USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 23
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The same natural conditions that make Wisconsin an agricultural state, determined that during its earlier years the main interest should be grain-growing. £ The fertile prairies covering large portions of the southern part of the state had but to be plowed and sowed with grain to produce an abundant yield. From the raising of cereals the pioneer farmer could get the quickest returns for his labor. Hence in 1850, two years after its admission to the Union, Wis- consin was the ninth state in order in the production of wheat, while in 1860 this rank was raised to third, Illinois and Indiana only raising more. The true rank of the state is not shown by these figures. Were the number of inhabitants and the number of acres of land in actual culti- vation taken into account in the comparison, the state would stand still higher in rank than is here indicated. There is the same struggle for existence, and the same desire for gain the world over, and hence the various phases of development of the same industry in different civilized countries is mainly the result of the widely varying economical conditions imposed upon that industry. Land is thoroughly cultivated in Europe, not because the Europeans have, any inherent love for good cultivation, but because there land is scarce and costly, while labor is superabundant and cheap. In America, on the other hand, and especially in the newer states,
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AGRICULTURE.
land is abundant and cheap, while labor is scarce and costly. In its productive industries each country is alike economical in the use of the costly element in production, and more lavish in the use of that which is cheaper. Each is alike economically wise in following such a course, when it is not carried to too great extremes. With each the end sought is the greatest return for the expenditure of a given amount of capital. In accordance with this law of economy, the early agriculture of Wisconsin was mere land-skimming. Good cultivation of the soil was never thought of. The same land was planted successively to one crop, as long as it yielded enough to pay for cultivation. The economical principle above stated was carried to an extreme. Farm- ing as then practiced was a quick method of land exhaustion. It was always taking out of the purse, and never putting in. No attention was paid to sustaining the soil's fertility. The only aim was to secure the largest crop for the smallest outlay of capital, without regard to the future. Manures were never used, and such as unavoidably accumulated was regarded as a great nuis- ance, often rendering necessary the removal of stables and outbuildings. 'Straw-stacks were
invariably burned as the most convenient means of disposing of them. Wheat, the principal product, brought a low price, often not more than fifty cents a bushel, and had to be marketed by teams at some point from which it could be carried by water, as this was, at an early day, the only means of transportation. On account of the sparse settlement of the country, roads were poor, and the farmer, after raising and threshing his wheat, had to spend, with a team, from two to five days, marketing the few bushels that a team could draw. So that the farmer had every obstacle to contend with except cheap and very fertile land, that with the poorest of cultivation gave a comparatively abundant yield of grain .. Better tillage, accompanied with the use of manures and other fertilizers, would not, upon the virgin soils, have added sufficiently to the yield to pay the cost of applying them. Hence, to the first farmers of the state, poor farming was the only profitable farming, and consequently the only good farming, an agriculturo-economical paradox from which there was no escape. Notwithstanding the fact that farmers could economi- cally follow no other system than that of land-exhaustion, as described, such a course was none the less injurious to the state, as it was undermining its foundation of future wealth, by destroy- ing the fertility of the soil, that upon which the permanent wealth and prosperity of every agri- cultural community is first dependent. Besides this evil, and together with it, came the habit of loose and slovenly farming acquired by pioneers, which continued after the conditions making that method a necessity had passed away. With the rapid growth of the northwest came better home markets and increased facilities for transportation to foreign markets, bringing with them higher prices for all products of the farm. As a consequence of these better conditions, land in farms in the state increased rapidly in value, from $9.58 per acre in 1850, to $16.61 in 1860, an increase of 62 per cent., while the total number of acres in farms increased during the same time from 2,976,658 acres to 7,893,587 acres, or 265 per cent. With this increase in the value of land, and the higher prices paid for grain, should have come an improved system of hus- bandry which would prevent the soil from deteriorating in fertility. This could have been accomplished either by returning to the soil, in manures and fertilizers, those ingredients of which it was being rapidly drained by continued grain-growing, or by the adoption of a system of mixed husbandry, which should include the raising of stock and a judicious rotation of crops. Such a system is sure to come. Indeed, it is now slowly coming. Great progress upon the earlier
methods of farming have already been made. But so radical and thorough a change in the habits of any class of people as that from the farming of pioneers to a rational method that will preserve the soil's fertility and pay for the labor it demands, requires many years for its full accomplishment. It will not even keep pace with changes in those economical conditions which
154
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
favor it. In the rapid settlement of the northwestern states this change has come most rapidly with the replacement of the pioneer farmers by immigrants accustomed to better methods of culture. In such cases the pioneers usually 'go west" again, to begin anew their frontier farming upon virgin soil, as their peculiar method of cultivation fails to give them a livelihood. In Wis- consin as rapid progress is being made in the system of agriculture as, all things considered, could reasonably be expected. This change for the better has been quite rapid for the past ten years, and is gaining in velocity and momentum each year. It is partly the result of increased intelligence relating to farming, and partly the result of necessity caused by the unprofitableness of the old method.
The estimated value of all agricultural products of the state, including that of orchards, market gardens, and betterments, was, in 1870, as given in the census of that year, $79,072,967, which places Wisconsin twelfth in rank among the agricultural states of the Union. In 1875, according to the " Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture," the value of the principal farm crops in this state was $58,957,050. According to this estimation the state ranks ninth in agri- cultural importance. As has been before stated, Wisconsin is essentially a grain-growing state. This interest has been the principal one, not because the soil is better adapted to grain-growing than to general, stock, or dairy farming, but rather because this course, which was at an early day most immediately profitable, has been since persistently followed from force of habit, even after it had failed to be remunerative.
The following table shows the bushels of the different grains raised in the state for the years indicated :
YEAR.
WHEAT.
RYE.
CORN.
OATS.
BARLEY.
BUCK- WHEAT.
1850
4,286,131 15,657,458
81,253 888,544 1,325,294
1,988,979 7,517,300 15,033,988 15,200,000
3,414,672 11,059,260 20,180,016 26,600,000
209,672 707,307 1,645,019
79,878
1860
38,987
1870
25,606,344
408,897
1875*
25,200,000
1,340,000
2,200,000
275,000
From these statistics it will be seen that the increase in the production of grain was very rapid up to 1870, while since that time it has been very slight. This rapid increase in grain raising is first attributable to the ease with which this branch of farming was carried on upon the new and very rich soils of the state, while in the older states this branch of husbandry has been growing more difficult and expensive, and also to the fact that the war in our own country so increased the demand for grain from 1861 to 1866 as to make this course the most immediately profitable. But with the close of the war came a diminished demand. Farmers were slow to recognize this fact, and change the character of their productions to accord with the wants of the market, but rather continued to produce the cereals in excess of the demand. The chinch bug and an occasional poor season seriously injured the crops, leaving those who relied princi- pally upon the production of grain little or nothing for their support. Hard times resulted from these poor crops. More wheat and corn was the farmer's usual remedy for hard times. So that more wheat and corn were planted. More crop failures with low prices brought harder times, until gradually the farmers of the state have opened their eyes to the truth that they can succeed in other branches of agriculture than grain growing, and to the necessity of catering to the
*Estimated in report of commissioner of agriculture.
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AGRICULTURE.
demands of the market. The value in 1869 of all farm products and betterments of the state was $79,072,967. There were raised of wheat the same year 25,606,344 bushels, which at $1.03 per bushel, the mean price reported by the Milwaukee board of trade, for No. 2 wheat (the lead- ing grade), for the year ending July 31, 1870, amounts to $26,374,524, or one third the value of all agricultural products and betterments. The average production per acre, as estimated by the commissioner of agriculture, was 14 bushels. Hence there were 1,829,024 acres of land devoted to this one crop, nearly one third of all the improved land in the state. Of the wheat crop of 1869 24,375,435 bushels were spring wheat, and 1,230,909 bushels were winter wheat, which is 19.8 bushels of spring to I bushel of winter wheat. The latter is scarcely sown at all on the prairies, or upon light opening soils. In some of the timbered regions hardy varieties do well, but it is not a certain crop, as it is not able to withstand the winters, unless covered by snow or litter. It is not injured as seriously by the hard freezing, as by the alternate freezing and thawing of Feb- ruary and March.
The continued cropping of land with grain is a certain means of exhausting the soil of the phosphates, and of those nitrogenous compounds that are essential to the production of grain, and yet are present even in the most fertile soils in but small quantities. To the diminished yield, partly attributable to the overcropping of the land, and partially to poor seasons and chinch bugs, and to the decline in prices soon after the war, owing to an over production of wheat, may largely be attributed the hard times experienced by the grain growing farmers of Wisconsin from 1872 to 1877. The continued raising of wheat upon the same land, alternated, if any alternation occurred, with barley, oats, or corn, has produced its sure results. The lesson has cost the farmers of the state dearly, but it has not been altogether lost. A better condition of affairs has already begun. Wheat is gradually losing its prestige as the farmers' sole dependence, while stock, dairy, and mixed farming are rapidly increasing. The number of bushels of wheat raised to each inhabitant in the state was in 1850 fourteen, in 1860 twenty-three and eight tenths, in 1870 twenty-four, and in 1875 twenty and four tenths. These figures do not indicate a dimin- ished productiveness of the state, but show, with the greatly increased production in other branches of husbandry, that farmers are changing their system to one more diversified and rational. Straw stacks are no longer burned, and manure heaps are not looked upon as altogether useless. Much more attention is now paid to the use of fertilizers. Clover with plaster is looked upon with constantly increasing favor, and there is a greater seeking for light upon the more difficult problems of a profitable agriculture
Corn is raised to a large extent, although Wisconsin has never ranked as high in corn, as in wheat growing. Sixteen states raised more corn in 1870 than this state, and in 1875, seventeen states raised more. Corn requires a rich, moist soil, with a long extended season of warm sun- shine. While this crop can be raised with great ease in the larger portion of the state, it will always succeed better farther south, both on account of the longer summers and the greater amount of rainfall. According to the statistics of the commissioner of agriculture, the average yield per acre for a period of ten years, is about 30 bushels. Corn is an important crop in the economy of the farmer, as from it he obtains much food for his stock, and it is his principal dependence for fattening pork. On these accounts it will, without doubt, retain its place in the husbandry of the state, even when stock and dairy farming are followed to a much greater extent than at present. Barley is cultivated largely throughout the state, but five states produced more in 1870, than Wisconsin. The great quantity of beer brewed here, furnishes a good home market for this grain. Barley succeeds best in a rather moist climate, having a long growing season. The dry, short summers of Wisconsin, are not well adapted to its growth. Hence the average
156
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
yield is but a medium one, and the quality of the grain is only fair. According to the returns furnished the commissioner of agriculture, the average yield for a period of ten years, is 22 bushels per acre.
Next to wheat, more bushels of oats are raised than of any other grain. Wisconsin was, in 1860, fifth in rank among the oat-growing states ; in .1870, sixth. The rich soils of the state raise an abundant crop of oats with but little labor, and hence their growth in large quantities is not necessarily an indication of good husbandry. They will bear poor cultivation better than corn, and are frequently grown upon land too weedy to produce that grain. It is a favorite grain for feeding, especially to horses. With the best farmers, oats are looked upon with less favor than corn, because it is apt to leave land well seeded with weeds which are difficult to exterminate. In the production of rye, Wisconsin ranked seventh in 1860, and fourth in 1870. It is a much surer crop in this state than winter wheat, as it is less easily winter-killed when not protected by snow, than is that grain. Besides, it ripens so early as not to be seriously injured by drouth in summer, and succeeds well even upon the poorer soils. The average yield per acre is about 16 bushels.
But few hops were grown in Wisconsin, up to 1860, when owing to an increased demand by the breweries f the state, there was a gradual but healthful increase in hop culture. A few years later the advent of the hop louse, and other causes of failure at the east, so raised the price of hops as to make them a very profitable crop to grow. Many acres were planted in this state from 1863 to 1865, when the total product was valued at nearly $350,000. The success of those engaged in this new branch of farming, encouraged others to adopt it. The profits were large. Wheat growing had not for several years been remunerative, and in 1867 and 1868, the “ hop fever " became an epidemic, almost a plague. The crop of Sauk county alone was estimated at over 4,000,000 pounds, worth over $2,000,000. The quality of the crop was excellent, the yield large, and the price unusually high. The secretary of the State Agricultural society says, in his report for that year, " Cases are numerous in which the first crop has paid for the land and all the improvements." To many farmers hop raising appeared to offer a sure and speedy course to wealth. But a change came quickly. The hop louse ruined the crop, and low prices caused by over production, aided in bringing ruin to many farmers. In 1867, the price of hops was from 40 to 55 cents per pound, while in 1869 it was from 10 to 15 cents, some of poor quality selling as low as 3 cents. Many hop yards were plowed up during 1869 and 1870. The area under cultivation to this crop in 1875, was, according to the " Report of the Secretary of State," 10,932 acres.
The production of tobacco has greatly increased since 1860, when there were raised in the state 87,340 pounds. In 1870, the product was 960,813 pounds. As is well known, the quality of tobacco grown in the northern states is greatly inferior for chewing and smoking, to that grown in the south, although varieties having a large, tough leaf, suitable for cigar wrappers, do well here. The variety principally grown is the Connecticut seed leaf. Tobacco can only be grown successfully on rich, fertile soils, and it is very exhausting to the land. Of the amount produced in 1870, there were raised in Rock county 645,408 pounds, and in Dane county, 229,568 pounds ; the entire remaining portion of the state raised but 85,737 pounds. According to the report of the secretary of state, the whole number of acres planted to tobacco in 1875, was 3,296. Of this amount Rock county planted 1,676 acres, and Dane county, 1,454 acres, leaving for the remain- der of the state but 166 acres. While the crop has been fairly productive and profitable, these statistics show that up to the present time tobacco-raising has been a merely local interest.
The production of flax is another merely local industry, it being confined principally to the
157
AGRICULTURE.
counties of Kenosha, Grant, Iowa and LaFayette. Of flax fibre, Kenosha county raised in 1869, nearly four fifths of the entire amount grown in the state, the total being 497,398 pounds. With the high price of labor and the low price of cotton now ruling, it is scarcely possible to make the raising of flax fibre profitable. Flax seed is raised to a small extent in the other counties men- tioned. The present price of oil makes this a fairly profitable crop. If farmers fully appreciated that in addition to the oil, the oil cake is of great value as a food for cattle and sheep, and also that the manure made by the animals eating it, is of three times the value of that made by ani- mals fed upon corn, doubtless much more flax seed would be raised than is at present. Ameri- can oil-cake finds a ready market in England, at prices which pay well for its exportation. If English farmers can afford to carry food for their stock so far, American farmers may well strive to ascertain if they can afford to allow the exportation of so valuable food. When greater atten- tion is paid in our own country to the quality of the manure made by our stock, more oil-cake will be fed at home, and a much smaller proportion of that made here will be exported.
The amount of maple sugar produced diminishes as the settlement of the state increases, and is now scarcely sufficient in amount to be an item in the state's productions. The increase in the price of sugar from 1861 to 1868 caused many farmers to try sorghum raising. But the present low prices of this staple has caused an abandonment of the enterprise. Two attempts have been made in Wisconsin to manufacture beet-root sugar, the first at Fond du Lac in 1867 the second at Black Hawk, Sauk county, in 1870. The Fond du Lac company removed their works to California in 1869, not having been successful in their efforts. The Black Hawk com- pany made, in 1871, more than 134,000 pounds of sugar, but have since abandoned the business. Both these failures may be attributed to several causes, first of which was the want of sufficient capital to build and carry on a factory sufficiently large to enable the work to be done economi- cally ; secondly, the difficulty of sufficiently interesting farmers in the business to induce them to raise beets on so large a scale as to warrant the building of such a factory; and, thirdly, the high price of labor and the low price of sugar. The quality of beets raised was good, the polarization test showing in many instances as high as sixteen per cent. of sugar. The larger proportion of hay made in the state is from the natural meadows, the low lands or marshes, where wild grasses grow in abundance, and hay only costs the cutting and curing. Cultivated grasses do well throughout the state, and " tame hay " can be made as easily here as elsewhere The limestone soils, where timber originally grew, are of the uplands, most natural to grass, and, consequently, furnish the richest meadows, and yield the best pasturage. Ye e only soils where grasses do not readily grow, are those which are so sandy and dry as to be nearly barrens. Clover grows throughout the state in the greatest luxuriance. There is occasionally a season so dry as to make " seeding down " a failure, and upon light soils clover, when not covered with snow, is apt to win- ter-kill. Yet it is gaining in favor with farmers, both on account of the valuable pasturage and hay it affords, and on account of its value as a soil renovator. In wheat-growing regions, clover is now recognized to be of the greatest value in a " rotation," on account of its ameliorating influence upon the soil. Throughout the stock and dairy regions, clover is depended upon to a large extent for pasturage, and to a less extent for hay.
There has been a growing interest in stock raising for the past ten years, although the increase has not been a rapid one. Many of the herds of pure-blood cattle in the state rank high for their great excellence. The improvement of horses has been less rapid than that of cattle, sheep, and swine; yet this important branch of stock farming is improving each year. The most attention is given to the improvement of draught and farm horses, while roadsters and fast horses are not altogether neglected. There are now owned in the state a large number of horses of the heavier English and French breeds, which are imparting to their progeny their own characteristics
158
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
of excellence, the effects of which are already visible in many of the older regions of the state. Of the different breeds of cattle, the Short-horns, the Ayrshires, the Devons, and the Jerseys are well represented. The Short-horns have met with most favor with the general farmer, the grades of this breed being large, and possessing in a high degree the quiet habits and readiness to fat- ten, so characteristic of the full-bloods. Without doubt, the grade Short-horns will continue in the high favor in which they are now held, as stock-raising becomes a more important branch of the husbandry of the state. Of pure blood Short-horns there are many herds, some of which are of the very highest excellence. At the public sales of herds from this state, the prices have ranked high universally, and in.a few cases have reached the highest of "fancy " prices, showing the estimate placed by professional breeders upon the herds of Wisconsin. The Ayr- shires are increasing in numbers, and are held in high esteem by many dairymen. They are not yet, however, as generally disseminated over the state, as their great merit as a milking breed would warrant. The rapid growth of the dairy interest will doubtless increase their numbers greatly, at least as grades, in the dairying region. Of pure bred Devons and Jerseys, there are fewer than of the former breeds. The latter are principally kept in towns and cities to furnish milk for a single family. The following table shows the relative importance of stock raising in the state for the years mentioned. The figures are an additional proof to those already given, that the grain industry has held sway in Wisconsin to the detriment of other branches of farming, as well as to the state's greatest increase in wealth.
YEAR.
WHOLE NUM- BER OF NEAT CATTLE.
NO. TO EACH 100 ACRES OF WHOLE NUM- IMPROVED BER OF SHEEP. LAND.
NUMBER TO EACH ACRES IMPROVED LAND.
100| OF
POUNDS OF WOOL PRO- DUCED.
POUNDS OF WOOL PER HEAD.
1850
183,433
I7
124,896
I2
2.03
1860
521,860
14
332,954
9
253,963 1,011,933
3.04
1870
693,294
12
1,069,282
I8
3.82
1875*
922,900
II
1,162,800
14
4,090,670 (?)
(?)
* Estimated in report of commissioner of agriculture.
The growth and present condition of sheep husbandry, compare much more favorably with the general development of the state than does that of cattle raising. In a large degree this may be accounted for by the impetus given to wool raising during our civil war by the scarcity of cotton, and the necessary substitution to a great extent, of woolen for cotton goods. This great demand for wool for manufacturing purposes produced a rapid rise in the price of this staple, making its production a very profitable branch of farming. With the close of the war came a lessened demand, and consequently lower prices. Yet at no time has the price of wool fallen below that at which it could be profitably produced. This is the more notably true when the value of sheep in keeping up the fertility and productiveness of land, is taken into account. The foregoing table shows the improvement in this branch of husbandry since 1850
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