History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 27

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > Ohio > Medina County > History of Medina county and Ohio > Part 27

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Among the individuals prominent in introducing fruits into the State, were Mr. Dille, of Euclid, Judge Fuller, Judge Whittlesey, and Mr. Lindley. George Hoadly was also very prominent and ener- getic in the matter, and was, perhaps, the first to introduce the pear to any extent. He was one of the most persistent and enthusiastic amateurs in horticulture and pomology in the West. About the year 1810, Dr. Jared Kirtland, father of Prof. J. P. Kirtland, so favorably known among horticulturists and pomologists, came from Connecticut and settled in Poland, Mahoning County, with his family. This family has done more than any other in the State, perhaps, to

advance fruit culture. About the year 1824, Prof. J. P. Kirtland, in connection with his brother, established a nursery at Poland, then in Trumbull County, and brought on from New England above a hundred of their best varieties of apples, cherries, peaches, pears, and smaller fruits, and a year or two after brought from New Jersey a hundred of the best varieties of that State; others were ob- tained in New York, so that they possessed the larg- est and most varied stock in the Western country. These two men gave a great impetus to fruit cult- ure in the West, and did more than any others of that day to introduce improved kinds of all fruits in that part of the United States.

Another prominent man in this branch of indus- try was Mr. Andrew H. Ernst, of Cincinnati. Although not so early a settler as the Kirtlands, he was, like them, an ardent student and propa- gator of fine fruits. He introduced more than six hundred varieties of apples and seven hun- dred of pears, both native and foreign. His object was to test by actual experience the most valuable sorts for the diversified soil and climate of the Western country.

The name of Nicholas Longworth, also of Cin- cinnati, is one of the most extensively known of any in the science of horticulture and pomology. For more than fifty years he made these his especial delight. Having a large tract of land in the lower part of Cincinnati, he established nurseries, and planted and disseminated every variety of fruits that could be found in the United States -- East or West-making occasional importations from European countries of such varieties as were thought to be adapted to the Western climate. His success has been variable, governed by the season, and in a measure by his numerous experi- ments. His vineyards, cultivated by tenants, gen- erally Germans, on the European plan, during the latter years of his experience paid him a hand- some revenue. He introduced the famous Catawba grape, the standard grape of the West. It is stated that Mr. Longworth bears the same relation to vineyard culture that Fulton did to steam navi- gation. Others made earlier effort, but he was the first to establish it on a permanent basis. He has also been eminently successful in the cultivation of the strawberry, and was the first to firmly establish it on Western soil. He also bronght the Ohio Ever- bearing Raspberry into notice in the State, and widely disseminated it throughout the country.

Other smaller fruits were brought out to the West like those mentioned. In some cases fruits

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indigenous to the soil were cultivated and improved, and as improved fruits, are known favorably where- ever used.

In chronology and importance, of all the eereals, eorn stands foremost. During the early pioneer period, it was the staple article of food for both man and beast. It could be made into a variety of forms of food, and as such was not only palata- ble but highly nutritious and strengthening.

It is very difficult to determine whether corn originated in America or in the Old World. Many prominent botanists assert it is a native of Turkey, and originally was known as " Turkey wheat." Still others claimed to have found mention of maize in Chinese writings antedating the Turkish discovery. Grains of maize were found in an Egyptian mum- my, which goes to prove to many the cereal was known in Africa since the earliest times. Maize was found in America when first visited by white men, but of its origin Indians could give no ac- eount. It had always been known among them, and constituted their chief article of vegetable diet. It was cultivated exclusively by their squaws, the men considering it beneath their dignity to engage in any manual labor. It is altogether probable corn was known in the Old World long before the New was discovered. The Arabs or Crusaders probably introduced it into Europe. How it was introduced into America will, in all probability, remain nn- known. It may have been an indigenous plant, like many others. Its introduction into Ohio dates with the settlement of the whites, especially its eultivation and use as an article of trade. True, the Indians had cultivated it in small quantities ; each lodge a little for itself, but no effort to make of it a national support began until the civilization of the white race became established. From that time on, the increase in crops has grown with the State, and, excepting the great eorn States of the West, Ohio produces an amount equal to any State in the Union. The statistical tables printed in agricultural reports show the acres planted, and bushels grown. Figures speak an unanswerable logic.

Wheat is probably the next in importance of the eereals in the State. Its origin, like corn, is lost in the mists of antiquity. Its berry was no doubt used as food by the ancients for ages anterior to any historieal records. It is often called corn in old writings, and under that name is frequently mentioned in the Bible.

"As far back in the vistas of ages as human records go, we find that wheat has been cultivated,

and, with corn, aside from animal food, has formed one of the chief alimentary articles of all nations ; but as the wheat plant has nowhere been found wild, or in a state of nature, the inferenee has been drawn by men of unquestioned seientific ability, that the original plant from which wheat has been derived was either totally annihilated, or else cul- tivation has wrought so great a change, that the original is by no means obvious, or manifest to bot- anists."

It is supposed by many, wheat originated in Persia. Others affirm it was known and cultivated in Egypt long ere it found its way into Persia. It was certainly grown on the Nile ages ago, and among the tombs are found grains of wheat in a perfectly sound condition, that unquestionably have been buried thousands of years. It may be, however, that wheat was grown in Persia first, and thence found its way into Egypt and Africa, or, viee versa. It grew first in Egypt and Africa and thence crossed into Persia, and from there found its way into India and all parts of Asia.

It is also claimed that wheat is indigenous to the island of Sieily, and that from there it spread along the shores of the Mediterranean into Asia Minor and Egypt, and, as communities advanced, it was cultivated, not only to a greater extent, but with greater suceess.

The goddess of agriculture, more especially of grains, who, by the Greeks, was ealled Demeter, and, by the Romans, Ceres-hence the name ee- reals-was said to have her home at Enna, a fertile region of that island, thus indicating the source from which the Greeks and Romans derived their Ceralia. Homer mentions wheat and spelt as bread; also corn and barley, and deseribes his heroes as using them as fodder for their horses, as the people in the South of Europe do at present. Rye was introduced into Greece from Thrace, or by way of Thrace, in the time of Galen. In Cæsar's time the Romans grew a species of wheat enveloped in a husk, like barley, and by them called "Far."

During the excavations of Hereulaneum and Pompeii, wheat, in an exeellent state of preserva- tion, was frequently found.

Dr. Anson Hart, Superintendent, at one time, of Indian Affairs in Oregon, states that he found numerous patches of wheat and flax growing wild in the Yackemas country, in Upper Oregon. There is but little doubt that both cereals were intro- dueed into Oregon at an early period by the Hud- son Bay, or other for companies. Wheat was also

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found by Dr. Boyle, of Columbus, Ohio, growing in a similar state in the Carson Valley. It was, doubtless, brought there by the early Spaniards. In 1530, one of Cortez's slaves found several grains of wheat accidentally mixed with the rice. The careful negro planted the handful of grains, and succeeding years saw a wheat crop in Mexico, which found its way northward, probably into California.

Turn where we may, wherever the foot of civil- ization lias trod, there will we find this wheat plant, which, like a monument, has perpetuated the memory of the event; but nowhere do we find the plant wild. It is the result of cultivation in bygone ages, and has been produced by "progress- ive development."

It is beyond the limit and province of these pages to discuss the composition of this important cereal; only its historic properties can be noticed. With the advent of the white men in America, wheat, like corn, came to be one of the staple prod- ucts of life. It followed the pioneer over the mountains westward, where, in the rich Missis- sippi and Illinois bottoms, it has been cultivated by the French since 1690. When the hardy New Englanders came to the alluvial lands adjoining the Ohio, Muskingum or Miami Rivers, they brought with them this "staff of life," and forth- with began its cultivation. Who sowed the first wheat in Ohio, is a question Mr. A. S. Guthrie answers, in a letter published in the Agricultural Report of 1857, as follows:

" My father, Thomas Guthrie, emigrated to the Northwest Territory in the year 1788, and arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum in July, about three months after Gen. Putnam had arrived with the first pioneers of Ohio. My father brought a bushel of wheat with him from one of the frontier counties of Pennsylvania, which he sowed on a lot of land in Marietta, which he cleared for that purpose, on the second bottom or plain, in the neighborhood of where the Court House now stands."

Mr. Guthrie's opinion is corroborated by Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth, in his "Pioneer Settlers of Ohio," and is, no doubt, correct.

From that date on down through the years of Ohio's growth, the crops of wheat have kept pace with the advance and growth of civilization. The soil is admirably adapted to the growth of this ce- real, a large number of varieties being grown, and an excellent quality produced. It is firm in body, and, in many cases, is a successful rival of wheat

produced in the great wheat-producing regions of the United States-Minnesota, and the farther Northwest.

Oats, rye, barley, and other grains were also brought to Ohio from the Atlantic Coast, though some of them had been cultivated by the French in Illinois and about Detroit. They were at first used only as food for home consumption, and, until the successful attempts at river and canal naviga- tion were brought about, but little was ever sent to market.

Of all the root crops known to man, the potato is probably the most valuable. Next to wheat, it is claimed by many as the staff of life. In some localities, this assumption is undoubtedly true. What would Ireland have done in her fam- ines but for this simple vegetable? The potato is a native of the mountainous districts of tropical and subtropical America, probably from Chili to Mexico; but there is considerable difficulty in deciding where it is really indigenous, aud where it has spread after being introduced by man. Humboldt, the learned savant, doubted if it had ever been found wild, but scholars no less famous, and of late date, have expressed an opposite opinion. In the wild plant, as iu all others, the tubers are smaller than in the cultivated. The potato had been cultivated in America, and its tubers used for food, long before the advent of the Europeans. It seems to have been first brought to Europe by the Spaniards, from the neighbor- hood of Quito, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and spread through Spain, the Netherlands, Burgundy and Italy, cultivated in gardens as an ornament only and not for an article of food. It long received through European countries the same name with the batatas-sweet potato, which is the plant meant by all English writers down to the seventeenth century.

It appears that the potato was brought from Virginia to Ireland by Hawkins, a slave-trader, in 1565, and to England by Sir Francis Drake, twenty years later. It did not at first attract much notice, and not until it was a third time imported from America, in 1623, by Sir Walter Raleigh, did the Europeans make a practical use of it. Even then it was a long time before it was exten- sively cultivated. It is noticed in agricultural journals as food for cattle only as late as 1719. Poor people began using it, however, and finding it highly nutritious, the Royal Geographical Society, in 1663, adopted measures for its propagation. About this time it began to be used in Ireland as

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food, and from the beginning of the eighteenth cent- ury, its use has never declined. It is now known in every quarter of the world, and has, by cultiva- tion, been greatly improved.

The inhabitants of America learned its use from the Indians, who cultivated it and other root crops-rutabagas, radishes, etc., and taught the whites their value. When the pioneers of Ohio came to its fertile valleys, they brought improved species with them, which by cultiva- tion and soil, are now greatly increased, and are among the standard crops of the State.

The cucurbitaceous plants, squashes, ctc., were, like the potato and similar root crops, indigenous to America-others, like the melons, to Asia --- and were among the staple foods of the original inhabitants. The early French missionaries of the West speak of both root crops and cucurbi- taceous plants as in use among thie aboriginal inhab- itants. "They are very sweet and wholesome," wrote Marquette. Others speak in the same terms, though some of the plants in this order had found their way to these valleys through the Spaniards and others through early Atlantic Coast and Mex- ican inhabitants. Their use by the settlers of the West, especially Ohio, is traced to New England, as the first settlers came from that portion of the Union. They grow well in all parts of the State, and by cultivation have been greatly improved in quality and variety. All cucurbitaccous plants require a rich, porous soil, and by proper atten- tion to their cultivation, excellent results can be attained.

Probably the earliest and most important imple- nient of husbandry known is the plow. Grain, plants and roots will not grow well unless the soil in which they are planted be properly stirred, hence the first requirement was an instrument that would fulfill such conditions.

The first implements were rude indeed ; gencr- ally, stout wooden sticks, drawn through the earth by thongs attached to rude ox-yokes, or fastened to the animal's horns. Such plows were in use among the ancient Egyptians, and may yet be found among uncivilized nations. The Old Testa- ment furnishes numcrous instances of the use of the plow, while, on the ruins of ancient cities and among the pyramids of Egypt, and on the buried walls of Babylon, and other extinct cities, are rude drawings of this useful implement. As the use of iron became apparent and general, it was util- ized for plow-points, where the wood alone would not penetrate the earth. They got their plow-

shares sharpened in Old Testament days, also coulters, which shows, beyond a doubt, that iron- pointed plows were then in use. From times mentioned in the Bible, on heathen tombs, and ancient catacombs, the improvement of the plow, like other farming tools, went on, as the race of man grew in intelligence. Extensive manors in the old country required increased means of turning the ground, and, to meet these demands, ingenious mechanics, from time to time, invented improved plows. Strange to say, however, no improvement was ever made by the farmer himself. This is ac- counted for in his habits of life, and, too often, the disposition to "take things as they are." When America was settled, the plow had become an im- plement capable of turning two or three acres per day. Still, and for many years, and even until lately, the mold-board was entirely wooden, the point only iron. Later developments changed the wood for steel, which now alone is used. Still later, especially in prairie States, riding plows are used. Like all other improvements, they were obliged to combat an obtuse public mind among the ruralists, who surely combat almost every move made to better their condition. In many places in America, wooden plows, straight ax liandles, and a stone in one end of the bag, to bal- ance the grist in the other, are the rule, and for no other reason in the world are they maintained than the laconic answer:

" My father did so, and why should not I? Am I better than he?"

After the plow comes the harrow, but little changed, save in lightness and beauty. Formerly, a log of wood, or a brush harrow, supplied its place, but in the State of Ohio, the toothed instru- ment lias nearly always been used.

The hoe is lighter made than formerly, and is now made of steel. At first, the common iron hoe, sharpened by the blacksmith, was in constant use. Now, it is rarely seen outside of the South- ern States, where it has long been the chief imple- ment in agriculture.

The various small plows for the cultivation of corn and such other crops as uecessitated their use are all the result of modern civilization. Now, tlieir number is large, and, in many places, there are two or more attached to one carriage, whose operator rides. These kinds are much used in the Western States, whose rootless and stoneless soil is admirably adapted to such machinery.

When the grain became ripe, iuiplements to cut it were in demand. In ancient times, the sickle

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was the only instrument used. It was a short, eurved iron, whose inner edge was sharpened and serrated. In its most aneient form, it is doubtful if the edge was but little, if any, serrated. It is mentioned in all aueient works, and in the Bible is frequently referred to.

" Thrust in the siekle, for the harvest is ripe," wrote the saered New Testament, while the Old chronicles as early as the time of Moses : " As thou beginnest to put the sickle to the eorn."

In more modern times, the handle of the siekle was lengthened, then the blade, which iu time led to the scythe. Both are yet in use in many parts of the world. The use of the seythe Icd some thinking person to add a " finger " or two, and to change the shape of the handle. The old eradle was the result. At first it met considerable oppo- sition from the laborers, who brought forward the old-time argument of ignoranee, that it would cheapen labor.

Whether the eradle is a native of America or Europe is not accurately decided; probably of the mother country. It came into common use about 1818, and in a few years had found its way into the wheat-producing regions of the West. Where small crops are raised, the eradle is yet much used. A man can eut from two to four aeres per day, henee, it is much cheaper than a reaper, where the erop is small.

The mower and reaper are comparatively mod- ern inventions. A rude reaping machine is men- tioned by Pliny in the first century. It was pushed by an ox through the standing grain. On its front was a sharp edge, which eut the grain. It was, however, impracticable, as it eut only a por- tion of the grain, and the peasantry preferred the siekle. Other and later attempts to make reapers do not seem to have been successful, and not till the present century was a machine made that would do the work required. In 1826, Mr. Bell, of Scotland, constructed a machine which is yet used in many parts of that country. In America, Mr. Hussey and Mr. McCormick took out patents for reaping machines of superior character in 1833 and 1834. At first the eutters of these machines were various contrivances, but both manufacturers soon adopted a serrated knife, triangular shaped, at- taehed to a bar, and driven through "finger guards " attached to it, by a forward and backward motion. These are the common ones now in use, save that all do not use serrated knives. Since. these pioneer machines were introduced into the

harvest fields they have been greatly improved and changed. Of late years they have been constructed so as to bind the sheaves, and now a good stout boy, and a team with a "harvester," will do as much as many men eould do a few years ago, and with much greater ease.

As was expected by the inventors of reapers, they met with a determined resistance from those who in former times made their living by harvest- ing. It was again absurdly argued that they would cheapen labor, and henee were an injury to the laboring man. Indeed, when the first machines were brought into Ohio, many of them were torn to pieces by the ignorant hands. Others left fields in a body wlien the proprietor brought a reaper to his farm. Like all sueli fallacies, these, in time, passed away, leaving only their stain.

Following the reaper came the thresher. As the country filled with inhabitants, and men in- creased their possessions, more rapid means than the old flail or roller method were demanded. At first the grain was trodden out by horses driven over the bundles, which were laid in a eireular inclosure. The old flail, the tramping-out by horses, and the cleaning by the sheet, or throwing the grain up against a current of air, were too slow, and machines were the result of the demand. In Ohio the manufacture of threshers began in 1846, in the southwestern part. Isaac Tobias, who came to Hamilton from Miamisburg that year, com- meneed building the thresliers then in use. They were without the cleaning attachment, and simply hulled the grain. Two years later, he began manufacturing the combined thresher and eleaner, which were then coming into use. He continued in business till 1851. Four years after, the in- ereased demand for such machines, consequent upon the increased agricultural products, indueed the firm of Owens, Lane & Dyer to fit their estab- lishment for the manufacture of threshers. They afterward added the manufacture of steam engines to be used in the place of horse power. Since then the manufacture of these machines, as well as that of all other agricultural machinery, has greatly multiplied and improved, until now it seems as though but little room for improvement remains. One of the largest firms engaged in the manufaet- ure of threshers and their component machinery is located at Mansfield-the Aultman & Taylor Co. Others are at Massillon, and at other cities in the West.

Modern times and modern enterprise have devel- oped a marvelous variety of agricultural implements

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-too many to be mentioned in a volume like this. Under special subjeets they will occasionally be found. The farmer's life, so cheerless in pioneer times, and so full of weary labor, is daily becom- ing less laborious, until, if they as a class profit by the advances, they ean find a life of ease in farm pursuits, not attainable in any other profession. Now machines do almost all the work. They- sow, cultivate, eut, bind, thresh, winnow and carry the grain. They, cut, rake, load, mow and dry the hay. They husk, shell and clean the corn. They cut and split the wood. They do al- most all ; until it seems as though the day may come when the farmer ean sit in his house and simply guide the affairs of his farm.

Any occupation prospers in proportion to the interest taken in it by its members. This interest is always heightened by an exchange of views, hence societies and periodieals exercise an influence at first hardy realized. This feeling among prominent agriculturists led to the formation of agricultural societies, at first by counties, then districts, then by States, and lastly by associations of States. The day may come when a national agricul- tural fair may be one of the annual attractions of America,

Without noticing the early attempts to found such societies in Europe or America, the narrative will begin with those of Ohio. The first agrieul- tural society organized in the Buekeye State was the Hamilton County Agricultural Society. Its exact date of organization is not now preserved, but to a certainty it is known that the Society held public exhibitions as a County Society prior to 1823. Previous to that date there were, doubt- less, small, private exhibitions held in older loeal- itics, probably at Marietta, but no regular organi- zation seems to have been maintained. The Hamilton County Society held its fairs annually, with marked sueeess. Its sueeessor, the present Society, is now one of the largest eounty societies in the Union.

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History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 27

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1014

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1014