USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 33
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Beriah Haworth was born in Vermilion County, in Elwood township, Sep- tember 15, 1847. He was the son of David Haworth. Mr. Haworth married Miss Anna Lewis, and they were the parents of three children. They were members of the Society of Friends. Mr. Haworth has been a breeder of fine horses.
Mrs. Mary C. (Acree) Taylor was the daughter of Joel and Elvessa (Yount) Acree. She was born in Catlin township, November 12, 1848. She became the wife of Thomas A. Taylor in 1869. She has been the mother of
ITIRAM W. ROSS
ELIZABETH MeDONALD HARMON
SARAI (UNNINGHAM) DAVIS
MRS. E. E. VINSON
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a large family of children, and ten of them lived to maturity. Mrs. Taylor lives in a beautiful home in Catlin, with everything to make life pleasant.
Jacob K. Robertson was the oldest of a large family of sixteen children. He was born in Newell township September 22, 1848. He married Miss Me- lissa Britingham of State Line, in 1872. Her parents were early settlers in Vermilion County, and she was born in Pilot township November 24, 1848. They were the parents of five children.
Mrs. Emma (Porter) McDowell was born in Carroll township, one and a half miles east of Indianola, April 3, 1849. She was the daughter of William Porter, who came to Vermilion County from Kentucky. Emma Porter be- came the wife of Jolin A. McDowell in 1869. At this time Indianola was called Chillicothe. Mrs. McDowell was the mother of seven children.
This list of elder sons and daughters of Vermilion County makes no pre- tensions to being complete. It would be impossible to get a complete list, and it would not be worth while to attempt it. Were the list not limited to the elder ones, it could be very much lengthened. There are many whose birth comes just beyond the limit of 1850, which has been set, whom Vermilion County has shown a pleasure in honoring and whose lives have proven their right to such appreciation. Charles A. Allen, Samuel Collison, William T. Cunningham, Thomas Woolverton and John Frazier have their time of birth in 1850 or the nearby years, and all deserve mention as among the elder sons who have made the county famous in different ways. But the limit must be fixed at some point, and no better date could be chosen, perhaps, than the middle of the nineteenth century, beyond which the sons and daughters should no longer be considered as elder ones.
CHAPTER XXII.
AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS.
CATTLE RAISING-HORSE BREEDING-SWINE-FRUIT GROWING-CORN PRODUC- TION-SHEEP INDUSTRY.
Vermilion County has been noted for its farms and farming interests. The southern part of the county was early settled by an industrious and serious- minded people, and the fertile lands were duly made into fine farms. The in- troduction of short-horned cattle into that section by Harvey Sodowsky awak- ened an interest in the raising of well-bred stock, and gave an impetus to cattle breeding which could not have been secured otherwise.
The Sandusky family, which was a large one and in which there was much landed interest, all were good stock men, and took great pride in the cattle they could show. Mr. Josiah Sandusky made a specialty of showing stock at fairs, and was almost always a prize winner. His breed of cattle was the short- horns. Mr. Sandusky was also a noted breeder of horses. His line was road- sters and trotters. He had many horses whose record was 2:20.
Vermilion County has produced much valuable stock in the line of horses, both as fast-going animals and as heavy breeds. Mr. Lew Green of Carroll township, is at present the most extensive breeder. Mr. Buchanan of George- town, has produced some nice horses. Mr. Thomas Bennett of Rossville, was at one time an extensive breeder of horses which took premiums at the state fairs. Mr. Bennett was and yet is a large breeder of the Duroc Jersey swine. His farm, near Rossville, has been the place for years from which this stock goes to every part of the United States and Canada. He has done much to introduce other than the popular Poland-China swine into Vermilion County.
The great prairie lands of a part of Vermilion County were utilized as grazing lands for cattle until since it was estimated that their value per acre was too much to warrant such a use, and the feeding of cattle to any great extent has passed from this section. The Gundy family in Newell township, the Sanduskys, and John Sidell together with John Sconce in the southern part of the county, as well as the Sullivans in Sidell township at yet an earlier day, and the Collisons in the western part, all made this industry a paying business twenty years ago. Cattle and swine were bought in the Chicago mar- kets or from smaller farms and put on pasture on the grassy plains and then fed for sale when their condition was satisfactory.
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In the early days the cattle and swine were driven to market. And since the market was at Philadelphia or New York City, this getting of the stock so far in good condition was a task. There are yet men who have driven or who knew men who drove their stock as far as these places. It was not an uncommon sight to see droves of cattle, or swine go through the streets of Danville on their way through the county to the eastern market. Later the shipping was made by the Wabash Railroad, and the stock was driven to State Line from any point west of there to be loaded on the cars. It was no strange thing to see Mr. Andy Gundy send a trainload of swine on the Wabash to New York City.
There was much corn raised, and it was more profitable to feed this corn and sell the finished product than to sell the corn itself. But that period of the history of Vermilion County is long since passed. It is only here and there that the value of stock raising is appreciated, and the land is urged to go to its limit in grain production without the help it should have from the addi- tion of stock.
The poultry interest finds many enthusiasts in the county. A poultry as- sociation is sustained and the annual meeting in January brings out a crowd. Among the fanciers are to be numbered O. L. McCord, Mr. Russel, Mr. John- son, Dr. Jones of Sidell, and others so numerous as to forbid mention. Catlin township has been prolific in producing poultry men. The state poultry show has met in Danville several times. While the breeder of fancy poultry has been much in evidence, the influence of his care has had its effect on the farmer and small breeder of poultry to the extent of raising the standard throughout the county. The flocks of poor bred poultry so prevalent even ten and fifteen years ago, have disappeared, and well selected well culled fowl are to be seen along the highways or in the enclosures of the farms of the county.
As much cannot be said of fruit growing in Vermilion County as of stock raising. Much more interest might be taken in this branch of agricultural pur- suits to an advantage to the county. Most of the farm homes have some at- tempt to having a few trees, from which fruit for the use of the family can be gathered, but there is little effort to make this branch one of profit.
In 1860, W. W. Littell came to Oakwood township from Middletown, Ohio. He brought about a half bushel of peach seed with him and planted them. The next year he had a great many little trees, which he gave away. People came from miles around, and he gave them the trees. For a long time the results of his coming to Vermilion County were very evident. There was a great quantity of peaches raised in the neighborhood, and all the peach or- chards are not yet gone. Mr. Nesbitt, living near Catlin, is at present the most extensive fruit grower in the county.
CORN PRODUCTION IN VERMILION COUNTY.
[Contributed by Harvey Sconce.]
The word "corn" has been in use from earliest times. At first it signified a grain, as we use the term today when speaking of a single kernel, seed or particle. Later the name was applied to all cereal crops in general, and in
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Europe this custom still prevails. It was not until during the early coloniza- tion of America that the name "corn" was legally accepted in its present ap- plication. In one of the counties of Pennsylvania a man had been indicted for stealing so many bushels of corn, and in course of the conflict his counsel took exception to the word as it was used, on the ground that this was not the per- fect description of Indian corn. The exception, however, was overruled by court, who thus decided that corn was the established name for Indian corn. The old name maize is still used to some extent. It is a later construction from ma-his, a Haytian word. We also find the term "Indian corn" used consid- erably, even in the present day.
Some authorities claim that corn is of eastern origin, and to substantiate this statement they have attempted to show that the cereal, was mentioned in ancient Chinese literature before Columbus discovered America. Some of our most eminent botanists, however, have very successfully refuted this argument, and they have been able to show conclusively that America is the original home of corn. Traditions have it that as early as the year 1002 A. D. Karlsefn, and again in 1006 Thorfin, both Norsemen, each saw and brought home in their ships ears of corn from what is now Massachusetts. But stronger evidence is presented in the ears of corn which have been found with mummies of Mexico and Peru. We know, too, that Columbus discovered corn when he first landed on American soil.
As to the distribution of corn in Europe, it is claimed by good authority that Columbus took it back to Spain with him on the return from his great voyage. From Spain it was taken into France and Italy, although we know that its spread must have been very slow, for it was nearly a hundred years after the discovery of America- before we find any mention made of corn in France. From Italy corn was taken into Switzerland and Hungary, and from Hungary to Austria and eastern Europe. From Switzerland it was taken into the valley of the Rhine, and from Portugal corn was taken into Asia.
Indian corn entered into the mythological and religious ceremonies of the Indians, both of North and South America, long before they were disturbed by civilization. When the white men came to live among them, they told them how to select the best ears for seed and how and when to plant it. To be sure their methods were very crude; since the land was covered by a dense forest, it was necessary first that this should be cleared away. When spring came the squaw, who did most of the work, proceeded to plant the corn. With a sharp stick she made holes in the ground about four feet apart, and after putting a fish or several crawfish into each hole, she planted the seed on top of this and covered it with soil. The fish were used as fertilizer. In the fall the corn was picked and stored away in pits dug in the ground. Such, then, were the methods adopted we are led to believe by our forefathers when they began farming on our native soil.
The first successful attempt of the English to cultivate corn in North Amer- ica was in 1608, along the James river, in Virginia. A year or two later it was said that as much as thirty acres of corn were cultivated there. It is re- corded that as early as 1650 corn, to the extent of 600 bushels, was exported from Savannah, and in 1770 the amount exported from this same place had
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reached 13,598 bushels. However, during the period intervening numerous ex- portations were recorded, ranging from 10,000 to 250,000 bushels, so we know that even at this early date, more corn was raised than was needed for home consumption. In 1770 the total amount exported from the colonies was 578- 349 bushels, and in 1800 2,032,435 bushels were exported. By this we see that the development during this period was very rapid, at least that consider- ing the fact that agricultural implements were little known, and that there were no transportation facilities to speak of. The main increase in production was the result of increased acreage.
As to the origin of the corn plant itself, some botanists have endeavored to show that Teosinte, a rank growing forage plant, is its progenitor. Teosinte is a native Mexican plant, and is called by Watson "Zea canina." Recently Montgomery has expressed a similar theory. He states that corn and Teosinte may have had a common origin, and he intimates that in the process of evolu- tion it is probable that the pistillate spikes in Teosinte were developed from the lateral branches of a tassel-like structure, while corn was developed from the central spike. Further, he suggests that the progenitor of these plants was a large much-branched grass, each branch being terminated by a tassel-like structure.
From the natural characteristics of the corn plant we may safely conclude that the distribution of the species was necessarily of an artificial nature, for the seed has no wing or appendage, which would permit it to be blown about by the wind. Furthermore, the perishable nature of the seed was directly op- posed to nature's methods of scattering the species. It seems safe to assume that the species that exist today have either been developed by man and per- petnated by this same agency or that man came upon the plant soon after its useful development, and at once began to cultivate it. There are at present eight species of the genns Zeas.
In 1814 there were only five varieties of corn (Zea Mays) known, i. e., Big Yellow, Big White, Little Yellow, Little White and Gourdseed. Both the large and small varieties were flinty, corresponding to the old type of flint corn. The gourd-seed corn represents perhaps the first step in the development of the dent corn of today. It was characterized by a deep pointed soft kernel of either white or yellow color. By 1840 nearly forty varieties were known. These were based primarily upon color, size of ear, and density of kernel. At least one of our present standard breeds had its origin previous to that time, and others soon followed.
Corn production in Vermilion County was possibly first practiced by the Indians, but it is surely correct that the first white settlers that came to this county brought with them some of the improved types of corn that were being raised in the states from which they moved. During the earliest days, about all the corn produced was for home consumption, and for feeding livestock, as there were at that time no means of transportation, but as the years went by and civilization began to make its advance beyond the Wabash river, then there were great quantities of corn raised, and either hauled to Eugene and Perrys- ville and put aboard boats, or fed to livestock and the animals driven on foot
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to these markets and sold. They were then shipped to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and to the larger markets for export.
About this time the great possibilities of the eastern and central parts of Illinois, including Vermilion County, for the production of corn and livestock became apparent to the financial interests of the east, and within a few years new lines of transportation were brought to this country, in the form of the Wabash and Illinois Central railroads. This meant a new market, better prices, and consequently a larger acreage along the new lines of railroads, and the corn production was greatly increased during this period.
The country was what is termed raw prairie. This meant miles and miles of swamps covered with a heavy growth of wild grass, and at this time there was no drainage at all, therefore only the higher portions of the fields were farmed. These swamps and wild prairies were the homes of countless thou- sands of wild fowl, such as geese, ducks, prairie chickens and others, and while they furnished food for the families, still they did a great amount of damage to the growing crops. The geese would pull up the young wheat and oats in the spring, while the prairie chickens would scratch out the corn planted in May and June, injuring the stand in the field, and these pests with the ad- verse weather conditions, poor farming implements and with the undrained soil, made corn production anything but a pleasure.
Not before 1850 were any distinctive types of corn produced, nor was any thought given to establish a breed of corn, as was practiced in livestock, and not until 1893 was it found to be possible to breed corn on scientific lines, and to get results that were anticipated. From 1850 to 1900 the farmers of Ver- milion County were very extensively engaged in livestock farming, consequently raised a greater percentage of yellow corn than white, as the yellow varieties were preferred for feeding cattle and other livestock, as most varieties of yel- low corn contain a higher percentage of protein, the muscle-building and fat- tening constituent of the kernel. Some very superior varieties of yellow corn were developed during this period, in this and adjoining counties and states, such as Reid's Yellow Dent, Leaming, Riley's Favorite, Golden Eagle, Legal Tender, Cattle King and others, while the white varieties that were developed along with the yellow varieties, were Boone County White, Silvermine, White Superior, Silver King and others. The white varieties have received in the last ten years more attention than in all the preceding years; as with the de- cline of the cattle industry in the corn belt, simultaneously was the decline in the production of yellow corn, and at the present time 75 per cent of all the corn produced in the corn belt is white corn.
To show with what persistent efforts some of our forefathers toiled with this plant, an extract from an account of an old settler will suffice: "We began to breed this corn a short time after my father brought the seed from Kentucky in 1848. I used the best ears that I could find in the field in the fall by going through and selecting the earliest and best-shaped ears free from mixed grains and at the same time being careful to get ears that grew out and down from the stalk, so as to turn the water out of the ears, as you will know all ears that grow straight up with the stalk are filled at the butt in the fall with water and spoiled, and also very hard to shuck, and never grow even on the
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stalk. I will say that it took me ten years to get the corn to send out ears at an even height and to grow on a small shank with just enough husk to cover the corn and no more. I was fifteen years getting rid of the red ears, and some- what longer in getting rid of white cobs. We make our selection of seed in the fall as we gather, so we can get the best ears from the stoutest stalks, the proper height from the ground, and also those not having too much shuck."
If more of our farmers of the county would pay the attention to their corn crops that this man did, the advancement and resulting profits would have been greater. It was the common practice years ago and in a few cases is still being followed, that the corn field was the same year after year, as it was thought that these soils were inexhaustible. I have been told by men of mature years that the fields of this county were planted to corn for a period of forty consecutive years, to their knowledge. Is it any wonder that at the present time the general average of the corn belt is so low? These fields are being put into a general rotation with oats and clover and are beginning to give better results.
It is now about fourteen years since investigations with a view to the im- provement of corn by breeding began, but before entering into an explanation of the scientific part of corn breeding as practiced by a few in Vermilion County and the state as well, it would be advisable to mention some of the important elements that go to make up the structure of the corn plant, assist in its growth, and the elements of plant food that enter into the construction of the perfect stalk and ear of corn.
The structure of the body of the corn plant (Zea Identata) the corn of the corn belt and the corn of commerce, is composed of many minute cells. These cells vary in shape and size in different parts of the same plant, and in different plants. The cell is filled with a living material called protoplasm. The greater part of protoplasm is cytoplasm, a colorless material of granular character. In addition to the cytoplasm, the nucleus or governing portion of the protoplasm is generally located in the center of the cell. Nucleoplasm forms the major part of the nucleus, although the vital principle contained therein is the chro- matin. Cells multiply, that is, development takes place at the growing point, by the process of cell division. Cellulose, a firmer material, constitutes the cell wall, which is usually very thin. Root growth takes place at a point just back of the cap, known as the growing point. The tip, which is pushed through the soil by the constant addition of cells at the growing point, is made up of harder cells and acts as a protection to that point. As it wears away, new cells are supplied from behind by the growing point.
Corn, which is merely a giant form of grass, has a fine, fibrous root system like all members of the grass family. The root system is not characterized by any tap root such as is found in clover. In the early stages the roots develop laterally. Thirty days after planting, the roots from adjacent stalks meet and interlace, and most of the roots will be found within the first eight inches of the surface of the soil, and very few will be found to have penetrated to the depth of twelve inches. Six inches from the hill the main roots will be found at a depth of 21/2 inches, while midway between the hills they will be found only 41/2 inches from the surface of the soil. The latter point should be es-
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pecially noted, for it is a strong argument in favor of shallow cultivation. It is a known fact that about from fifty to sixty days after planting, or the last cultivation, the roots have spread three and one-half feet from the stalk each way, and to a depth of two feet, and form a complete network of roots all over the field. The secondary root appears about the time of "laying by," the time when the summer winds begin to jostle the corn plants. In trying to support themselves, these roots are sent out.
These roots usually appear on the first and second nodes above ground, and they act as guys and stays, and from 22 to 28 appear at each node. If the weather is stormy and the corn has a tendency to blow over. these roots grow very rapidly.
We will pass over the structure of the plant, as a whole, the stalk leaves, and leaf development, and take up the flower or tassel part of the plant. Corn is a monecious plant, that is, having both male and female flowers on the same plant but in different places. From a botanical point of view, the words male and female, as applied to plants, are incorrect and should be called staminate and pistillate flowers, but we will use the first terms, as they seem to convey a more direct meaning.
The time of blossoming depends upon the time of planting, early or late varieties, seasonal influences and soil conditions. The male flowers are found in the tassels, arranged in the form of a panicle. There are two single flowers in each spikelet, while each single flower has its own set of inner bracts. Each flower has three stamens mounted on filaments that, as the pollen matures, lengthen and push out the polles sacks or anthers to be caught in the breeze. The anthers split along one side allowing the pollen grains to fall out and be wafted to other stalks, where they find lodgment on the silks of ears other than their own. These pollen grains are very small and buoyant, and each tassel contains from 25,000,000 to 50,000,000. This excess of pollen is necessary be- cause of the loss of so many grains which are lodged about the stalk and which fall to the ground.
The female or pistillate flowers are borne on a hardened spike or cob, which is produced on a branch coming from a node on the main stem. At first the leaf sheath covers and protects the outgrowth, but it soon appears above the sheath and the corn is said to be shooting. In a short time the husks open at the end and the silks appear. The outer end of each silk is often split, and is covered with very short hairs, which, together with a sticky or mucilaginous secretion present, aids in collecting pollen grains. The remainder of the silk to its attachment is tubular and is attached to the summit of the ovary or kernel, which is held in two sets of bracts and encloses within its walls a single ovule. There is but one silk for every ovary, and there are from 800 to 1,200 ovaries on each spike or cob.
Corn is a cross pollinated plant. Nature, in her effort to accomplish this, sends out the tassels as many as seven days before the silks appear on the shoot below. This character is taken advantage of in mating ears in the breed- ing block. When a pollen grain falls upon the stigma of a silk. the moisture there present, and the heat of the summer, causes it to germinate. The con- tained nuclei of the germinated pollen grain passes down through the canals
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