Madison County History and Genealogy

History and Genealogy



History of Madison County


Agriculture


By reference to the topographical description of the county in another chapter, the reader will readily infer that, although covering a small area of territory compared with other counties, few possess finer agricultural advantages. In the earlier settlement of this section, ponds, marshes and swamps abounded where to-day are found fertile and well-cultivated fields. The low and flat places were avoided for the higher grounds, not only on account of the wetness, but for sanitary reasons. The proximity of a spring, also, had much to do with the location of a cabin; but in the selection of places for the erection of other buildings, convenience was the ordinary test. The corn-crib, made of rails or poles, and covered with prairie hay or clapboards, as convenience suggested, was as apt to be in close proximity to the "front door" as at the rear of the building, or near the stable. In the matter of stables and corn-cribs, very little improvement took place until long after material changes had been made in the dwellings, and we wonder, at this day, at the want of consideration shown, not only in the general arrangement of these outbuildings, but of many things connected with the household work, which now are considered of prime importance. Agricultural implements were, at the first, necessarily rude, and the state of agriculture of a corresponding character. Even had such a matter been known, there was little need for "scientific" agriculture. The soil was new and productive, and it was a question simply of home supply, while for many years the markets within reasonable distance scarcely repaid the labor of hauling. The methods and implements employed fully answered the purposes for which they were intended.

The first substantial inclosures were constructed of rails in the form still used, called the worm fence-in a new country, with abundance of timber, the cheapest, most substantial and durable fence that may be built. After the sod was broken, the ground was mellow, and plowed with oxen. The plow in common use was a long wooden one, somewhat after the shape of the plow now in use, with an iron sole and point and an iron cutter. The immigrant usually brought his plow with him, but many did not own one until he made it, or had it made by some mechanic of the settlement. If the field was too full of stumps and roots, the mattock and hoe were required to do good service, and the field was planted in corn. The corn was dropped by hand-in which work the girls took part-and was covered and cultivated with the hand-hoe. Many farmers in the later days followed the same method, but the horse-hoe, or shovel-plow, soon began to be used, and gradually worked its way into general use, to mark out the rows and cross-furrows for the "dropper," and to follow after to cover the seed. Finally the "double-shovel" plow drove the hand-hoe from the corn-field, while the horse, with the changes ia implements, superseded the ox. Invention has kept pace with the demand for better improved machinery, but, after the lapse of more than three-quarters of a century, the science of cornraising is still far from perfect. Though great changes have been made in modes of planting and culture, as well as in the style of the implements used, it is questionable whether larger corn crops are raised than were produced fifty years ago. The future will probably show material changes in the use, rather than in the form of the machinery, and the past ten years have made great changes in both respects. To-day, save in the cutting, shocking and husking, the use of machinery enters into every process, while in Illinois a machine is now in use for cutting and shocking corn at the same time. Invention has come to the assistance of the farmer, as it has come to all other industries, and lifted from his life the drudgery of toil; yet it is a matter of surprise that none of the great labor-saving agricultural implements have been invented by farmers.

In the cultivation of wheat, greater changes have perhaps taken place than in the planting and gathering of corn. The land was plowed the same as for corn, and harrowed with a wooden-toothed harrow, or smoothed by dragging over the ground a heavy brush, weighted down, if necessary, with a stick of timber. It was then sown broadcast, by hand, at the rate of a bushel to a bushel and a half per acre, and "harrowed in" with the brush. Though corn meal was the main reliance for bread, and continued to be for many years, yet wheat was raised at an early day. Occasionally a field would be grown producing what was called "sick wheat," so named from its tendency to cause vomiting. Various devices were adopted to obviate this difficulty, but none of any avail; but this class of grain was usually converted into whisky. The cause of this poison in the wheat has never been definitely ascertained; whether it was on account of the malarial locality in which it was grown, the variety of wheat, or simply caused by the wheat getting wet and sprouting, is yet a matter of dispute. It has been described as differing little or none from the wheat now grown, except in the appearance of a red spot on the grain, indicating a sprout; but whatever the cause, it has totally disappeared.

The wheat harvest ripened in the earlier part of July, and farmers expected to be pretty fairly in the field by the "Glorious Fourth." The implement used was either the sickle or cradle, and, not infrequently, both in the same field. The sickle was at first the only instrument; but soon the cradle came into common use, and finally superseded altogether the more primitive implement. The reaper followed in the course of time, and has now as well-nigh effectually displaced the cradle as the latter did the sickle. Life on the farm necessarily compels the husbandmen to be a "jack-of-all-trades," and there were many farmers over the county who could not only make a tub or a barrel, but the frame work and fingers for the cradle. Sometimes an ingenious backwoodsman made it a business of repairing all classes of farm implements, and manufacturing new ones. When such a man lived in a neighborhood, he was usually well patronized.

There were few farmers who did not know how to swing the scythe and cradle, and there was no more pleasant picture on the farm than a gang of workmen in the harvest field, nor a more hilarious crowd. Three cradles would cut about ten acres a day, and one binder was expected to keep up with each cradler. Barns for the storage of the unthreshed grain are a comparatively modern invention, and, as soon as the shock was supposed to be sufficiently cured, it was hauled to some place on the farm convenient for threshing and feeding, and there stacked. Prior to the introduction of threshing machines, the work was performed by flail, or tramping with horses, but generally the latter plan was adopted. The flail was used in stormy weather, on the sheltered floor, or when other farm work was not pressing, the threshing by tramping, commonly in clear weather, on a level and well-tramped clay floor, or, in later days, if the space was sufficiently large, on the barn floor. When sufficiently tramped, the refuse straw was thrown into a stack, and the wheat cleaned by a fanning-mill, or, prior to the use of these mills, by letting it fall from a height of several feet, subject to the action of the wind. Other modes were also in vogue, which the descendants of the pioneers are familiar with.

The next step was to get the wheat to market, but in the early days there was little surplus after the home demands were satisfied. This, however, did not continue many years, as each year added to the number of producers, and, as early as 1830. the hauling of wheat and other products to distant markets was the general practice. Chillicothe, Columbus, Sandusky, Springfield, Dayton and Cincinnati were all patronized from Madison County. The custom was for several farmers to go in company. The roads were heavy and full of marshy places, and the frontiersman's skill with the ax, and ingenuity in "fixing up " a "break-down," were always in requisition. When heavy loads were hauled, it was not unusual to take relays of horses, with provender for the trip, the exchange of horses being made at about the half-way house on the road. Teamsters carried their own provisions, and camped out whenever nightfall came on, or, if corn and hay taken for the trip were consumed, to turn into the yard of one of the inns to be found along the line of all the great thoroughfares, "for man and beast." After the completion of the National road through this county, much of the hardest work on these trips disappeared, as the largest loads could be hauled with ease, without constant fear of breakages and long delays caused by the terrible state of the muddy roads.

Laborers were abundant, and the farmer had little or no difficulty in supplying himself with "hands," either for the season or for an emergency. Almost every one could swing the scythe or cradle, or perform any other work on the farm. The rule was, not only with the hired laborer, but with the farmer and his boys, to be at work with the early light. A day's work on the farm was the labor that might be performed between "sun and sun," and this was understood and accepted on the part of the employer and employe, though it was usual to perform the "chores" after the return from the field. The price of labor was 50 cents a day, which was also the wages of a harvest hand. A good farm hand could be hired at from $8 to $10 per month. There was no fixed price for produce or stock. Old settlers tell us that they have sold wheat as low as 25 cents per bushel, and stock at correspondingly low prices. In 1830, wheat hauled to Cincinnati brought 37½ cents per bushel; a cow and calf, $12; and a brood sow, $5. A load of flour, containing eight barrels, was exchanged at Cincinnati, in 1815, for two barrels of salt.

The swine of the early settlers, compared with the hogs of 1883, would present as wide a contrast as it is possible to conceive. Whatever the breed may have previously been called, running wild, as was customary, the special breed was soon lost in the mixed swine of the country. They were long and slim, long-snouted and long-legged, with an arched back, and bristles erect from the back of the head to the tail, slab-sided, active and healthy; the "sapling-splitter" and "razor-back," as he was called, was ever in the search of food, and quick to take alarm. He was capable of making a heavy hog, but required two years or more to mature, and until a short time before butchering or marketing, was suffered to run at large, subsisting mainly as a forager, and in the fall, fattening on the "mast." Yet this was the hog for a new country, whose nearest and best markets were in Cincinnati and Baltimore, to which places they were driven on foot. Persons then, as now, engaged in the purchase and driving of swine or cattle as a special occupation, and, by means of trustworthy agents, visited distant sections to buy up large droves. It was not uncommon to see a drove of hogs driven to a certain place to be weighed ere starting them on their long journey. As each porker was caught, it was thrust into a kind of leather receptacle, which was suspended to steelyards. As soon as the hog was fairly in the contrivance, the whole was lifted from the ground, and thus, one by one the drove was weighed and a minute made of each, and with a pair of shears, a patch of bristles was cut from the hind-quarters, or some other mode of marking followed, as evidence of the fact that the hog had been weighed. Two or three days' drive made the hogs quiet enough to be driven along the highway without much trouble, moving forward at an average gait of from eight to ten miles a day. Whenever the animals were wilder than usual, they were enticed into a pen, there caught, and their eyelids "stitched," or this was done during the weighing process. Thus blinded, the hogs seemed instinctively to keep the road, and, reaching their destination, a clip of the scissors or knife made all things right again.

Almost every farmer raised a few hogs for market, which were gathered up by drovers and dealers. The delivery of hogs began usually in September, and the business was carried on past the middle of winter. The price ranged at about $1.25 per 100 pounds, though at times running up to $3.25 or $3.50. with a fair margin after driving to Cincinnati or Baltimore. About 1840, the hog trade was brisk, and speculation ran high. Many men along about this time laid the foundation of subsequent fortunes, while doubtless others lost all in wild speculation. In no stock of the farm have greater changes been effected than in the hog. From the characteristics of this wild animal, long-legged, slab-sided, roach-backed, muscular, tall, long, active and fierce, it has been bred to be almost as square as a store-box, quiet as a sheep, taking on 250 pounds of flesh in ten months. They are now ranked into distinctive breeds, which, as far as Madison County is concerned, has mainly narrowed to the Berkshire and Poland-China, though other breeds are found here.

In horses, cattle and sheep, Madison for many years has claimed a high grade. The first sheep were brought into the county by Joshua Ewing, in 1800, and since that time their numbers have gradually increased, until to-day this county contains thousands of the finest sheep in the State. The breeding of thoroughbred horses began at a later day. Walter A. Dun and Maj. William A. Neil have done much toward the growth and development of thoroughbred horses in this portion of Ohio It has not proven remunerative to these individuals, but nevertheless Madison County derived great benefit from their enterprise, as it raised the grade of her horses to a high standard. This county being the center of the blue grass region of Ohio, it necessarily follows that nature intended it for a great cattle mart, and as such it is recognized throughout the world of trade. The great monthly cattle sales held in London since 1856, as well as the thoroughbred Short-Horns imported from Europe at an earlier day, has made the name of "Old Madison" famous. There is no county of this great State where the buying and selling of stock has proven such a grand success as here in the little county of Madison. Her sale-days are the great events in the lives of stock men for miles in every direction. Over her broad acres, covered with the succulent blue grass, roam vast herds of sleek, well-fed cattle, which are ever in demand at the highest market prices.


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