Introduction rivere!" The Indians, too, felt the same pleasure in the beauty of the scene, and long before the Wyandots had named the river by the expression, O, he, zuh; which meaning applied by the French, means great, grand, and fair to look at, hence the name of Ohio for the river and the state. The history of the agriculture of Ohio is free from the startling sensations which arise from a Perry on Lake Erie, or the policies of a Vallandigham, or the tragedies and comedies of social life. Ohio's agriculture is deep and calm; its history quiet, but marked with the ever-increasing steps of progress. As the sailor takes his bearings to keep his course, and from every view he sees nothing but water, so it is with the agriculture of Ohio,— a broad ocean of uncollected facts, one bearing here, another there, often uncertain and unreliable, extending through a period of a century in length. But we see a few landmarks here and there that are valuable aids in directing our course. Ohio agriculture may be divided into the following periods: Prehistoric or Indian agriculture, from prehistoric times to 1788. Early agriculture, 1788-1832. Modern agriculture, 1832-present. duction Our present period is experimental; can we Intronot within another half century give place to a fourth period, and term it scientific agriculture, with date from about 1890? In this treatise we need not go into the history of the boundary of Ohio. It is true that a few straggling settlers lived in Ohio, but her industrial history begins properly with the Marietta settlement. Those settlers did not live by manufacturing, nor by mining, nor by hunting and fishing; but the growing of crops and the tilling of the soil at once took a prominent place in the work. Trees were soon cut and raised into houses. Protection started, the area thus cleared gave place for sowing, and cultivation and harvesting at once followed. Little is known of the agriculture of this period. In fact, there was little history, and nothing of importance in any way occurred to those first settlers prior to 1800. There was no means of transportation. Shipbuilding began about this time, and an outlet for the crop surplus was now slightly possible. But the agriculture of Ohio cannot be said to have commenced as an industry at a period before 1832. The Ohio canal was at this time completed; the facility for transportation by that means was the commencement of the era of improvement in this state. The accessibility to market induced Introduction every landowner to pay greater attention to the cultivation of the soil. Up to this time there had been no reason nor demand for improvement. Now an occupation for thousands had been made possible. The necessity gave rise to invention and improvement, and henceforth there was to begin a development and improvement in live stock and implements that was to make Ohio one of the foremost agricultural states of America. From that time forward prosperity followed, and the entire state rapidly grew in population and wealth. Log cabins disappeared, and commodious frame dwellings took their place. Towns sprang into existence, with shops, schools, and churches. Farm products found a ready cash sale, and at remunerative prices. Thus agriculture proper had its beginning. The opportunity was now afforded for the virgin earth to have developed its riches and beauty. 12 CHAPTER I SOIL AND CLIMATE On the surface, within the limits of Ohio, is almost everywhere a rich vegetable mould, made by the decay and putrefaction of vegetable substances. Along the Ohio river and all its larger tributaries in this state are wide intervals of rich alluvial soils, on which originally a thick growth of gigantic forest trees flourished. In the hilly regions there are two kinds of soilthe silicious and the argilaceous. former is made by the disintegration of the sandstone, near the surface; the latter by the clay slate which exists there. And where it is quite hilly these two kinds often become blended together. Nature has provided us the clay for bricks and the sand in which to mould them. The The interior of the state and the country bordering on Lake Erie are generally level, and in some places marshy. From one quarter to one third of the state, comprehending the eastern and southeastern part, bordering on the Ohio river, is gen Soil and erally hilly and broken. The lands on the Climate Ohio, and several of its tributaries, have great fertility. On both sides of the Scioto and the two Miamis are the most extensive bodies of rich and level land in the state. On the headwaters of the Muskingum and the Scioto, and between the Scioto and the two Miamis, are extensive prairies, some of them at one time low and marshy, producing a great quantity of farm products of all kinds. Prior to its present claimation to agriculture, this area produced a great quantity of coarse grass, from two to five feet high; other parts of the prairie are elevated and dry, with a very fertile soil, though they have sometimes been called barrens. The height of the land which divides the waters which fall into the Ohio from those which fall into Lake Erie was the most marshy originally of any of the state; while the land on the margins of the rivers is generally dry.1 The southeastern section, over one third of the state, is dependent upon its original rocks for its soil fertility. These being mostly of sandstone origin, afford little 1 Sherman & Smith's Gazetteer of the United States. |