USA > Indiana > Marshall County > History of Indiana : containing a history of Indiana and biographical sketches of governors and other leading men. Also a statement of the growth and prosperity of Marshall County, together with a personal and family histry of many of its citizens, Vol. II > Part 10
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MARSHALL COUNTY.
as they might need. To do all this successfully you must secure intelligent and interested assistance. The ordinary farm hand cares but little what the results from his labor amounts to. It is but little to him whether it is ten bushels of wheat or thirty bush- els per acre. If any difference he would rather see the ten, for then there would not be so much to handle and less labor to per- form. Then the question arises, what are we farmers to do ? Our boys are leaving us and we are getting old and unable to work, and we must have labor on the farm and consequently have to take such as we can get. I would suggest that the boys on the farm be taken into partnership; that they be made interested partners in all that is done or undertaken; that they be consulted in every matter of importance. Give their brains plenty of work to do. Show them that it requires more intelligence to farm suc- cessfully than it does for almost any other vocation. Help them to surround themselves with such labor-saving machinery as will develop brain as well as muscle. Give them to see that out of the soil, well managed, they can produce almost any living thing necessary for man's comfort. And above all, if your boy wants a dollar, don't have him come begging for it like a tramp or a pau- per. But what he needs, let him take, feeling that he is like the partner that he is or should be. In this way make him feel all the responsibility of the situation. For this is the crowning joy of a boy's life. They want to shoulder responsibility and know that somebody trusts them.
"Then again the wife, the mother, the one above every other we can so illy afford to leave out of the partnership, is so gen- erally ignorant of what is going on on the farm. How often I have called at a farm house and asked what the man of the house was doing. The answer from the lady of the house would be: "Well, I don't know. He went off this morning and I have not seen him since. He hardly ever tells me where he is going or what he is doing." Shame on such a man. If you had taken as little interest in telling her what you was and what you intended doing when you were courting her you never would have won her. If it was necessary then to tell her all about yourself when you were two, how much more necessary and sensible it is after she becomes the mother of your children and is so interested in the success of your every undertaking that she should not only be made a confidant, but should be consulted in all matters per- taining to what you are, what you have and what you intend to do.
" In conclusion, if you have so farmed as not only to retain, but to increase the fertility of the soil, have made good and in- telligent farmers of your boys, such as will be an honor to their profession and a comfort to their parents; if you have made the wife, the companion of your youth, your happy partner and con-
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
fidant; if by your example you have been the means of improving the condition of farming in your community, you have not lived in vain, and your soil has been very profitably cultivated."
Equally appropriate are the suggestions made by Hon. W. B. Seward, of Bloomington, Ind., in an address delivered before the Marion County Agricultural society, in 1888. Under the heading of "How to Secure Better Results in Farming," the Hon. Mr. Seward spoke as follows:
"The topic for discussion is, 'How to Secure Better Results in Farming.' It would afford me pleasure to give you a com- plete and satisfactory answer to this great question, if I could. The question is such a large one, has a bearing in so many dif- ferent directions, that I could not hope in the short time I shall occupy, to follow all these various directions, even if I knew them, which I am certain I do not, so I feel at liberty to take any of the roads that seems to lead in the direction we wish to go, that happens to suit my fancy.
" An old English cook book in giving direction how to cook a rabbit, started out by saying first procure the rabbit. Now my first and main receipt for how to secure better results in farming, is to first procure a farmer. The man or woman who succeeds in any business, must thoroughly understand that business, and be fully satisfied to follow it. If a man follows the plow only to get a little money so that he can move to town and set up a corner grocery, you may depend upon it that he will never be a successful farmer, for the reason that his heart is not in the busi- ness. He has other aims in life and will not give the devotion to the business necessary to success. The man who follows farm- ing, or any other business, and makes a success of it, must put his whole heart and soul in the business. There must be no reservation, mental or otherwise, that so soon as he accumulates a certain amount he will abandon farming for some other calling. He must be in love with his business and think only of how he can improve his mode of cultivation, and some day be the model farmer, owning the model farm in his neighborhood. It is a pride worthy of any man to strive to be a model farmer, owning a model farm. How many have we who are working with this end in view, and striving to dignify and honor the business of farming.
" It is an unfortunate fact that we have many unsuccessful farmers, as well as many unsuccessful men in all other avocations, and that the fault is oftener with the men than the business. It should be distinctly understood that it is not the business that makes the man, but the man that makes the business. This rule must never be lost sight of if we expect to succeed in any of our business efforts. Some persons will make a grand success where others under similar circumstances make an entire failure. Some
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years ago I knew a farmer who owned a good farm, which he received as a portion with his wife. He was raised on a farm, and had never attempted any other business. He had a ' hired' man working for $20 per month. Time wore on, and after some ten years, the hired man owned the farm, had money in bank, and the farmer owned nothing. In this case one had a capacity for business, the other had not, and so according to that invari- able and unchanging law that the fittest shall survive, the one without capacity had to give way.
" Then, to succeed, we must first procure a farmer. He must be a real farmer, fully imbued with the dignity and nobility of the calling, and willing to endure the hardships incident to the business for the pleasure and profit it will bring him. When you have a man of this kind, he will make a success of the business, because it is his business and aim in life to make the business a success. He has gain and pride as an incentive to extra exer- tion. He wants to be the model farmer owning the model farm in his neighborhood, and I glory in his pride and spunk. It is a worthy pride, and if more farmers were filled chuck full of it, we would have a better supply of successful farmers. There are many who try the business of farming that fail even with their best efforts, but this is no fault of the business, it is for lack of capacity on the part of those making the trial. It is not every one that has the brains, industry and economy to make a suc- cessful farmer, yet this is no reason why the business may not be highly successful to those that have the capacity to manage it. Many will try in the future, as in the past, and fail, but we can shift this class off and let them become lawyers and politicians, and if they fail again, it is no harm to the country, as we don't depend upon them for anything, any way. But a failure in farm- ing, while but a small loss to each individual farmer, is a calamity to our country, and it is this broad, patriotic view that we should take of the subject. What it pays this man or that man as an individual to follow the business of farming is of little moment compared to the wholesale interest our country has in successful farming. Our nation's wealth and prosperity hinges so largely on successful farming, that vast sums of money are now being directed by our national as well as state governments for a more thorough education in the various branches of husbandry, and from this source must come in the near future, results that will prove the wisdom of devoting time and money from the public treasury for the promulgation of knowledge on a subject of such vital interest to us as a nation. But knowledge and education if not intelligently and industriously applied, is of no value. The measure of success or failure in any business, may be accurately determined by the amount of brains and industry used in con- ducting the business. This is a rule without an exception in 7-B.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
every business, and to none does it apply with more force than to farming. The same care, devotion and economy, that makes a manufacturer succeed in business will make a farmer succeed also.
"It was popularly supposed in times past by many, and by some at the present time, and perhaps not without a shade of truth behind it, that farmers are slow, plodding, ignorant beings, that consent to live for a time that they may bear the burdens of their betters, and then considerately die to make room for others of the same kind. We may have had too many of this kind of farmers in times past, but they are rapidly becoming things of the past. Universal education is producing a revolution in the ranks of this class where they exist, and is the lever that is ele- vating the farmer to a proper knowledge of the importance and dignity of his calling. On the floor above our heads are one hundred gentlemen, gathered from all parts of our state to legis- late for us. It is a fair average body of men, for legis- lators, and equal, perhaps, in point of education and intelli- gence to any legislature we ever had. The same week the legislature convened there was a meeting in this room of the delegate state board of agriculture, gentlemen gathered from all parts of our state as is the legislature. Each gathering consisted of about the same number of men. I took a look at both bodies of men, heard speeches from each, looked them all square in the face, and applied every rule of measure- ment within my knowledge to try to determine fairly and honestly as I would in awarding a premium, which was the most intelli- gent, best educated and progressive body of men, and I say to you frankly that I was unable to decide the matter. In no respect could I see that the legislature was superior to the body of men meeting in this room, that were selected almost wholly from farm- ers. This is not an insidious comparison, and is only made to show the progress of education, and illustrate the fact that we now have farmers in all parts of our state capable of successfully managing a farm or a state legislature if need be, and in fact part of those making up the meeting in this room spoken of were members elect of the present legislature, and many others were ex-members. The delegate state board of agriculture is made up of representative farmers in their respective neighborhoods, and are enthusiastic enough and successful enough in the man- agement of their business to spare the time and the money to at- tend meetings like that one and this one to-day, with the hope of learning something that will help to secure better results in farming.
" It is by this class of men that we are to be taught how to se- cure better results in farming. They are all teachers as well as students, and all candidates for model farmers. Now, the model
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farmer is no more like the ignorant, plodding being that we heard of than is the poorest scrub cow to the finest specimen of blooded stock ever seen. One of the first and most important lessons learned by the model farmer is nature's law of compensation. He is too liberal in soul after he has become a model farmer to expect something for nothing. You will never hear him grumb- ling at nature and claiming that we are all going to starve be- cause he can't count eggs by the dozen year in and year out from the same basket and never put any eggs in the basket. He rec- ognizes the fact that nature doesn't work this way, and that he is powerless to change nature's laws of compensation, and would certainly make a great botch of it even if he could; so he adapts himself and his business to these unchanging laws as he finds them. The model farmer does not expect to take tons of wheat, corn, hay, etc., from the field and pay that field nothing for it. He may have tried before he became a model farmer to work the field on credit, merely giving it a promise that if prices for its products are good and taxes not too high, that by and by he will pay something to the field that has been so liberal with him, but the field won't work this way, as it does not do a credit busi- ness. It pays promptly with double compound interest for all that is deposited with it, but the little it asks in return for all that it gives must be promptly paid.
"Now, to sum the whole matter up as to how to secure better results in farming, I would say that we must have first-class, in- dustrious, economical, educated men in the business, the same as in any other business that succeeds. A man in becoming a model farmer has mastered all the details of plowing, rotation of crops, use of fertilizers, under drainage and hundreds of other details that are useful."
The following paper, read by the Hon. Robert Mitchell, of Princeton, Gibson county, before the agricultural society of this state for 1888, may be read with interest and profit by the prac- tical farmer, the subject being: " Is there enough stock kept on the farms of Indiana to keep up the fertility of the soil?"
" The question of fertility of the soil is one that needs careful consideration at the hands of the farmers of the state. The wealth of the coal fields of any state is estimated by its output of coal in manufacturing cities. The wealth of such manufactories is measured by their output of manufactured articles. The agri- cultural wealth of a state is estimated by the output of wheat, corn, oats, pork, beef, wool, poultry, fruit and vegetables. Now, the question is, can Mother Earth continue on giving to the husbandman such lavish gifts without being reimbursed in a substantial way. So I come now to the subject, is there enough stock kept on the farms of our state to make manure sufficient to keep up the fertility of the soil? The answer to the question
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
may be put down, No, not one-half ! Then, if there is not barn- yard manure enough, resort must be had to other ways of keep- ing up the fertility of the soil. Among the best and cheapest fertilizers for the farms, none is better than red clover. When clover seed is selling at $4.00 per bushel, it will cost fifty cents an acre to seed your wheat fields. A common practice with the best farmers of southern Indiana is to sow all the wheat fields to clover, and if the season is favorable to the growth of clover, by the time the fall plowing begins a rank growth of clover is ready to be turned under for fall seeding for wheat. The heavy growth of clover thus turned under each year for a few years will increase the fertility of the soil much cheaper and the benefits will be almost equal to a good spread of barn-yard manure. The next best way of keeping up the fertility of the soil is by a rotating system of crops, say corn after clover pasture, wheat after corn, and clover again after wheat. If this system of rotating crops is adopted by the farmer, his lands will improve in fertility. A third plan of keeping up the fertility of the soil is by the use of active fertilizers, such as lime, bone-dust, dried blood, and other chemical preparations. These active fertilizers are for the im- mediate wants and benefits of the crops they are sowed upon, and will give good crops, but as a rule do not contribute a last- ing benefit to the soil such as clover or barn-yard manure. Well do I recollect when a boy on my father's farm in Scotland, how he would make us hustle around and gather together all of the droppings of the stock about the barn-yard, and carefully pile it up for future use. The Scotch farmer looked upon the size of his manure pile with as much pleasure as a good bank account on the credit side of the ledger. I also recollect when I came to Indiana, thirty-seven years ago, and it amused me very much to see the average Hoosier farmer at that time, when his horses could no longer get into the stables for the manure pile, go to work and tear down the old log stable and build anew, rather than clean the manure out of the stable. Quite a change, how- ever, is come about now in Indiana. The old log stable is re- placed by substantial barns, and the thrifty farmers can be seen at all seasons of the year, not only saving all the manure care- fully, produced on the farm, but at leisure times his teams are busy hauling all the manure he can get, for well he knows now that a liberal supply of good manure is the farmer's best friend."
It is to be said, to the shame and disgrace of our county, that owing to bickerings, selfishness and jealousies, which never ought to exist in any community, that Marshall county now has no agricultural society. Concerning the defunct society of this county, the following, in quotation marks, is taken from the his- tory of Marshall county, written by Hon. Daniel McDonald, and is about all that can be said of it: "Marshall County Agricul-
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MARSHALL COUNTY.
tural Society .- This society was organized in 1855, with James A. Corse, president; G. O. Pomeroy, treasurer; Samuel B. Corba- ley, secretary. It was organized under the law authorizing the formation of voluntary associations, and its permanent members were those who paid $3 or more. The first fair was held in the old court-house, the live stock being corraled in the court yard. It wasn't much of a fair, to be sure, but then it was creditable as a beginning, taking into consideration the fact that the society owned no property and had no money of consequence to pay premiums, and its officers totally inexperienced in the business. The condition of the society for the year ending 1856, was shown to be as follows:
Cash on hand, last year.
$33.00
Received for memberships.
70.00
Received from county treasurer
30.00
Received for interest
2.60
Total
$135.60
Paid fixtures.
16.47
Paid premiums
128.50
Total
$144.97
" Deficit, $9.37, which was made up by donations as follows: A. L. Wheeler, $3; D. S. Conger, $5; Joel Parker, $3; D. L. Gibson, $2; John Cleaveland, $1; A. G. Armstrong, $1; J. Brown- lee, $1; R. Hewitt, $1; J. B. Halsey, 50 cents; W. J. Hand, 36 cents; G. O. Pomeroy, $5; total, $26.36, leaving a balance of $13.49 in the treasury. The officers for 1857 were then elected, as follows: D. S. Conger, president; J. B. Halsey, vice president; D. Vinnedge, treasurer; S. B. Corbaley, secretary; I. Mattingly and Thomas McDonald (editors of the Republican and Democrat) were constituted honorary members. Some time afterward the society purchased from David Vinnedge what is now known as the fair grounds, adjoining Plymouth on the north. The so- ciety labored faithfully for a period of fifteen years to build up first-class exhibitions, but met with indifferent success."
About 1873, the society was organized on the joint-stock plan, purchased additional grounds, made a new time track and estab- lished the organization on a strictly business basis. There was some opposition to the plan of organization, but notwithstanding this, the second year the fair proved the most successful, finan- cially, of any previously held, and the society closed the year with the floating debt and premium list fully paid and some money in the treasury. A change of officers brought a change of manage- ment and the people failing to give it that support it deserved, the officers were unable to pay the interest on the mortgage of
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
the grounds, held by the school fund of the state, and therefore the lands were forfeited and sold by the county auditor, to Will- iam Scofield and John Seltenright, the present owners. "These gentlemen held fairs on their own account in October, 1879 and 1880. The exhibitions were about up to the average of those be- fore held, and the receipts fell a few dollars short of the expen- ditures on the first, and a few dollars more on the last."
Since the last above given date, 1889, up to the writing of this 1890, no fairs have been held by the owners of the grounds. The time track has been kept up by a number of horse-raisers and trainers in the city of Plymouth, and is now in better condition for speeding horses than ever before. The grove and grounds generally, are in good condition, and admirably adapted to the holding of agricultural and other fairs. These grounds would also make a splendid park for the city, and if bought by the county, as a county fair grounds, as provided by our statutes, or by the city as a park, the investment would prove to be a good and paying one in the near future, provided they can be obtained on reasonable terms, and it is generally understood that the pres- ent owners will sell very cheap if the grounds are to be used for either of the purposes above named.
It does seem that our good citizens of both the county and the county seat, who are interested in the welfare and develop- ment of the whole county, and who have some pride as citizens of one of the very best agricultural counties in our state, and also residents of the finest located county seat almost anywhere to be found in the country, should come to some amicable under- standing and do that which would enhance the interests of all concerned and place our county where it deserves to be, so far as its fertility is concerned, among the first counties in Indiana. With the proper citizens, both in the country and the city, to take hold of the matter; men who would make reasonable concessions and agree to arrangements that would give every class of citizens a day on the programme, Marshall county could have one of the best agricultural societies in the state.
The way matters now are, our county has no respectable showing in the agricultural reports of our state, while counties that are vastly inferior to ours in agricultural resources, have full and creditable reports concerning their crops, stock, etc. This is our own fault, sin and shame, and the citizens of Marshall county, alone, can right the wrong they are committing year after year, against themselves and their best interests.
These last paragraphs are written as a general protest against the present condition of affairs.
The Bremen Agricultural Society .- The Bremen Agricultural society was organized June 28, 1889, under the statutes of the state, approved March 6, 1889. Its objects are the promotion of
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MARSHALL COUNTY.
the agricultural and mechanical interests of Bremen and German townships. The first officers elected were as follows: Morgan D. Fink, president; John Huff, vice president; H. H. Miller, secre- tary; John R. Dietrich, treasurer. Directors: Jacob Carbiner, Jacob Vollmer, Jacob C. Kauffmann, E. J. Thompson, P. E. Diet- rich, A. H. Fries, and Samuel Leeper.
Under the above management a fair was held during the fall of 1889, which was an entire success, the receipts, entries and at- tendance being much greater than was anticipated by the most sanguine members and friends of the organization. The society owns real estate valued at $2,500, and the improvements on the grounds are estimated at fully $1,500. The future prospects of the society are very flattering and the intention of its founders is to make it one of the permanent institutions of the county. Its financial condition is sound, being entirely out of debt at the close of the society's first exhibition.
The officers and directors elected for the second or present year are very nearly the same as those who so successfully and satisfactorily managed the business of the society for the first year, being as follows: John Huff, president; John L. Wesler, vice president; H. H. Miller, secretary; John R. Dietrich, treas- urer. Directors: Jacob Carbiner, Jacob Vollmer, Jacob C. Kauff- mann, E. J. Thompson, P. E. Dietrich, E. H. Miller, James B. Synder.
Pioneer Farmers' Club .- The Pioneer Farmers' club was or- ganized in 1871. The first officers were: W. H. Sparrow, presi- dent; Washington Iden, secretary; Aaron Armantrout, treasurer. It was organized on the basis of free exhibition of stock, machin- ery, agricultural products, etc. No money premiums were to be awarded, and no entrance or admission fees were to be charged. The first exhibition was considered a grand success - so much so that the association has continued to give exhibitions on the same general plan up to the present time. In 1873, the club unanimously passed the following resolution:
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