History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 93

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

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¿ Colonial Records, ix. 698.

|| Benjamin llawley, in his diary, 8, 16, 1770, no doubt refers to such a fun when he says: "Winnowed Phebe's (Taylor) flax seed . . . and carried Isaac Yearsley's fan home."

T Richard Barnard, of Newlin, under date of Ist mo. 4, 1790, makes a brief note of his son Richard bringing home from Wilmington " 1500 of plaster paris ; cost £2 5. 0." Samuel Taylor's diary, 5, 14, 1801, says, " My brother went with the team for a ton of plaster." From a pamphlet published in 1797 by Richard Peters, it appears that John Hannum bad used it since about the year 1784, and Philip Price, Jr., from abont the year 1786 (on two different farms), wbile Judge Peters himself had used it about twenty-five years (since 1771), being among the first to use it in the State.

* He also fixed a flax-brake, to go by water-power, which was set in motion 1, 16, 1801.

Patent, Jan. 8, 1856, to Randall Pratt for a steel tooth-rake. Re- issue extended, 1870, for seven years.

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AGRICULTURAL.

delivers the lime in the farmer's field, miles away. The ruins of old lime-kilns may be seen in many places by the roadside, remote from any quarry.

Dr. A. L. Elwyn is said to have been the first to use guano on his farm in East Bradford. It was quite exten- sively used from about 1840 to 1860, when it was super- seded by bone-dust, and later by phosphates. Plaster of Paris has been but little used during the past twenty years.

Irrigation is older than history, and our ancestors availed themselves of its benefits as soon as the county was settled. Near the river there were marshes which produced a large supply of hay and pasture, the assessment of Tinienm, in 1784, showing 1579 acres of marsh to 533 of upland, and a larger ratio of cattle than any other township. Irrigation is, or has been, a more important feature in the history of our county than many suppose. Such canals as were made by the Hindoos, and other eastern nations, were not found here. but where a man could convey the water from a stream on his farm, so as to water any considerable part thereof, he did so. The right to take water from the lands of others was often the subject of leases for ninety-nine or some other term of years. Sometimes the right to use the water was limited to certain days in each week, and, as with every other species of property, disputes and litigation frequently arose. A farmer, dividing his land between his sons, was careful to give each a portion of meadow, and hence resulted great irregularity in the shape of farms. Sometimes the meadow was separate from the rest of the farm.

Formerly the term meadow denoted, equally, mowing ground and ground capable of irrigation, they being practi- cally the same. Since the introduction of artificial grasses, and the mowing of upland, the term has, in many parts of our country, clung to the operation, but we believe, in this county, meadow nearly always means low ground.

Under the old system of farming, the same fields were plowed year after year, until they became impoverished, and the farmer was forced to break up new ground. After the crops of grain, nothing was better to bring the land to pas- turage again than clover and timothy. At length it was found that good hay could thus be made on upland, though not quite in such abundance as on watered land ; yet the trouble of attending to the ditches was a drawback to the latter, and the enstom fell into disuse. The only example of watered meadow that we have known for many years, is that of Thomas B. Darlington, in East Bradford. So lately as fifty years ago, advertisements of land for sale seldom failed to set forth its advantages in the possession of a good proportion of meadow.

The following extract from the correspondence of Thomas Cheyney, Esq., of Thornbury, in 1796, to relatives in Eng- land, will best illustrate the methods of farming at that time :

"Our land is mostly good, but we have dropt our old method of farming. We used to break up our fields in May, cross or stir them in August, and sow them with wheat and rye in September. This was done onee in three or four years in rotation ; in the intermediate spaces between they were pastured. The land would produce from twelve to twenty bushels per acre. This way was followed until the land run out, as we call it. We planted corn, sowed barley, oats, and flax, likewise buckwheat, in small portions of land allotted for that

purpose, which took the greatest part of our dung to manuro it; our meadows got some, and we had very littlo left for our winter grain. We followed this old way until we could seareely raise our bread and seed. But thero is as much superstition in husbandry as there is in Politicks or Religion, therefore those that broke off from the old rule wero laughed at by those who were higoted in the old way.

"I shall now give you some account of the success in the new method of farming. In March and April we plow our land where we had our Indian corn the year before, draw our dung and spread it, and sow our barley, oats, and flax, then break up our tough land, and from the 10th to the 20th of May is about the proper season for planting Indian corn. We then break up a piece of our tough ground for buckwheat, sow it about the middle of July on the tough furrow, and harrow it well. Our barley will be ripe about the 20th of July, flax a little sooner, oats a little later. We commonly dung for the last-mentioned spring grain. We plow this again in August, and sow our wheat and rye ie September ; the two first weeks are counted the best. In the month of March following we sow red elover-seed, from tbr.e quarts to the gallou per aere. About the middle of April we sow about one husbel of the plaster of paris to the aere. Some do not sow their plaster until the next spring, after their wheat crup comes off. Those who intend mowing their clover ground have a heavy roller, made of a log of wood, with a pair of shafts, heavy enough for three or four horses to draw. This levels the ground fit for mowing, which seldom fails to yield less [sic] than two tons of hay to the aere.

"Those that are got into this way of farming find they can keep a much larger stock of creatures to a much greater advantage, make a much larger quantity of dung, and two horses will plow the land that used to require the strength of four, the ground being so mueh looser and mellower, and the land produces three or four times as much as it did in the old way. I have not above 100 acres of plow-land, and about 20 acres of meadow, chiefly watered by artificial ditebes, drawn by the level of the water along hillsides, which we turn in streams, and spread by cutting small ditches over the land below, which pro- duees excellent grass.

"I find by this way of working there is no danger of wearing out the land, which many foolishly imagined. I find I cannot work it enough ; the more it is worked in " right manner, the better it will produee. Our new mode of farming is in a state of infancy. New improvements are making every year, and greater exertions in indus- try eau hardly be made than are here. This occasions want of barn room, and many have built, and many are building, barns on new constructions. Some take the side of a hill; they dig a large cellar, . -one side comes out level with the ground, -some 50, some 60 feet, and some more in length, and from 40 to 50 in breadth, the first story to put their dung in, the second for stabling of horses, cattle, etc. Above this they build a barn about 20 or 22 feet high to the square over the whole, for storing up their hay and graie. They have strong fluors under the stables, with raeks and mangers in each stable, and a trap-door under the manger which they raise and shovel the dung, which falls below. These barns they build with stoue and lime, and they that have tried it say the dung rotted under cover is much better.

" We feed many cattle and sheep. We raise horses. A good work- horse will sell for £40 or £50. We have very good orchards, make cider in great plenty, and almost all sorts of fruit of different kinds."

Themas Cheyney, writing in July, 1796, mentions the bountiful harvest, and adds,-

" Every one that is able to do anything are as busy as nailers. I know many men that are worth thousands ef pounds that will mow, make hay, reap, and draw hay and grain into their barns as steady as hirelings; and those that are able, if they do not work, are looked upon with kind of contempt. Here in the country they are slighted, and are not company for anybody."

It would be interesting to trace the changes in the con- dition of the agricultural community as regards the com- forts and luxuries of home-life, but we get few glimpses into the past beyond our memories. As all performed labor, the master and his servants or slaves were thus, to some extent, placed on an equality, and generally ate at the same table. Stoves are comparatively modern, and the

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

cooking was formerly done over or in front of the open fire. The old houses contain liuge fireplaces, especially in the kitchens, where back-logs of such size were burned as required a horse to draw them in, and a seat in the chimney-corner by the fire was a favorite position. Salt- pork and beef, with rye-bread, potatoes, cabbage, and hominy, formed a large proportion of the daily fare, with a frequent supper of mush and milk. Tea and coffee were luxuries to be enjoyed only oceasionally, and butter was not eaten with meat. Clothing was largely of home manufacture from the flax, hemp, and wool grown on the farm .* To learn to spin was an essential in a girl's education, and the thread so prodneed was readily woven into various fabrics by the neighboring weaver. Considerable spinning was done as late as 1825, but it may now be styled one of the lost arts. John Sugar, of West Bradford, was a maker of spinning-wheels, some of which may be found in the garrets of old farm-houses. Under-clothing, as now known, was seldom worn. Linsey-woolsey was in common use; indigo and white-walnut bark were used for dyeing garments, and fulling-mills, now entirely disused, were scattered here and there over the county.

Leading a rugged and laborious life, the people had less opportunity for intellectual and æsthetie eulture than in the present age, and their pleasures consisted more largely in the gratification of animal passions or appetites. The drinking of beer and distilled liquors was common among all classes, and they figure alike in the expenditures for the entertainment of justices holding court, at funerals, and at vendues. Carts and wagons were used for hauling grain, etc., but riding for pleasure was on horseback. In 1786 the whole number of carriages (mostly " chairs") within the present limits of our county did not exceed twenty-five.

The weeping-willow and Lombardy poplar were, perhaps, the earliest ornamental trees to adorn the farmer's home, and the latter, once so common, is now seldom seen but in decay. Except in the grounds of our early botanists, these were probably about the only kinds planted prior to this century. Pincs and sugar-maples followed, but the plant- ing of trees simply for ornament is almost limited to the last fifty years.

Professor James McClune contributes the following con- cerning agriculture in the northwest portion of the county :

"Timber .- When the country was first settled the forests were far from dense, the Indians having kept the timber from growing by fire oo the high ground for greater facility in pursuing the deer, and in the low grounds and valleys to enable them to hunt the buf -. falo. The tradition is that a wagon could be driven anywhore with- out difficulty through the standing timber. I have counted the no- nual ' ring-growths' of a number of large onk-trees when felled, and I could find none that exceedod one hundred and fifty. After the In- dians had retired the growth of timber was rapid, and about the period of the Revolutionary war the forests were dense. Of late years the amount of timber-Inod has been greatly roduced. There is not more than one-third of the woodland in this part of Chester County that existed forty years ago. The clearing away of the forests has bero followed by the usual consequences, - a failure of springs, diminu- tion of water in the streams, more frequent and destructive storms, and occasional blight of the cereal grains. Reforesting must ero lung be resorted to.

" Fruits, Vegetables, and Grasses .- Orchards were planted exteo- sively at an early period, and apples especially were abundant. Pench- trees also flourished and produced a large amount of fruit. Distiller- ies were erected in many places, by which apples were converted into whisky, and peaches into what was called peach-braody, the favorite drink of the numerous anti-temperance men of that day. But the peach has almost entirely disappeared, and apple-trees are much less productive, while the plum and red cherry, formerly loaded every year with fruit, are no longer scen. The principal garden vegetable which has beco introduced is the tomato. It was first planted for show rather thao use, but nhout 1837 began to be used na an article of food. It was then far from palatable, and has been greatly improved hy cultivation. Turnips and root-crops in general, except potatoes, were little attended to by the carly settlers, enrrots and rutabagas not at all. About twenty years ago there was somewhat of a furor in re- gard to sorghum. Several farmers planted patches of it, and a few mills were erected for the ernshing of the plant and the manufacture of sugar and molasses, hut, owing either to the cost or lhe article ob- tained being of an inferior quality, the raising and manufacture were discontinued in two or three years.

"Clover was introduced in 1793 or 1794. The seed first sown, in Honeybrook township, was brought from Lancaster County, and cost twenty dollars per bushel. Owing to the great dryness of the seasoo and the ravages of the grasshoppers in The fall of 1838, clover-seed was also twenty dollars per bushel in the spring of 1839. Millet-grass and Hungarian have been tried sometimes by farmers, but the cultiva- tion of them has always been soon discontinued. The seed of the millet was occasionally ground and made into enkes, in the same manner as buckwheat, but they were far from palatable, and the bay or straw of it made but poor food for stock. Hungarian grass, though culti- vated in the Western States, has found little favor either as subsist- enco for cattle or when sown to be turned dowo with the plow ns a fertilizer.

" Crops, Etc .- Rye and corn were the principal crops, though some flax was generally cultivated. The corn was planted in rows, which rao in one direction, usually north and south, nod about six feet apart. It was ' topped and hlnded,' and rye was sown between the rows. After the corn was husked the stalks were cut and removed. Even fifty years ago but little wheat was grown, and coffee made of rye was in common use. Buckwheat, which generally produced well, was raised in small quantities. Farmers depended for subsistenco for their stock in winter on the blades of corn for their borses, and the hny obtained from their watered meadows for their cattle und sheep. Alter the introduction of clover and timothy, and the neces- sity which nrose of preparing the higher ground for the use of the seytho, the old method of planting aod sowing was abandonod, the coro being cut off and entirely removed before the sowing of the winter grain. Wheu oats were introduced I have not been able to learn. This grain, however, was raised in but small quantities until after the completion of the Horseshoe Pike, when the large number of tenms passing nlong that road with goods for the West made a market for this grain at the taverns along that highway. It is only within the Inst fifty years that the present rotation of crops-corn, onts, wheat, and grass-has been followed.

" Farming Implements .- The grain uotil about 1810 was cut almost entirely by the sickle. Grain-cradles were then introduced, which only within the last ten years have, to a great extent, beco super- seded by the renping-machines. The plows first used were composed, with the exception of the coulter and share, of wood. The first plow with an iron mould-board was used in Honeybrook in 1826, the first plow entirely of iron about 1834. Hay was generally gathered by first being thrown with a fork into windrows, and then the remainder collected by n hand-rake. This was succeeded by the man-rake, a rake of larger size, drawn after the person using it. A rake drawn by a horse, and which had to be lifted wherever n windrow was formed, was the next in use. To this succeeded the revolving rake, and this has given way, within the last fifteco years, to the ono now generally employed, with a seat for the driver, a lever, and strong wire teeth. Threshing- monchioes were introduced nhout forty years ago, but they did not come into noything like general use until ten years later. Grain- drills were little used twenty years ago. Mowiog-machines date within thirty years. One of the first reaping-machines, large and cumbersome, was used by James Moore, near Glenmore, twenty-five years ago; but it (as well as all tho machines for that purpose) for several years failed to give satisfaction."

# Until the close of the last century oil-cloth cloaks and covers for hats supplied the place of umbrellas.

"WALNUT SPRINGS." FARM RESIDENCE OF THE LATE SAMUEL ACKER, TREDYFFRIN.

OFFICE GROUNDS

GEORCE

ACHELIS

....

FBIELENEJ

MORRIS NURSERIES. OFFICE AND SPECIMEN GROUNDS OF GEORGE ACHELIS, WEST CHESTER.

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AGRICULTURAL.

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

The first agricultural society is supposed to have been the one organized in 1820. A preliminary meeting was held January 1st. A month or so later a constitution was adopted. At a meeting held June 10th (Dr. William Darlington being chairman, and Isaac Sharpless secretary ), committees were appointed on the following subjects :

1. On farm buildings, fences, and implements of husbandry. 2. On the veterinary art. 3. On natural bistory, particularly mineralogy aod entomology. 4. On political economy. 5. On domestic animals. 6. On grasses, grains, and roots. 7. On manures. 8. On fruit- and forest-trees. 9. Oo irrigation and draining. 10. On horticulture.

The members were desired to try experiments, keep ac- curate accounts, and report matters of interest to the ap- propriate committees for the benefit of the society. The Plough Boy (Albany, N. Y.), commenting on the above, says,-

" We cannot pass over in silence the proceedings of the Agricul- tural Society of Chester Co., Pa., in our columns of this day. The topics therein recommended to the consideration of agricultural so- cieties are of the highest importance to our public and private pros- perity, and we cannot but hope that the board of agriculture of this State may in due season, in connection with the county societies, adopt similar regulations. We recommend this document to the carnest attention of our agricultural readers."

Dr. Darlington has said that when the first agricultural society was formed in the county Philip Price was unani- mously chosen president, but the doctor himself was doubt- less one of the leading spirits of the organization. Isaac Sharpless was the secretary, and David Townsend treasurer of the society.

Perhaps the first exhibition held within the county was that of the State Agricultural Society, at Paoli, Oct. 22, 23, 24, 1823, that being the first by the State Society ; and the second was held at Chester, Oct. 14 and 15, 1824.

In 1838 an agricultural society for Chester and Dela- ware Counties was organized, the call for a preliminary meeting being signed by M. Pennypacker, John Worth, Jr., Isaac Trimble, Townsend Lamborn, and forty-four others. This society held exhibitions for several years, one being at West Chester in 1845.

About this time the Chester County Horticultural Soei- ety was organized, and after a few exhibitions in the court- house and elsewhere a hall was built, in 1848, for the an- nual display of fruit, flowers, and vegetables, which con- tinued to be made for seven or eight years. The hall, now somewhat enlarged, is used for the accommodation of teachers' institutes, lectures, and other entertainments.

The present County Agricultural Society held its first ex- hibition Sept. 16 and 17, 1853, on a lot bounded by Wal- nut, Washington, Matlack, and Biddle Streets, in the bor- ongh of West Chester. About 1856 a permanent location was effected on the southern limits of the borough, where the society has a valuable property.

About 1870 the Oxford Agricultural Society began to hold annual fairs at that borough, almost rivaling the county institution in the display and attendance, and con- tinuing to the present time.

In the beginning of September, 1879, a fair was held at Market Hall, in Coatesville, under the auspices of the

Brandywine Farmers' Club, and was successful in arousing considerable local interest.

Of the early agricultural journals circulating among our fariners, we may mention the Plough-Boy, Albany, N. Y .; The American Farmer, a weekly paper, by John S. Skinner, Baltimore, 1819; The Genesee Farmer, Ameri- can Agriculturist, The Cultivutor and Country Gentleman, the latter two being quite popular, and the last probably the best agricultural periodical in the United States. The Farm Journal (monthly ) was established at Lancaster, Pa., beginning with the year 1851, A. M. Spangler editor. Afterwards it was purchased by Paschall Morris and J. Lacey Darlington, and removed to West Chester, with the latter gentleman as nominal editor, but almost the entire management was by P. Morris. Early in 1855 the jour- nal was removed to Philadelphia. Dr. Edmund C. Evans established the Rural Economist at West Chester about 1861, and it was issued for one year.

In 1868 the State Agricultural College purchased from Thomas M. Harvey a farm of 100 acres, in London- grove township, which is known as the " Eastern Ex- perimental Farm," the object being to test such crops, manures, implements, and methods of farming as might be thought worthy of trial. Thomas M. Harvey remained on the property for some years as superintendent, after which he was succeeded by John I. Carter, and he in turn by Warren J. Shelmire, who has lately retired.

The Experimental Farm Club, composed of the enter- prising farmers of the neighboring townships, meets at this place on stated occasions to discuss all matters of interest to agriculturists. Their proceedings, together with the re- ports of the superintendent, being duly published by the press of the county, are read with interest by many others.

The Chads' Ford Farmers' Club is another association which brings the highest intelligence to bear upon the sub- ject of farming. It meets at the houses of its members.

The benefits derived from these meetings of farmers' clubs and granges are not limited by the mere information dis- seminated, but include also those arising from social inter- course. The farmer stands at a disadvantage with regard to his brother in the city, mainly on account of his isola- tion. In cities men are brought more in contact with their fellows, and in the resulting conflict of ideas the thinking powers are quickened, and the intellectual life stimulated. Then let the farmers, their wives, and children meet together more frequently. Let them study to adorn their homes, and lighten the severer labors, and instead of indulgence in temporary yet expensive pleasures, or the gratification of the lower appetites, let them seek more intellectual enjoy- ments, and the country will become such a paradise that the weary, pent-up dweller in towns shall long for a home therein.

A mention of the several granges of the Patrons of Hus- bandry will be found in another portion of this work, under the head of "Societies."

NURSERIES.

In September, 1836, Jason M. Mahan, of Sadsbury township, was the proprietor of a nursery, in which he claimed to have over 2,000,000 trees and plants, including

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

53 varieties of peaches. ] He was also much interested in the subject of silk culture, and issued a prospectus for a sixteen-page, octavo monthly, called The Silk Grower's Instructor, having had several years' experience in the cul- ture of the mulberry and silk-worm. IIis place he called New Italy.

About the year 1846, John Rutter, Esq., established a nursery at West Chester, which flourished for several ycars.

TIIE MORRIS NURSERIES.

The " Morris Nurseries" of George Achelis were founded about thirty-two years ago by Paschall Morris, who is well known as the founder of the Practical Farmer, an agricultural paper published in Philadelphia. The nurseries were sold by him to Messrs. J. L. Darlington & Co., and were named, in honor of the founder, " Morris Nurseries," which name they bear up to the present time,

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 93

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162