown in the northern counties. Barley is grown mostly in the north. Buckwheat makes no progress, and seems rather diminishing than increasing in importance.
The cereal production of Illinois is enormous. According to the figures of 1872, over one hundred and thirty-eight bushels of grain were produced for each man, woman and child of the population of that year. For 1877, the yield was larger, and though the population was greater, the amount for each person was not in the least diminished.
GRASSES .- The large area covered with luxuriant herbage, in the pioneer days of Illinois, made it unnecessary for hay making for a long period. Along the Ohio, Mississippi, and Illinois Rivers extensive cane brakes grew, in which the cattle found abundant food and shelter during the winter months. As early as 1800, however, the settlers began to cut and stack prairie hay. . Woods and Peck are the first to describe the grasses found in the country as early as their day-1820 and 1831.
Woods says, " Prairie grass is a very strong grass ; cattle are very fond of it, but mowing or feeding soon destroys it." He describes other kinds, called by the early settlers, "Nimble-Will," "Crab-grass," and " Yard-grass." "Red or white clover," he says, " I have not seen, but I have heard there are small patches of the latter in the prairies. Both sorts are said to be extremely pernicious to horses, cattle, and pigs. I have not seen trefoil, rye-grass, sanfoin, and cock's-foot, or English grass, with the exception of a little lucern, just come up, which I think is likely to succeed. The grass most commonly cultivated here is timothy- grass. It belongs to the English meadow-grass, but grows here a larger size. It does not appear to be a good pasture grass. Blue-grass is highly prized, but as a pasture grass is, I believe, unknown in England." Mr. Peck, in 1831, says, " timothy-grass is already cultivated with much suc- cess." He also says, "a species of blue-grass is cultivated by some
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farmers for pastures." According to Robert Aldrich, of Madison County, bunches of white clover began to appear as early as 1818, along the road between Goshen settlement and St. Louis, and the blue-grass came al- most immediately in its train. The list of early known pasture and meadow forage plants has not been much increased by subsequent experi- ence in Illinois. Timothy, red-top, blue-grass, and orchard-grass, and the clovers will about exhaust the list of those in common use to-day. The area of land in tame grasses and the production has, however, been im- mensely extended.
ROOT CROPS .- In 1679, Father Allouez says of the Kaskaskia In- dians : "They eat fourteen kinds of fruits, which they find on the prairies. They made me eat them ; I found them very good and sweet." Reynolds says that, "in early times the French cultivated only a scanty supply of potatoes. Carrots were grown in their gardens," he adds, " and turnips sometimes sown in the corn, but sweet potatoes were not seen in the country." In pioneer times, Irish potatoes were raised in abundance, and hardly ever failed of a sure crop. In 1890, Woods speaks of Swedish and common turnips, potatoes, onions, and shallots, as grown in the Wa- bash country. He had not seen a sweet potato. Peck, however, men- tions this last as yielding abundantly, especially on the river bottoms and rich sandy prairies. He barely mentions potatoes and turnips. The potato crop appears in the census reports of 1840, and from that time on. It has greatly increased, and is now one of the staple productions of the State.
The legumes are thus far of not much more importance than the root crops, though aboriginal in their use. Marquette found the Indians cultivating, at the mouth of the Des Moines, the bean, in 1673, and as it was also found among the aborigines in Massachusetts and Florida, his story is not improbable. Peas and beans were grown by the French set- tlers in their gardens. In Woods' time-1820-small beans, of the kidney kind, were cultivated by the Americans. "They are generally planted to climb on the corn," he says, "and are of many sorts and dif- ferent colors. There are some dwarf ones, called bunch beans, and they all appear to do better than in England. Here are a few Indian peas, in growth, leaf, and blossom much like the kidney bean. The pods are very long, and contain from nine to sixteen peas in each; but they resemble but little either peas or beans." In our later culture the white bush bean is mostly grown. The southern countries seem to be best adapted to its culture, and here it is chiefly raised. Textile plants were intro- duced at a very early day, and were cultivated in a much greater propor- tion to population than at present. Pittman mentions hemp, cotton, and flax as cultivated at " Kaoquias,"-Cahokia-as early as 1770, and Rey- nolds asserts that cotton was introduced as early as 1750. Flax and cotton, he says, were cultivated in early times considerably. Flax was pulled at the time wheat was harvested, and the work was made a frolic of, as was much of the work of pioneer days. Woods says," Flax was cultivated by most of the Americans near us for home use. It is sown in April, and after the flax is pulled the land is often plowed and sowed with turnips, about the end of July. Cotton is planted. in rows nearly four feet apart, about the end of April or the beginning of May. Hemp
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is cultivated in this country, but I have not seen any in this neighbor- hood, with the exception of a few rods of my own."
Peck says, of these crops : "Hemp is an indigenous plant in the southern part of the State, as it is in Missouri. It has not been exten- sively cultivated, but, wherever tried, is found very productive and of excellent quality. Cotton, for many years, has been successfully culti- vated in this State, for domestic use, and some for exportation. Flax is produced, and of a tolerable qualtity, though not equal to that of the Northern States. It is said to be productive and good in the northern counties."
Among the earliest residents of this county, cotton and hemp were extensively grown, and furnished clothing for all. The weaving and spinning were done by the women, who also made all the clothing worn. Linsey-woolsey, as it was called, was a common article of clothing, and, being strong, afforded good clothing. The spinning- wheel was then as much or more of an adjunct of the cabin than the sew- ing machine of to-day is of the mansion, and every maiden then was proud of the roll for spinning or woven articles she had ready for her future home. It was more to her than the piano accomplishment of to- day, and one without these articles would be classed improvident. These were new homes then, and, in the simple home life of these people, there was very much that their successors might well imitate. Yet hu- man nature is ever the same, in all ages, among all people, and in all lands, and the young people of to-day, did occasion require, would ex- hibit the same qualities as those of their predecessors.
The cucurbitaceous plants, according to early travelers, were culti- vated by the Indians, when first encountered by white men. Marquette speaks of " melons, which are excellent, especially those with a red seed." "Their squashes," he says, "are not of the best; they dry them in the sun, to eat in the spring and winter." Reynolds says, the French planted sometimes, strange looking pumpkins among their corn. Woods says, " pompoins, or pumkins, are another highly prized production of this country. They often grow to an immense size, and weigh from forty to sixty pounds. I have heard of a single vine that in 1818, grew a load of pumkins. It grew on the Big Prairie, about thirty miles south of us, on some rotten chaff, where wheat had been trodden out the year before. They make good sauce, and excellent pies, and are much eaten here. They are sliced and dried for winter use. Squashes are a sort of a gourd, frequently boiled for sauce. There are a variety of gourds, but of little use, except one sort, which has a hard rind, or shell, which serves for many uses, as bottles, pans, ladles, and funnels. Cucum- bers grow well and are more wholesome than in England and more pro- ductive.
" Pomegranates grow on a vine much like a cucumber, the size of an orange, or rather larger ; a beautiful fruit, of a yellow or orange color, of a most fragrant smell. They are said to be most delicious when pre- served. There are many sorts of sweet melons, and much difference in size in the various kinds. Watermelons are also in great plenty, of vast size. They are more like pumkins than melons, in outward appear- ance. They are round, or oblong, generally green, or a green and whitish color on the outside, and white or pale on the inside, with many
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black seeds in them, very juicy, in flavor like rich water, not sweet and mawkish, but cool and pleasant."
What reader does not readily recognize the rich watermelon, of to- day, in the foregoing description, and whose mouth does not thirst for one while reading it?
Other agricultural products have had an early culture. Du Pratz, in 1758, said tobacco throve in the Illinois country, but came to maturity with difficulty. Pittman mentions hops and tobacco as coming to great perfection. Reynolds speaks of lettuce, in the French gardens. Woods mentions broom-corn, as "planted in rows, on the side of cornfields," hops, as growing in the woods, and parsley and radishes as thriving. Some of these products have since become sufficiently important, to take their place in the census reports, and sorghum, and the tomato have made their history in a comparatively late period. Hops, in 1870, were pro- duced in sixty-six counties ; tobacco in seventy-four; maple sugar in sixty, and sorghum in every county, save one.
FRUITS .- " They gather on trees or plants," says Father Allouez, speaking of the Indians, in 1676, " fruits of forty-two different kinds, which are excellent." Father Membre, four years later, mentions grapes, from which they made wine for the " Celebration of the Divine Myste- ries,' whose clusters were of a prodigious size, and of very agreeable taste. Pittman, in 1770, says : " European fruits come to great perfection. The inhabitants make wine, which is very inebriating, and is in 'color and taste very like the red wine of Provence." Reynolds says: "This wine was made by the first settlers, but disappeared with the Europeans. The Creoles made little or none." At this early day, both the French, and Americans possessed large apple orchards. Morris Birbeck, in his letters from Illinois, in 1818, says : " The cultivation of the apple' exceeds anything I have ever seen. Pears also succeed well. The peach bears fruit the third year from the stone, but the trees are short lived, and liable to blight. We have gooseberries and currants in per- fection." Woods, his fellow settler, notices the native fruits as follows: "Persimmon is a fruit many people are fond of. It is something like a medlar. Pawpaws grow in clusters of three or four, on a shrub twenty feet high. Strawberries, nearly the same as scarlets, excellent, and in some places of great abundance. Raspberries are small and dry. Cherries grow in bunches, the same as currants, very small and bitter. May apples, a yearly plant, of only two leaves, the stalk one foot high, the fruit the size of a small apple, of a straw color, with small seeds, a very pleasant taste, grow wild. Plums are mostly small, and sour, but there are some whose flavor resembles that of a gooseberry. Blackberries, as I have before remarked, are excellent. The elderberries are fine, but generally eaten by the birds, as soon as colored. Pecan is a sort of a walnut, said to be the finest nut in the country. White walnut, or but- ternut, and black walnut, are not so good as the English walnut. Hazel- nuts are in vast quantities, the shells hard, but the kernel good. I have some earthnuts-peanuts-growing in my garden, the green of them, something like clover, or rather lucern. They blow with a small yellow blossom. I planted them in rows and earthed them up like potatoes. They have two kernels, enclosed in a husk about one inch long and as large round." Peck, writing in 1831, after describing the wild fruits,
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proceeds as follows: "Of the domestic fruits, the apple and the peach are chiefly cultivated. Pears are tolerably plenty in the French settle- ments, and quinces are grown with some success, by some of the Amer- icans. Apples are easily cultivated and very productive. Many varieties are of fine flavor, and grow to a large size."
The early history of orchards and nurseries collected by the State Horticultural Society shows, of course, that the first orchards and nurse- ยท ries were planted in the southern part of the State, where the earliest permanent settlements were begun. M. Giraridin is credited with or- chard planting in 1770,of which some pear trees are yet living, near Caho- kia. Samuel Judy planted an orchard of apple trees in Madison County, about 1802 or 1803. In 1816 and in 1818, nurseries and orchards were planted by some persons, notably by John Smith, of Greenville, Bond County ; Joseph Curtis, of Edgar County, and William B. Archer, of Clark County. Among the varieties of apples introduced by these men, were many of the sorts still most approved by the orchardists of the present day.
Between 1830 and 1840, Northern and Central Illinois received their first floods of emigrants, and with them came a greater energy and intelligence, that insured a speedy planting of fruit trees. Though the soil and climate were less congenial than in the southern part of the State, yet men like Arthur Bryant, Lewis Ellsworth, John A. Kennicott, Samuel Edwards, George Haskell, Edson Harkness, the Overmans, and others, pushed on through great difficulties to ultimate success. Still later the great nurseries of Phoenix, Douglass and others began to fill the land with vegetable life. The Illinois Central Railroad carried fruit by the wholesale along its main lines, and peaches and strawberries be- gan to go northward by the train load. Single stations shipped thou- sands of bushels of strawberries in one season. At the present date, fully one per cent. of the State is now devoted to orchards.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS .- Illinois has always occupied a prominent place in the matter of animal industry. The early explorers marveled at the immense herds of bison found roaming over the vast prairies. George Rogers Clark, whose noted conquest of the country is narrated in the history of the Northwest in this volume, prophesied it would " one day excel in cattle." Horses stand first in the aggregate value of live stock in the State. Cattle and hogs almost equal them, and will probably excel in a few years. Horses are noticed by Reynolds in 1800. He says large herds were kept by the inhabitants, and informs us they were of the "Arabi- an strain. The Spaniards," he adds, " introduced them into their Amer- ican possessions, and from this race originated the French horses. This blood of horses was brought into Spain from Arabia, by the Moors. Colonel William Whiteside," he continues, "in the year 1797, intro- duced into the country a fine blooded horse of the Janus stock." This was probably one of the first stocks of horses ever introduced into the State. In 1820, Woods says : "Most of the horses were of Spanish ori- gin. They are light and clean, but not very handsome." Ford says : " A French pony is a marvel for strength and endurance. They are made to draw, sometimes alone, sometimes two together, one before the other, to the plow, or to the carts made entirely of wood, the bodies of which held about twice as much as the common wheelbarrow. Nothing
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like reins were used in driving ; the whip of the driver, with a handle about two feet, and a lash about two yards long, stopped or guided the horse as effectually as the strongest reins." Peck, as late as 1831, says : " Wild horses are found ranging the prairies and forests in some parts of the State. They are small of size, of the Canadian or Indian breed, and very hardy." They were worth from fifteen to thirty dollars, and were found chiefly in the south part of the State, having descended from the horses introduced by the Spaniards. A good farm horse was worth from fifty to sixty dollars, and a good saddle or carriage horse from seventy to
eighty dollars. Mules were brought here from Mexico, but no mention is made of their domestication. The southern horses were much improved by the introduction of better stock from Kentucky or Tennessee, where good horses were found at an early day, About 1850, the Morgan horse was introduced, and for a time was all the rage. Afterward the Norman horses were brought here, and for several years have absorbed more at- tention than any other animal. The Clysdale horse was introduced in 1857, by the Stock Importing Association, and has since been propagated in several parts of the State. Owing to the disappearance of the working ox, and the unsuitableness of the climate for the mule, horses have be- come almost the sole beast of burden and draught throughout the north- ern part of the State. In the southern and more wooded portion their places are partly occupied by other animals.
Neat cattle, even more than horses, have been a favorite product in this State. The "Wild cattle," as the Jesuits called the bison, suggested herds of tamer animals. "Cattle and sheep," says Charlevoix, in 1721, " would multiply wonderfully here. Even the wild buffaloes might be tamed, and great advantages drawn from a trade in their wool and hides, and from their supplying the inhabitants with food." At that early date the French had cattle and poultry at Kaskaskia. Pittman, in 1770, says, " At St. Phillippe, the captain of the militia has about twenty slaves and a good stock of cattle and planks. At Cahokia they have a great deal of poultry and good stocks of horned cattle." In 1800, Reynolds states. that cattle were abundant, and that plowing was generally done by oxen "tied to the plow by a straight yoke, which was tied to the horns of the oxen by straps of untanned leather." He states that the horned cattle came from Canada, " were a hardy race, not large, but of neat formation, with generally black horns. They stood the winter better without grain than the American cattle, gave less milk in summer, and kicked all the time. The French scarcely troubled themselves with milking the cows,. but turned the calves out with the other cattle, and made little or no. butter." Of the cattle of the American settlers, he adds: "The cattle- grew large, and the oxen were mostly excellent." In 1820, Woods says : "Oxen and cows are now more plentiful, but have hitherto been fetched from Indiana and Kentucky." Peck, in 1831, says : " Our neat cattle are mostly inferior in size to those of the older States. This is owing- entirely to bad management. Our beef is the finest in the world," he proceeds. "It bears the best inspection of any in the New Orleans mar- ket. By the first of June, and often by the middle of May, our young- cattle are fit for market."
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