PREFACE In the preparation of the pages which follow, the writer has endeavored to trace the development of one side of the industrial life in Ohio. It is to the farmer, more than to any other, that this state owes her greatness. In recognition of this fact, the writer has endeavored to present a readable account of the progress and evolution of the agriculture in its various phases in the state. A chapter has been devoted to canals and railroads, because with the advent of the former the real agriculture began. It is to bring together some of the historic agricultural facts now scattered through a thousand places that this little book appears. C. W. B. INTRODUCTION Its In 1650 Ohio was an unbroken forest. waters on the north and south had occasionally been furrowed by the adventurous craft of civilized men; but its borders possessed neither a hamlet nor a house. Only its interior showed signs of life of man, and that in the savage state. Tradition only tells us of the beauty of the wild scenery. That must have been a pleasant view to the Jesuit missionary Jean de Brefeuf, in 1640, as he coasted along Lake Erie's bank in the waters calm and sublime, typical of the solemn hum that marks the Atlantic roll. Or as La Salle, in 1660, moved slowly down the stream on the south, majestically along, noiseless as the foot of time, and as resistless. No wonder he used haste to take possession, after beholding the tall trees, covered with vines of the grape and of wild roses, from near the ground to topmost branches. He saw, too, the beautiful shrubbery and wild flowers, tall grasses, and the great profusion of flowering plants in full bloom, of every shade of color. We do not wonder as thus he floated down the stream he saw that truly the country and the silvery river was fair and beautiful; with this thought in mind, he exclaimed: "La belle |