USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 21
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Not only did wheat values diminish, but those of livestock and its products also, owing to the rapid development of the free range industry in the West, and many farmers either abandoned altogether the keeping of live- stock or greatly reduced the number kept, selling the grain, which had
200
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
previously been fed, to the elevators, which started up at every railway station, and endeavoring to recoup themselves for the low price per bushel of grain by extending the area in crops so as produce more bushels. The trend in Wayne county is shown by the following table, giving the average production of the principal cereals and the livestock population for the ten years, 1880-89:
PRODUCTION OF CEREAL CROPS, 1880-89.
Crops.
Acres.
Bu. produced.
Bu. per acre. 16.9
Wheat
55,739
942,013
Corn
30,189
1,035,890
34.3
Oats
22,519
817,430 36.2
Farm animals: Horses, 11,530; cattle, 27,922; sheep, 39,355; hogs, 27,620; total cattle equivalent, 46,150, or 100 cattle to 235 acres in the principal crops.
The area in wheat, the cash crop, was increased from the average of 41,208 acres for the seventies to that of 55,739 acres for the eighties, an increase of more than one-third, while the area in corn-the meat produc- ing crop-remained stationary, and that in oats was diminished.
The introduction of commercial fertilizers in Ohio was practically coin- cident with the development of the ranch and range industries of the West, and during the decade under review the farmers of Wayne county expended an annual average of $20,646 for such fertilizers, or thirty-nine cents for each acre sown in wheat.
The course of cereal and livestock production in the county for the ten years, 1890-99, is shown below :
PRODUCTION OF CEREAL CROPS, 1890-99.
Crops.
Acres. Bu. produced. Bu. per acre.
Wheat
52,077
841,207
16.I
Corn
35.084
1, 180,766 33.6
Oats
25,242
888,872 34.9
Farm animals: Horses, 11,643; cattle, 22,258; sheep. 29,651 ; hogs, 24,935 ; total cattle equivalent, 39,360, or 100 cattle to 285 acres in the prin- cipal crops.
The wheat area is diminished and that of corn and oats is increased, but the continued decrease of livestock shows that part of the corn and oats have gone to the elevator as well as the wheat.
i
--
201
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
The purchase of commercial fertilizers doubled during the period, the average annual expenditure amounting to $41,643, or eighty cents for each acre in wheat.
It is true that the wheat crop did not receive all the fertilizers used, but much the larger part was given to that crop. Under this system the yield of wheat, which had been brought to an average of 16.8 bushels per acre for the seventies by the use of manure, was held at 16.9 bushels during the eighties, but fell to 16.1 bushels during the nineties, while the yield of corn, which had reached 41.2 bushels during the seventies, went back to 34.3 bushels during the eighties, and that of oats, which rose from 34.2 bushels during the seventies to 36.2 bushels during the eighties, fell to 34.9 bushels for the nineties.
The use of fertilizers practically began during the eighties, so that the high level of crop yields during the seventies was attained under the system of livestock husbandry which had prevailed up to that period, and the in- creasing expenditure for fertilizers during the next two decades was not sufficient to maintain the yields at the level then attained.
The effect of the low prices which prevailed during the last decade of the century is shown in the decennial appraisement at its close, under which the farm lands of Wayne county were listed at a total valuation of $10,477,- 580, or $30.46 per acre.
This reduction in valuation, however, does not fully represent the actual conditions. Very few farm buildings were constructed during this ten-year period, and old buildings were left unpainted, so that the reputation of the county for having the finest farm improvements in the state has been barely maintained. When farms changed owners, it was on the basis of far lower valuations than had been current twenty years earlier, and while there were still a great many farmers in the county who were in comfortable financial circumstances there were a great many more who found it necessary to prac- tice very close economy.
Taking the present decade, the first of the new century, we find that during the nine years, 1900 to 1908, the county's productions were as follows :
PRODUCTION OF CEREAL CROPS, 1900-1908.
Crops.
Acres.
Bu. produced.
Bu. per acre.
Wheat
44,649
822,674
18.4
Corn
36.376
1,380,826 38.0
Oats
29,164
1,139,475 38.7
1
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WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
Farm animals: Horses, 10,017; cattle, 22,645; sheep, 17,960; hogs, 24,089 ; total cattle equivalent, 36,867, or 100 cattle to 300 acres in the prin- cipal crops.
During this nine-year period the annual expenditure for fertilizers has amounted to $75,682.
These figures show that the area in wheat has been materially reduced, while that in corn and oats has been increased. They also show a material increase in the yield per acre for all three of these crops, an increase due in part to a better system of crop rotation, in part to better seasonal condi- tions, and in part to the larger use of fertilizers.
THE SCIENTIFIC PERIOD.
By the close of the century practically all the land in the United States which is susceptible of cultivation without irrigation was occupied with farms. The range area was restricted to lands unfit for cultivation, and in many cases these lands had been reduced in productiveness by too close pasturing.
The area sown in wheat was still being extended in the Northwest, but the yield per acre was maintained only by bringing fresh lands under the plow every year, as the yield was diminishing on the older soils. The urban population was increasing so steadily, however, that with the advent of the new century the proportion of the wheat crop exported fell to 24.7 per cent for the eight years, 1900-7, as against 33.I per cent for the nineties, 29.9 per cent for the eighties and 24.6 per cent for the seventies, and this notwithstanding the fact that the total production for the last period has been nearly thirty per cent greater than for the preceding period and more than double that of the seventies.
The climax of wheat production was reached in 1901, at nearly 50,000,- 000 acres, yielding nearly 750.000,000 bushels. No crop produced since that date has equaled this record, either in area or total yield, and the price of wheat has been gradually rising since the beginning of the century. There will be a further expansion of wheat territory into the Canadian Northwest, but it does not seem at all probable that the increase in area brought under wheat from henceforth can more than keep pace with the increasing demand from our growing population, and the outlook for remunerative prices for wheat is certainly very favorable. This is a matter of prime importance to Wayne county, for, as has already been stated, its soil and climatic conditions are especially adapted to the culture of this cereal, as is shown by the promi- nence it has occupied in the agriculture of the county throughout the period under record.
203
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
MINOR CROPS.
In addition to the area devoted to the four principal crops, corn, oats, wheat and hay, the statistics show the following areas devoted to other pur- poses during the present decade :
AVERAGE AREAS, 1900-1908.
Acres.
Acres.
Rye
407
Sorghum, broom corn, etc .. 87
Barley
60
Buckwheat
33
Potatoes
4,656
Orchards
5,328
Onions
247
Forest
36,844
Tobacco
308
Waste
5,394
Flax
104
The potato crop has become one of great importance in Wayne county, the soil being especially adapted to this crop, and the annual area in pota- toes has increased from 3,000 acres in 1900 to 6,000 acres in 1908.
Wayne county is also a large producer of onions, grown on the muck lands in the northern and eastern parts of the county, about 250 acres being annually devoted to this crop.
Tobacco is grown in the northern part of the county, in the vicinity of Sterling and Creston.
THE OHIO AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.
In the spring of 1891 the State Legislature passed an act authorizing the removal of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station from its location on the lands of the Ohio State University, in Columbus, to any county in the state which would offer a donation to provide for the purchase of lands and the erection of buildings for the use of the station. Within a few weeks after the passage of this law offers were received by the board of control of the station from the commissioners of Wayne, Clarke and Warren counties, and after consideration of these offers and of the soil conditions in the several counties, the offer of Wayne county was accepted by the board of control and ratified by the people of the county, at a special election held for that purpose.
204
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
Pursuant to the law, the county commissioners issued bonds for eighty- five thousand dollars, the amount of the donation agreed upon. These bonds were sold, the money paid into the state treasury, and three adjoin- ing farms and two smaller tracts, comprising a total area of four hundred and seventy acres, the nearest point being one mile south of the court house in Wooster, were purchased and buildings were commenced.
At this point a dissatisfied citizen of the county entered suit to test the constitutionality of the law under which the bonds of the county were issued. The common pleas and circuit courts affirmed the validity of the law, one of the circuit judges dissenting. The supreme court, by a vote of four to one, reversed the decision of the lower courts on the ground that the citizens of a county were being taxed for the support of an insti- tution whose work was conducted for the benefit of the state at large, the court holding that the superior advantages possessed by Wayne county because of the location of the station on its soil and within convenient dis- tance of its farmers did not offset the general principle above mentioned
This litigation occupied about two years, and necessarily retarded the work of the station, as during its continuance the Legislature was unwilling to appropriate money for permanent improvements, but after the final decision of the supreme court the Legislature redeemed the bonds issued by the county and began making appropriations for buildings and other necessary equipment.
The station had been moved to its new location during the summer of 1892, and immediately began preparing for experimental work by the erection of greenhouses and other buildings and by tile-draining and lay- ing off in permanent plots of one-tenth acre each about seventy-five acres. After the settlement of the litigation affecting the station, the state appro- priations became larger. Substantial buildings were erected and, the sta- tion's permanency being assured, its work expanded year by year, being carried on not only in the fields, orchards, barns and laboratories at Wooster, but reaching out over the state in the establishment of substations or test- farms in different sections, and in co-operative work carried on with the assistance of hundreds of farmers, located in practically every county of the state.
That the station has succeeded in some degree in serving the purpose for which it was established is indicated by the increasing support given it by the state. When first established, in 1882, the appropriation made for its use was three thousand dollars. This was increased the next year
205
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
to five thousand dollars, and remained at that sum until 1887, when the national government undertook the support of an agricultural experiment station in every state under an act introduced by Hon. W. H. Hatch, of Missouri, and hence called the "Hatch Act," and which provides for the annual appropriation to each state and territory from the United States treasury of fifteen thousand dollars for this purpose.
On the passage of this act the state withdrew its support from the Ohio station, but after a year or two the Legislature began the- appropria- tion of small amounts, for special purposes, beginning with one of two thou- sand dollars, made in 1889, for a small greenhouse. These special appropria- tions have been increased from year to year until in 1909 the total amount directly appropriated to the station reached one hundred and eighteen thou- sand dollars, besides the privilege of using several thousand dollars' worth of paper for the printing of its balletins.
In 1906 the Hatch Act was supplemented by a second national law, introduced by the late Henry C. Adams, of Wisconsin, and which provides a fund, beginning with five thousand dollars and increasing by two thou- sand dollars each year until the total shall amount to fifteen thousand dol- lars, and which is known as the Adams fund. This fund is strictly re- stricted to the purposes of scientific research, and is all the more useful on account of this fact, because it permits the undertaking of investigations dealing with fundamental principles, a class of investigations which some- times seem to have but little practical application, and yet out of which have come results of the highest usefulness to humanity.
As at present organized the station's work is divided into the depart- ments of administration, agronomy (or field crops), animal husbandry, botany (including study of seeds and of diseases of plants), chemistry, co-operative experiments, entomology, forestry, horticulture, nutrition and soils, each department having a specialist at its head with one or more scientific assistants and clerks and laborers, the staff of the station during 1909 reaching a total of one hundred and fifty persons.
In addition to the land occupied by the station in Wayne county, it has a test farm of three hundred acres in Meigs county, on which the problems peculiar to the hilly regions of southeastern Ohio are being studied. and one of one hundred and twenty-five acres at Strongsville, in southern Cuyahoga county, devoted to the study of the thin, white clay soils of that region, while it holds under ten-year lease a farm of fifty-three acres at Germantown, Montgomery county, devoted in part to the culture of tobacco
206
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
and in part to the study of soil fertility, and two fields, one of twenty acres at Findlay, Hancock county, and one of ten acres at Boardman, Mahoning county, which are being occupied under perpetual lease as demonstration fields.
On these various tracts are permanently located more than two thou- sand plots of land. the larger portion containing one-tenth acre each, and of the treatment and produce of which the station has a definite record, reaching over twelve to sixteen years in many cases.
In addition to the study of soil fertility, some of the more important features of the station's work are the comparison of varieties of cereals, forage crops, vegetables and fruits-more than one thousand varieties of fruits being under observation in its orchard-the study of methods for the control of insects and fungous diseases of plants; the nutrition of animals and the various problems connected with forestry.
As the station is located in Wayne county, and on a soil fairly repre- senting that of the county as a whole, its study of soil fertility is of great importance to this county. This study has demonstrated that it is easily possible and thoroughly practicable to produce much larger crops than the average of those now grown in the county, as the station has produced thirty to forty bushels of wheat to the acre as an average for ten-year periods, or larger in its experimental work, with corresponding yields of corn, oats and clover, and is duplicating these yields in its general farm work, on ten-acre fields. These results, moreover, have been accomplished by methods which have paid the cost of the increase and left a large margin of clear profit; methods which are in reach of every farmer, however straitened his cir- cumstances, and which, when put in operation, will steadily increase the productiveness of the soil.
Some of the farmers in the county are already applying these methods, in whole or in part, and are obtaining results which confirm those shown at the station. These methods consist simply in draining such land as needs drainage ; in the practice of a systematic crop rotation, in which clover or a similar crop is grown every third or fourth year; in the conversion of the corn, hay and straw into manure, the careful saving of this manure and its reinforcement with some carrier of phosphorus, to replace that car- ried away in the wheat and milk, and bones and tissues of the animals sold ; in the use of lime and in the careful tillage which is now generally prac- ticed.
Much of this work involves labor only, and its execution can be gradu-
207
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
ally accomplished by applying to it a part of the labor which is now wasted by tilling two or three acres to get the produce that one acre should yield.
THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE IN WAYNE COUNTY.
But the present yield of wheat in Wayne county is far short of an, easily possible and thoroughly practicable attainment. One of the three ad- joining farms purchased by the experiment station on its removal to Wayne county in 1892 had been rented for many years previous to its purchase by the station, and on this farm a series of experiments in the maintenance and increase of soil fertility by the use of systematic crop rotation, with fertilizers and manures, was begun in 1893. These experiments have now been in progress for sixteen years, and following are some of the results attained :
In one experiment, corn, oats, wheat, clover and timothy are grown in a five-year rotation on five tracts of land, each crop being grown every season. One-third of the land is left continuously without fertilizers or manure, and on this area the average yields per acre have been as below :
YIELDS OF UNFERTILIZED LAND IN FIVE-YEAR ROTATION :
First 5 yrs. Second 5 yrs. 1894-8.
1899-03.
Third 5 yrs. 1904-8.
Corn, bushels
31.9
30.8
31.0
Oats, bushels
30.9
28.3
34.5
Wheat, bushels
9.3
8.6
13.7
Clover hay, tons
.91
.74
I.OI
Timothy hay, tons
1.27
1.14
1.57
During the same five-year periods under consideration the average yields per acre in Wayne county, as computed from the statistics collected by the township assessors, have been as follows:
AVERAGE YIELDS OF CROPS IN WAYNE COUNTY :
First 5 yrs. 1894-8.
Second 5 yrs.
1899-03.
Third 5 yrs. 1904-8.
Corn, bushels
36.6
39.0
37.5
Oats, bushels
36.3
42.9
36.5
Wheat, bushels
15.3
17.1
19.4
Hay, tons
1.22
1.28
1.23
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WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
These county yields are considerably larger than the unfertilized station yields, but during these three periods the county expended the following sums for fertilizers, these fertilizers being used chiefly on the wheat crop; First period, $40,216 per annum; second period, $59,830 per annum; third period, $88,445 per annum.
Live stock equivalent to about one head of cattle to three acres in corn, oats and wheat has also been kept during the three periods.
The considerable decrease in the clover yields at the station during the second five years of this test called attention to the lack of lime in the soil, and, beginning with the crop of 1900, lime was applied to half the land in the test as it was being prepared for corn, using burnt lime at the rate of a ton per acre, or ground limestone in double that quantity, and spreading it over both fertilized and unfertilized land. To this liming, therefore, is to be ascribed a part of the increase shown during the last five-year period.
Each of the five tracts used in this test is divided into thirty plots of one-tenth acre each. Plot two in each tract, or half an acre in total, has received every five years 320 pounds per acre of acid phosphate; 80 pounds each on corn and oats and 160 pounds on wheat. The average yields on these plots have been as below :
YIELDS FROM ACID PHOSPHATE :
First 5 yrs. Second 5 yrs. Third 5 yrs.
1894-8.
I904-8.
Corn, bushels
36.0
1899-03. 41.9
40.3
Oats, bushels
37.6
37.4
45.7
Wheat, bushels
12.3
18.7
24.I
Clover hay, tons
1.06
I.OI
1.58
Timothy hay, tons
1.44
1.40
1.93
The acid phosphate has produced a considerable increase of crop, both before and after liming, showing that this soil is hungry for phosphorus. If we value acid phosphate at a fraction over $16.00 per ton, or $2.60 for the 320 pounds used on each rotation, and rate corn at 40 cents per bushel, oats at 30 cents, wheat at 80 cents, hay at $8.00 per ton, stover at $3.00 and straw at $2.00, the total net increase due to the 320 pounds of acid phosphate, after paying for the fertilizer, has been worth $5.90 for the first five years, $14.77 for the second five years and $21.72 for the third five years.
200
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
The cost of the lime is not deducted for the third period, because both fertilized and unfertilized land was limed, and other comparisons, not shown in these statements, show that the cost of liming has been much more than recovered in the general increase of crop. Not only has the lime increased the unfertilized yield, but it has augmented the effect of the fertilizers.
Under this application of acid phosphate the yields at the station and for the county show comparatively little difference during the first two periods, but with the addition of lime at the station the yields for the third period are decidedly greater than those for the county. It will be observed that the county yields of corn and oats show a marked falling off during the third period. The increased yield of wheat and hay is easily accounted for by the greatly increased use of fertilizers, but the hay increase in the county is much smaller than that at the station, where the additional expenditure has been for lime instead of fertilizer.
On another series of plots (No. II) the same dressing of acid phosphate has been applied, but re-enforced with 480 pounds of nitrate of soda and 260 pounds of muriate of potash, the whole application being divided between the three cereal crops, and increasing the total cost to $23.50 per acre for each rotation ; the outcome has been as below :
YIELDS FROM COMPLETE FERTILIZER :
First 5 yrs. Second 5 yrs.
1894-8.
1899-03.
Third 5 yrs. 1904-8.
Corn, bushels
41.3
49.9
54.1
Oats, bushels
43.6
52.5
53.5
Wheat, bushels
20.5
27.5
33.I
Clover hay, tons
1.48
1.3I
1.92
Timothy hay, tons
1.62
1.65
2.30
The increase from this treatment has had the following values over the yields of the unfertilized land : First five years, $26.39: second five years, $42.43 ; third five years, $49.96. Deducting the cost of the fertilizer, the net gain has been : For the first five years, $2.80; for the second five years, $18.93; for the third five years, $26.46.
This treatment, therefore, enormously expensive as it has been, has produced a greater net profit than any partial application of fertilizers.
As has been stated above, of the total cost of the fertilizer, $20.90 was
(14)
210
WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
spent for nitrogen and potash and only $2.60 for phosphorus. Whatever system of agriculture we may follow, except the production of butter or sugar, there must be some loss of phosphorus, as this element is carried away from the farm in large quantity in the cereal grains and in the bones and milk of animals, so that if the supply in the soil is to remain undiminished there must be a systematic return, either through the purchase of fertilizing substances or of feeding stuffs; but if all the hay, straw and stover and a considerable part of the grain produced on the farm be fed there and the resultant manure carefully saved and returned to the soil, there will be but little loss of potassium, since the greater part of this element consumed by the plant in its growth is left in the stem and leaves. Most of the nitro- gen contained in the coarse feeds will also be recovered in the manure, while the growing of leguminous crops for feeding will tend to replace the losses of this element. If, therefore, it were possible to produce on the farm the nitrogen and potassium required to produce the yield shown on Plot II in this experiment, leaving only the phosphorus to purchase, the net gain would be greatly augmented.
On another part of this same farm .corn, wheat and clover have been grown in a three-year rotation since 1897, in a comparison of different meth- ods of treating barnyard manure. One-third of this land also has been left continuously without fertilizer or manure, and its yield per acre has been as below :
YIELDS OF UNFERTILIZED LAND IN THREE-YEAR ROTATION.
First 6 yrs. Second 6 yrs.
1897-02.
1903-8.
Corn, bushels
41.I
27.6
Wheat, bushels
8.5
13.3
Clover hay, tons
.84
1.75
The low yield of wheat during the first period was partly due to Hes- sian fly : the corn crop shows that the growing of clover one year in three on this land, which had previously been largely depleted of its fertility by exhaustive cropping, has not been sufficient to maintain the rate of pro- duction.
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