Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 15

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

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In 1853 he was elected to the Ohio Senate, where he presented a memorial for the establishment of a State Institution for the Training of Imbeciles. At the next session this measure was carried, and Dr. Townshend was appointed one of three trustees to carry the law into effect, a position he held by subsequent appointment for twenty-one years. While in political life he had relinquished the practice of medicine and with his family returned to the farm in Avon. Being deeply impressed with the valne of some scientific training for young farmers, in 1854 he united with Professors James H. Fair- child and James Dascomb, of Oberlin, and Dr. John S. Newberry, of Cleveland, in an attempt to establish an Agricultural College. Winter courses of lectures were given on the branches of science most intimately related to agriculture for three successive winters, twice at Oberlin and once at Cleveland.

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This effort, perhaps, had the effect of exciting public attention to the importance of special educa tion for the young farmer. Iu 1858 Dr. Townshend was chosen a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and so continued for six years. He also served in the same capacity in 1868-69. Early in 1863 he received the appointment of Medical Inspector in the United States Army, with the rank of Lientenant-Colonel, in which capacity he served to the end of the war.

Iu 1867 he was appointed one of the committee to examine the wool appraisers' department of the New York and Boston custom houses to ascertain how correctly imported wools were classified, etc., etc. . The report of this committee aided in securing the wool tariff of the same year. In 1869 he was chosen Professor of Agriculture in the Iowa Agrienltural College. In 1870 the law having passed to establish an Agricultural and Mechanical College in Ohio, he was appointed one of the trustees charged with the duty of carrying the law into effect. In 1873 he resigned the place of trustee aud was immediately appointed Professor of Agriculture, which then included Botany and Veterinary Medicines.

During the college vacation in 1884 he visited the agricultural, veterinary schools and botanic gar- dens of Great Britain and Ireland, and attended the English National Fair at Shrewsbury, that of Scotland at Edinburgh and of Ireland at Dubliu. Dr. Townshend is at present the Professor of Agri- culture in what was previously the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, now the Ohio State University.

THE agriculture of a country is dependent, not only upon its soil and climate, but also on the character of the people and their institutions. In 1787 the Con- tinental Congress made an ordinance for the government of the Northwestern Territory which prohibited the introduction of slavery, and thus exerted a con- trolling influence, not only upon the agriculture of the Northwest, but also upon the future of its entire material and social progress. This practically secured for the States soon to be formed an industrious, intelligent and thrifty population.

State Claims .- Virginia, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts made claims based on charters granted by kings of England to portions of the territory north- west of the Ohio. After much controversy it was proposed by Congress that these States should relinquish their claims in favor of the United States, and that the land should be sold for the benefit of the United States Treasury, and should be formed into new States to be admitted into the Union when their population warranted. This plan was adopted, except that Virginia reserved a tract of more than 3,000,000 acres between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers for the benefit of the soldiers from that State who had served in the war of the Revolution. This tract was known as the Virginia Military district. Connecticut also made a reservation of a tract in the northeast part of the territory, running west 120 miles from the Pennsylvania line and containing 3,800,000 acres. This was known as the Connecticut Western Reserve and was intended to compensate her soldiers for service in the Revolutionary war. Five hundred thousand acres from the west part of the Reserve, afterwards known as the Fire Lands, was given as compensation to her citizens who had sustained the loss of property by fire during that war. The whole of the Western Reserve was surveyed into town- ships of five miles square. These townships were divided into sections of a mile square and further subdivided into quarter sections.

Ohio Company .- The formation in Massachusetts of the Ohio Company and their establishment at Marietta (so named in honor of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France) on the company's purchase of 1,500,000 acres, marks an epoch in Western history. General Rufus Putnam and associates left their New England homes, and at Pittsburg procured a boat which they called the " Mayflower " and floated down the Ohio and landed where Marietta now stands on the 7th of April, 1788. On the 15th of July following a Territorial government was established, General Arthur St. Clair having been appointed governor.

Land Laws .- From this time extensive sales and grants of Ohio lands were made by Congress. A change was afterwards made in the United States land laws by which sales had been restricted to not less than a mile square, or 640 acres. This was changed to quarter-sections of 160 acres, and sold at $2 an acre, with a credit of five years. The beneficial effect of the change may be estimated from the fact that in 1800, the year in which the law was modified, the entire Northwest had a population of only 45,000, while in ten years from that time Ohio alone reported a population of 240,000.

Forests .- At the time of the first settlement of the Ohio Territory almost the whole region was covered by a dense forest. This forest consisted of oak, elm. ash, beech, maple, hickory, chestnut, butternut, black walnut, wild cherry, syca- more, tulip-tree, basswood, locust, sweet-gum, poplar, willow, mulberry, cucum-

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ber. box-elder, buckeye, etc. The native fruits were the cranberry, which grew in marshes, huckleberry, blackberry, pawpaw, persimmon, plum, wild grapes, and cherries, etc. Chestnuts, black walnuts, hickory nuts and butternuts were abundant, while beechnuts and acorns supplied the food upon which hogs fat- tened.

Wild Animals were numerous. Deer supplied many of the early settlers with meat. Bears, wolves, foxes, raccoons, woodchucks, opossums, skunks and squir- rels were, some of them, too common. Wild turkeys, geese and ducks, partridges, quails and pigeons were abundant. Eagles and turkey-buzzards were frequent visitors. Owls and hawks were more common and the latter very troublesome among the farmers' chickens.

Hunting was one of the active employments of the early settlers, either for the purpose of obtaining supplies of venison and other game, or for the destruction of troublesome animals, a bounty from county treasuries being paid for wolf scalps. Occasionally drives or general hunts were organized. Hunters sur- rounded a township or other tract and moved in line toward some designated point. Deer and other animals were surrounded; many deer were sometimes killed and numbers of more mischievous animals were occasionally destroyed. In the afternoon of the 1st of May, 1830, the writer, with two companions, walked from Cleveland some eighteen miles on the State road leading westward. The place of destination was not reached until late in the evening, when conversation had become difficult from the incessant howling of wolves. It is not a little remarkable that a gray wolf should have been killed in the west part of Cuya- hoga county on the 30th of April of the present year. For many years raccoons were specially troublesome in the ripening corn, and consequently the necessity of cooning was everywhere recognized. Active boys, with dogs, would visit the cornfields at night when the green corn attracted the raccoons, which were some- times caught in the field, but oftener by cutting trees in the vicinity upon which they had taken refuge.

Fishing .- In the spring fishing was a common resource for the settlers, especially in the vicinity of Lake Erie. When the fish started up the rivers at spawning time various devices were employed to capture them. Seines were most successful, but a simpler method was more common. The fisherman at night, with a lighted torch made of hickory bark in one hand and a fish-spear in the other, waded knee-deep or more into the stream; then, as fish attracted by the light came near, they were struck with the spear and thrown out of the water or otherwise secured. Pike, pickerel, catfish, sturgeon, muscalunge and mullet, as many as the fisherman could carry home, were sometimes caught. Some were used fresh, but more were salted and kept for future supply.

Work .- In the early settlement of the State a formidable amount of work con- fronted the pioneer-building of houses and barns, of schools and meeting- houses, the making of roads, bridging of streams, clearing and fencing the land. Then came planting or sowing, cultivation and harvesting of crops and the con- stant care of his animals. The first buildings were of logs a foot or more in diameter. These were cut of suitable length and brought together, then neigh- bors were invited to the raising. One axeman went to each of the four corners to notch and fit the logs as others rolled them up. In some cases larger logs split in halves were used. These could be placed with the split sides inward so as to make a tolerably smooth and perpendicular wall. The log school-houses and meeting-houses were built in the same manner, though, as in the case of dwelling- houses, the logs were sometimes squared before being put up. The structure was then called a block-house. Log-houses were covered with long split oak shingles held in place by small logs or poles so that no nails were required. Floors and doors were made from logs split into flat pieces and hewn smooth. When saw- mills had been introduced and lumber could be obtained for door-frames, doors, window-frames, etc., houses could be much more neatly finished. After lumber became plentiful frame buildings superseded those of logs. More recently brick and stone have come into general use.

Road-making was at first very simple. A surveyor, or some other person sup- posed to know the proposed route, blazed the trees in the line ; this was sufficient to mark the course, then the track of sufficient width was underbrushed, and the

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dead logs cut, and rolled or drawn aside. When the amount of travel made it necessary the timber from the whole breadth of the route was cut and removed. Upon low, wet places logways were made by placing logs of equal size closely together, and sometimes a light covering of earth was placed over the logs so that vehicles could pass over smoothly. Small bridges, where timbers of extra length were not required, were easily made, but across streams not passable by an easily made bridge or ford ferries were established. If a person or team needed to cross a stream, the ferryman with his boat took them over ; if they came to the river from the side opposite to that on which the ferryman lived, they found near the road a tin horn tied to a tree ; this they blew, until the ferryman brought over the boat.

Clearing .- For clearing away the forest, the chopping was usually done in the winter months. First the underbrush was cut and piled, the logs already down were cut into lengths, which permitted them to be drawn together ; occasionally these dead logs were burned into pieces by small fires kept up until the logs were burned through. The timber suitable for rails was next cut down and into suitable lengths, and drawn to the lines where fences were to be built; the bal- ance of the timber was then cut down, and chopped into convenient lengths for logging. When the brushwood and timber upon a tract was all cut it was left through the summer, and called a summer-fallow, the timber in the meantime becoming dry. In the fall the brush-heaps were burned, then the logs were drawn together by oxen, and rolled into log-heaps and burned. Next the rail- cuts were split into rails, and the worm-fence built, after which came the wheat- sowing. In some sections, or upon some farms, the timber was not all cut down, many of the larger trees being notched around or girdled, so that they died. This process of deadening the large trees was a great saving of labor in the first instance; but as dead limbs and trees were liable to fall, and perhaps do mischief, it was not generally approved.

Ashes-Sugar .- The first valuable product which the settler obtained from his land was the ashes which remained after the timber was burnt. These were care- fully gathered and leached ; the lye was then boiled into black salts, which were marketable at the country stores. In many towns asheries were established, which bought the ashes or black salts, and converted them into pot- or pearl-ash for Eastern markets. Another product of the forest also required the farmers' atten- tion : with the first warm days of spring the sap of the maple-trees was started. The hard maples were tapped, and in some localities even the soft maples; the sap was collected in troughs made by the axe, and boiled to the consistency of syrup, or carried a step further, until crystallization was secured. Maple-sugar making saved the early settlers from what would have involved a large ex- penditure.

Teams .- The team-work necessary in clearing, and for farm-work in the new country, was chiefly done by oxen. The employment of oxen appeared to secure many advantages ; the first cost was less than for horses, oxen are more easily kept, the yoke with which they were worked could be made by any handy farmer, and was therefore much less expensive than the harness necessary for horses. The log-chains used with oxen were well adapted for work among timber, and when broken could easily be mended by the country blacksmith ; and if any accident befell the ox, and he became unfit for work, this probably did not pre- vent his being fattened and turned into beef. In general, steers were easily trained. Sometimes they were worked with those already broken, but, whatever plan was adopted, they soon learned to make themselves useful. Before the introduction of improved breeds of cattle all working oxen were of what was called native stock; after the introduction of Devons into some parts of the State, these were found to be greatly superior for work. In addition to their uniform beautiful red color and handsome horns, the Devons proved more active and more easily taught than other breeds. Since the introduction of the mower, reaper, and other forms of farm machinery, the quicker-stepping horse has been found more desirable for team work, not only upon the road but also on the farm.

Wheat .- After clearing and fencing, wheat was sown broadcast among the stumps with a rude harrow called a drag; it was scratched under the surface. For many years the wheat when ripe was cut with a sickle; in some parts of the

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State the grain-cradle was introduced as early as 1830, or perhaps earlier, and this gradually superseded the older implement. After being cut, the wheat was allowed to stand some days in shock, in order to dry before it was hauled to the barn or stack. It was usually thrashed with the flail, though the more expe- ditious method of treading out the grain by horses was sometimes employed. After thrashing the wheat was separated from the chaff by throwing them up before the wind ; or a fan, with a revolving frame, to which pieces of canvas were attached, was used to raise the wind ; finally, the fanning-mill came into use some years before the horse-power thrashing-machine. We may now be thankful for more expeditious methods, for the United States census for 1880 reports the wheat crop of Ohio at 49,790,475 bushels; only the State of Illinois produced more.

Grass .- In the spring, as early as April, or perhaps earlier, it was customary to sow grass-seed and clover among the growing wheat. At the time of harvest there was but little grass to be seen, but when no longer shaded it made rapid growth, and a pasture or meadow was soon established. For many years the grass crop was cut by the scythe, and tedded, or spread from the swath with a fork. When dry, it was gathered together with a hand-rake, and hauled to the barn or stack upon a cart drawn by oxen. Mowing with a scythe required skill as well as strength, and hence to be a good mower was an object of ambition among young farmers. It must nowadays appear strange to good old mowers, who still remain among us, to see a half-grown boy or a sprightly girl jump upon a mowing-machine, and with a pair of horses cut as much grass in an hour as the best mower could aforetime cut in a whole day.

Corn .- On land newly cleared and fenced early in May corn planting com- menced. A bag to hold the seed-corn was suspended by tape or string around the waist of the planter. The corn was usually planted dry, though sometimes it was soaked to insure more speedy germination. The implement used in plant- ing was a heavy, sharp hoe; this would raise the rooty or leafy soil, and allow the corn to be thrown under: what had been raised could then be pressed down with the back of the hoe or with the foot ; or an old axe was used to make a hole, into which the corn was dropped. When the corn was a few inches high the weeds were cleared away with the hoe, and the soil stirred about the hill. On lands that had been cleared a few years and the roots decayed, the plow, drawn by oxen, was used between the rows of growing corn, the oxen wearing baskets on their muzzles to prevent them from cropping off the corn; the cultivator had not then made its appearance. The corn, when ripe, was husked standing, or it was cut and shocked, and the husking left until the farmer had leisure. If one became sick, and fell behind in his work, the neighbors would give him the benefit of a husking-bee; ten or a dozen, or possibly twenty of them, would come to- gether, and give a half-day's, or perhaps a whole day's work. Yellow dent or gourd-seed corn was preferred for feeding, but in the northern part of the State white-flint corn was raised for many years, because it found such ready market at higher price with the Hudson's Bay Fur Company, by whom it was hulled, and supplied to their trappers. The corn crop of Ohio has largely increased during the century. The United States census for 1880 reports the corn crop of the State at 119,940,000, or within a fraction of one hundred and twenty millions of bushels.

Farm Implements .- For many years after tillage commenced in Ohio the plow with wooden mould-board was in use, the landside, share and point being of iron and steel. The cast-iron plow of Jethro Wood appeared about 1820, but did not immediately come into general use. The next improvement consisted in chill- ing and hardening the cutting parts. Then plows of well-tempered steel came into use, and finally the sulky plow, on which the plowman rides comfortably while the work is done. The pioneer harrow was made from the crotch of a tree. It usually had four teeth on each side and one in front. This was called a drag. It was a very convenient implement for covering grain among stumps and roots. After a time the double Scotch harrow and then the Geddes Harrow came into use. Finally the Acme was reached. The wheat drill for seeding had long been used in other countries and was introduced into Ohio as soon as the stumps and roots were out of the way. At the State Fair, held in Cleveland in 1852, grain

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drills, corn planters, broadcast wheat sowers, corn shellers for horse and hand power, corn and cob crushers and one and two-horse cultivators were on exhibi- tion, The cultivator for use among corn and the revolving horse-rake were patented in 1824, McCormick's reaper in 1831 and Hussey's mower in 1833. At a State trial for reapers and mowers, held in Springfield in 1852, twelve different reapers and mowers competed for the prize. Later came the reaper and binder, the hay loader and stacker and the steam thrasher and cleaner. These imple- ments have so changed the character of harvest work as to make it possible to increase almost indefinitely the amount of cereals raised. Flax was at one time an important crop in Ohio. It was sown, cleaned, pulled, rotted, broken, swingled, hatcheled, spun and woven in the home and made into linen for the household and into summer garments for men and boys. In 1869 Ohio produced nearly 80,000,000 pounds of flax fibre and had ninety flax mills in operation. In 1870 the tariff on gunny cloth grown in the East Indies was removed and as a result every flax mill in Ohio was stopped and the amount of flax fibre reduced in 1886 to less than 2,000,000 pounds.

Improvement of Stock .- In 1834 the Ohio Importing Company was organized in Ross county by Mr. Felix Renick and others. Agents of this company visited England and brought to Ohio many first-class Shorthorns. Previous to this Mr. Patton had brought into the State the descendants of cattle of a previous importa- tion made into Maryland. Since that time many importations have been made. Devons, Shorthorns, Herefords, Ayreshires, Red Polled, Alderneys, Jerseys, Guernseys, Polled Angus and Holsteins are now all seen at the State and County Fairs. For a time in the early history of the State there existed a serious hin- drance to the improvement of Ohio's cattle in the prevalence of a fatal disease, known as bloody murrain. Gradually this has become less and less troublesome, until at the present time it is scarcely known.

Dairying .- For many years dairying in Ohio has been one of the leading in- dustries. In the winter of 1851-2 the Ohio Dairymen's Association was formed. In 1861 the statistics of cheese production were first collected. In 1886 the amount of factory cheese made in the State exceeded 16,500,000 pounds, and that of farm dairies was nearly 3,000,000 pounds. The change in the style and pur- pose of Ohio cattle will be observed. At first those were preferred that were best adapted for labor, then those that were specially fitted for beef, and more recently those which are best suited for the dairy.

Sheep had early been brought to this country and raised both for wool and mutton. The first importation of Spanish Merinoes into the United States was made by General Humphreys near the beginning of the present century. "Some descendants of that importation were brought to Ohio by Mr. Atwood. Messrs. Wells and Dickinson also brought valuable sheep to the State. Merinoes, Saxons, Silesians, French Merinoes, and the long-wooled and mutton sheep of England, Lincolns, Coteswolds and Leicesters, also Sussex, Hampshire and Shropshire Downs have all been exhibited at State Fairs. Sheep in Ohio were more numerous a few years since, but the change made in the tariff upon for- eign wools in 1883 has considerably reduced their number.

Swine .- A great change has been made in the swine of the State. At first the hog that could make a good living upon what fell from the trees of the forest and could most successfully escape from bears and wolves, in accordance with the law of the " survival of the fittest," was the most likely to increase. Under the influences to which swine were subjected for the first quarter or half a century it is not surprising that the common hog of Ohio was known as a "rail splitter." In the latter part of the century Berkshires, Chester Whites, Irish Graziers, Chinas, Neapolitans, Essexs and Suffolks have been introduced, until to-day what is sometimes called the Butler county hog, or Poland China, may be said to com- bine the excellencies of all.

Horses, though less used than formerly for distant travel, are coming more and more into use on the farm. In the early part of the century the only recognized way of improving the quality of this serviceable animal was by the importation and use of thoroughbred stallions. Such animals were introduced into nearly every county of the State and many beautiful horses for light draft was the re- sult. At State Fairs the classification has usually been : Thoroughbreds, Road.

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sters, of which class Morgans were a conspicuous example, General Purpose and Draft Horses. This was thought more convenient than classification by breeds, such as Clydesdale, Cleveland Bay, Norman, Percheron, etc., all of which, how- ever, are seen at our fairs.

Fruit .- From several quarters the fruits of Ohio have been improved. The first settlers at Marietta had among their number men interested in fruit culture. On the Western Reserve Dr. Kirtland early imported fine varieties of fruit from New Jersey. The improvements he himself made in cherries were of still greater importance. At Cincinnati Nicholas Longworth had established a vineyard upon Bald Hill as early as 1833, and succeeded in introducing fine varieties of grapes. Gradually it was seen that the climate of the southern shore of Lake Erie and the adjacent islands was better adapted to grape culture than portions of the State more inland. The important work accomplished for the improvement of the fruit of the Northwest by the gentlemen named and by Dr. John A. Warder, N. Ohmer, Geo. W. Campbell and their associates of the Ohio Pomological So- ciety, which was organized in 1852, and of its legitimate successor, the State Horticultural Society, since 1867 cannot be estimated.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 15

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006