400 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO E. F. Searl appeared. Doctor Searl later located in Fairfield where he was practicing in 1895. Doctor Hoover located in Osborn in 1867. Doctor Powell came to the town in 1882 and bought the practice of Doctor Searl, the latter removing to Fairfield at that time. In addition to the extensive flour-mills of the town, the next largest industry which the town has ever had was the whip factory. The Ohio Whip Company was organized in 1891, and turned out their first whip on July 4 of that year. This factory was soon doing an immense business, and had its agents in every state in the Union. At the height of their prosperity they made forty gross of whips each week. But this business, like the buggy and carriage manufacturing business, was to suffer from the introduction of the automobile. It gradually decreased its output until it was evident that it was no longer a paying business and it had practically ceased manufacturing when it burned down in 1916. The town has also boasted of a bed-spring factory, a saw-mill, planing-mill and numerous repair shops of various winds, but these have disappeared one by one. The large lumber company has closed out its business in the town within the last year, and nothing now remains of the many industrial enterprises except the flour-mills. The Conservancy Board seems to have decreed that the town shall be no more, and even if it does allow the town to continue its existence it is not likely that men with capital will venture to invest it in the town, owing to the uncertainty that will follow the creation of the great flood-prevention basin referred to elsewhere: THE TOWN DIGS FOR GAS. During the excitement about natural gas in the latter part of the '80s, a local stock company was organized to drill a well near the town. Drilling began on June 13, 1887, at 11:30 p. m., and at a depth of seven hundred and seven feet a good flow of gas was reached. On the following day a greatly increased flow was encountered, and the contractor in charge ran a pipe down the well and on the evening of the same day the gas was lighted—the first natural gas to burn in Greene county. It is no wonder that everyone was excited about the finding of gas ; people flocked to the well that night from miles in every direction. On July 1, 1887, a gauge was attached to the well and in a short time it showed a pressure of two hundred and fifty pounds. The drilling was continued until a' depth of one thousand and thirty-two feet was reached, but no gas was found below seven hundred and seven feet. The pressure gradually decreased until by October 25, 1887, it only registered forty-five pounds, and within a short time the well had to be abandoned. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 401 NEWSPAPERS OF THE TOWN Owing to the absence of the local newspaper files it is impossible to trace the newspaper history of the town. There is a stray reference to the existence of the Osborn, Bulletin, a paper in operation in 1866, but it was evidently a short-lived sheet. Sometime later, the date not being known, the Osborn Star appeared on the newspaper horizon, but it likewise had only an abbreviated career. The Mad River Times made its maiden appearance on July 9, 1882, and since that year the town has always had a paper. The Osborn Local is a lineal descendant of the Mad River Times. POSTOFFICE. The first postmaster of the town was George Massey, but it is not known how long he was in charge, although he had the office for several years. The succession of postmasters prior to 1885 is hard to follow, but since that year it is well defined. N. S. Bonham served from 1885 to 1889, and since that time the succession has been as follows : John A. Knisley, 1889-1893; David Hedge, 1893-1897; D. M. McConnell, 1897-1905 ; John A. Knisley, 1905-1914. C. Leon Barkman, the present incumbent, was commissioned on October 21, 1913, but did not take charge of the office until January I, 1914. Rural free delivery was established in 1902 and there are now four carriers connected with the Osborn office : John R. Hadder, John A. Miller, John M. Sheets and Oliver W. Cox. CHURCHES, SCHOOLS AND LODGES. The town has seen the establishment of four churches : Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal and St. Mary's Catholic church. In the way of fraternal orders, the town has been supporting the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. There has also been a post of the Grand Army of the Republic and an organization of the Woman's Relief Corps, these two Civil War organizations having membership both in Osborn and Fairfield. The schools of the town are the equal of any town in the state for its size, the chapter on Education giving the main facts concerning the schools of the town. MUNICIPAL HISTORY. The town of Osborn was incorporated in 1867, and the first meeting of the council was held on December 19 of the same year. At that time the following officials took the oath of office and were sworn into their respective positions : Solon W. Massey, mayor ; Aaron Spangle, clerk ; J. B. Worley, treasurer ; J. B. Massey, Samuel E. Woodward, Henry S. Musser and (26) 402 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Casper Fisher, councilmen. At that time Solon W. Massey was the leading merchant of the town. Massey was followed in the mayor's office in 1868 by Aaron Spangler. The town elections have often been fraught with all the excitement of a national election. The town, like all places of its size, has had its local politicians who have attempted to elect a certain set of candidates. It is not profitable to follow through the half century of political contests over local offices. It might be interesting to note some of the early mayors of the town, the following list giving a number of these officials in the order of their incumbency : Solon Massey, Aaron Spangler, M. V. Baggott, O. Judson, F. L. Wood, S. B. Light, William Stephenson, Aaron Spangler (1878- 1882), J. B. Massey, C. K. Hershey, D. M. McConnell, D. W. Fortney and David Auten. The officials for 1918 are as follows : Harry E. Frahn, mayor; J. E. Keever, clerk ; R. E. Dunkel, treasurer ; William A. Schneider, marshal ; J. E. Keever, assessor ; C. J. Butt, G. E. Bailey, H. R. Kendig, F. C. Massey, J. O. Staup and A. Stremmel, councilmen. Doctor Hartman of Peruna fame, practiced at Osborn for some years. BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY FOR APRIL, 1918. As has been stated, the future of Osborn is very uncertain. No one seems to know in April, 1918, what is really going to become of the town. There is no question that the Conservancy Board is going to buy all the property in the town, more than three-fourths of the property holders having turned over their property to the Conservancy Board by the middle of April, 1918. The board then rents the property to the original owner, but only one month at a time, and tells the renter that he can rest assured that he may remain for a couple of years. What is then going to happen is a question that can not now be answered, but it is evident that the business of the town is going to be killed, and that most of the present citizens will locate in some other place. For this reason, the directory of business and professional men which is herewith presented will represent the last group of business and professional men the town will ever have. Already a number of firms have left the town, the most important one being the lumber company. The list of business men as it appears on April 13, 1918, follows : Automobile dealers, J. E. Burrows, Frank Massey ; attorney, Morris D. Rice ; bakery, Carl Kortch ; bank, Osborn National Bank ; barbers, Howard Sheets, William Stremmel ; blacksmiths, William Zellar, William Lansinger ; coal dealers, Harry E. Frahn ; dentists, C. A. Herr, L. C. Liber ; drug store, C. J. Logsdon; dry goods, H. R. Kendig; elevator, H. E. Frahn ; feed store, H. E. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 403 Frahn; flour-mills, Tranchant & Finnell (two operated by water power) ; garage, J. E. Burrows; grocers, Elwood Dunkle, G. W. Williams, Frank Esterline; harness, Herman Rudolph; hardware, Frank C. Massey, W. B. Kauffman; hotel, W. Scott Lobaugh; implement dealers, Harry McFeely, Theodore Kauffman; jewelry, Claude Barkman; milliner, Mrs. James Heedal ; newspaper, Osborn Local, J. A. Hardman, editor; meat market, Phillip Diehl; physicians, P. C. Marquart, T. V. Crabill; pool room and restaurants, Frank Paul, John Oster ; postmaster, C. Leon Barkman, since January I, 1914; station agent, Henry Paul; undertaker, Morris Sons, D. E. Coy; wagon maker, M. Ft Stabner. CHAPTER XXVII. AGRICULTURE. The history of agriculture as it concerns Greene county is very little different from that of most of the other counties in the state. One hundred years ago the farmer did not have a single one of the labor-saving devices which may be found on every well-managed farm in Greene county today. With his crude single-shovel plow and hoe, his sickle, scythe and cradle, his flail and fanning-mill, his home-made harness and hand-made wagon, he was but poorly equipped to battle with the forests. He looked for the high and dry land, since such a thing as a tile ditch was not then dreamed of. There was no such a thing as a stump-puller ; dynamite was unknown—and the obstreperous stump was left to rot in the field. In short, the meager equipment of farming implements possessed by the sturdy pioneers who first attempted to wrest a living from the soil of this county would not be considered worthy of the poorest farmers of 1918. It would far transcend the limits of this chapter to go into detail concerning the vicissitudes of the early farmer of the county. He managed in some way or another to clear the forests with the aid of ax and fire, and to raise sufficient produce to make a comfortable living for his family. Wants were so few and the few so simple that the two cents he received for a pound of pork and the ten cents that his corn brought him loomed as big in his eyes as fifteen-cent pork and two-dollar corn at the present time. The times have changed; the people have changed ; and although we sometimes think that "the good old days" were the best, and that our grandfathers and grandmothers were happier than we are today, yet we would not exchange our manner of living with all its conveniences for the life they had to live with all its inconveniences. The soil of Greene county has been discussed in another chapter, the same chapter on the geology and topography of the county discussing the climatic conditions, drainage system and allied subjects. It is sufficient to state in this connection that nature has effected such a harmonious combination of sunshine, rainfall and soil that the farmer of Greene county can raise as fine crops of corn and wheat and oats and potatoes as any farmer in the United States, and for the same reason he can produce just as fat hogs, as sleek cattle, as fine horses and as well-bred sheep. An acre of Greene county land has produced a hundred bushels of corn and half that GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 405 many bushels of wheat; it has produced four hundred bushels of potatoes, and, for that matter, it might produce as many bushels of onions; it has produced three tons of timothy hay and six tons of alfalfa. In other words, the farmer of Greene county has every reason to congratulate himself in living in such a county. It is small wonder that the farm which cost his grandfather one hundred and twenty-five cents an acre is now worth as many dollars an acre— and there are hundreds of acres in Greene county today that could not be bought for that amount. THE DAYS OF OUR GREAT-GRANDFATHERS ON THE FARM. Let us turn back the pages of history; let us put on the old cowhide boots, the old 'coonskin cap, the "wamus," the old "galluses" ; let us get out the old corncob pipe, the old shucking peg, the old dog, if you please, and saunter down the lane of grandfather's old farm. Let us look over his "clearing," or his "deadnin'," as he liked to call it, and see just what he had on his farm. The barn was always of logs, the corncrib of rails, the fences, if he had any, of the same material. The hay was invariably stacked out ; the potatoes, apples, cabbage and other food supplies for the winter were usually buried in the ground, or at least a goodly portion of them were so stored away. The few farming implements were usually homemade, or at best the handiwork of the nearest blacksmith. If he had an ax, a hoe, a shovel-plow, a wagon and a set of harness made out of bark, he was satisfied. Many of the earliest settlers did not have a wagon, and a large number of them did not even have horses. The ox was universally used and continued in use until the time of the Civil War. Fortunately, the virgin soil was very fertile and grain had only to be planted in order to make a fairly good crop, while with a little attention it yielded abundantly. Corn was always dropped by hand and in the "new ground," a pet phrase of the pioneer, it was always cultivated in the same way. The ground was first plowed with oxen and a curious plow which is difficult to describe; a crude wooden affair, the only iron about it being the sole and point. It was what. would now be called a variation of the single-shovel plow. The modern breaking plow, which is distinguished from its predecessor by having a mold board, did not come into use until a short time prior to the Civil War. They were then called "harsher" plows and were considered a wonderful invention when they first appeared in the county. In the course of years some Yankee conceived the idea of making a plow with two shovels, and thus came about the widely used "double-shovel," which may still be seen doing duty on the farms of the county. Along 406 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO in the '70s another genius invented the cultivator, a plow for cultivating more than one row of corn at a time. This was a six-shoveled contrivance, truly a wonderful improvement over the old single shovel. Still later, a plow with twelve shovels made its appearance, but the farmer was compelled to walk behind it. Time went on, and finally some ingenious Yankee startled the American farmer by producing a plow which combined the pleasures of a buggy and plow—and the modern riding-plow was at hand. Now the farmer may be seen plowing his corn and sitting on a seat ; he may even have a canopy over him, as many of them do, and actually doing a better job of plowing than his grandfather did with his old single shovel. Truly the times have changed. CHANGES TIME HAS WROUGHT. And the story which is true of the farmer and his plow may be duplicated in a dozen other implements. From the days of the sickle to the days of the scythe and cradle, from the clays of the cradle to the day when McCormick invented a machine that would cut and bind the wheat at the same time—through all these days has the farmer of Greene county passed since 1803. His trusty old flail has given way to the threshing-machine; his cornknife and shucking-peg have given way to the corn-harvester and shredder ; and he may turn on his gasoline engine and shell his corn and even grind it; the same engine will pump his water and force it over the barn or over his farm ; it will saw his wood, shear his sheep, clip his horses, milk his cows, churn his butter, manufacture his electric light and do a multitude of other things. And such an engine may be purchased for considerably less than a hundred dollars—about the price of a good, fat hog at the present market price. It is not necessary to go into detail to follow the successive changes which have come about in all branches of farming since the first farmer in Greene county made his appearance. There are more inventions for the use of the farmer being brought into use every year than could possibly have been dreamed of a hundred years ago. One is left to wonder what the next century will bring to the farmer; but it is safe to predict that the historian of 2018 will have to say that the farmer of 1918 must have had a hard time to make a living, considering the poor equipment he had. But this is a matter for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to contemplate; few of the present generation will then be living. Another interesting point to consider when discussing the farmer of a hundred years ago is concerned with the crops he raised. There are many grains, fruits, vegetables, and forage and ensilage plants which are now grown by the farmer that were totally unknown a century ago. The word alfalfa would have been as mysterious to a farmer of even fifty years ago as GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 407 the word hangar; a navy bean would have been as much a curiosity as a submersible; egg plant would have been regarded with as much suspicion as a powder plant. Our grandmother raised a few tomatoes because they were nice to look at, but they would as soon have eaten a handful of buckeyes as a dish of sliced tomatoes. In those days tomatoes were considered poisonous and were raised solely for ornament, being, for some unexplainable reason, affectionately known as "love apples"—maybe this name follows because of their supposed toxic qualities. There is not a man or woman in Greene county fifty years of age who does not remember when celery was regarded as something to be eaten very cautiously. And the story might be continued indefinitely. By actual count there are as many as forty-six different vegetables grown in the gardens of Greene county in 1918, whereas there was not one-fourth that number grown a century ago. CORN. If a sample of the corn and wheat and other farm products raised by the farmer in the ante-bellum days could be exhibited at the county fair in the fall of 1918, it would make an interesting display. Most of the corn was then known as Harness corn, a name of uncertain etymology. There was also a dent corn, eight rows to the ear, as was the Harness variety, which bore the distinctive name of "Hackleberry," or just "Hackberry," the name being roughly suggestive of the exterior of the grains. Still a third variety of corn was distinguished by its color, being sort of a rainbow mixture of white, yellow, red and blue, and appropriately known as "Calico" corn. The problem of cross pollination was not very well understood in the early days. The best evidence points to crops of corn in the ante-bellum days of from fifty to seventy-five bushels to the acre, but the average was considerably less. In 1840 there was reported a total of 659,296 bushels, with a value of $115,376—about seventeen cents a bushel. The acreage is not given in the census report from which these figures are taken, so it cannot be ascertained what was the yield per acre. Ten years later the corn crop had nearly doubled, the census report of 1850 returning a total of 1,219,944 bushels for the county, acreage and value not being given. The corn crop has just doubled since 1850. The assessors' returns for May, 1917, giving the crop statistics for Greene county for 1916, report a grand total of 2,406,050 bushels of shelled corn for the year 1916. This does not include ensilage-corn or sugar-corn. There were 249 acres of ensilage-corn produced in 1916, practically all of which found its way into the 256 silos of the county with their total capacity of 6,810 tons. The sugar-corn yield is returned in tons, the year 1916 producing 461 tons from 145 408 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO acres. Practically all of the sugar-corn crop was for human consumption, a large portion of the yield being used for canning purposes. WHEAT. The story of wheat for the past hundred years in Greene county is even more interesting than that of corn. From the days when it was all sown broadcast, cut with a scythe and cradle, threshed with a flail, cleaned on the top of a hill by being winnowed with a bed sheet, ground in a crude water-power buhr-mill and made into lard biscuit—from that time down to the present may be traced one of the agricultural miracles of the century. It is a king step from the wheat cradle of a hundred years ago to the complicated machine used in the West which not only cuts the wheat, but also threshes it and rolls the sacks off on the ground just as the binder rolls off the sheaves of wheat. The first wheat in Greene county was sown broadcast and then covered by dragging a well-arranged pile of brush over the field. The wheat usually grown in those days was known as "red chaff." The wheat acreage in the county has varied considerably, but the acreage sown does not by any means bear a uniform proportion to the amount actually harvested. The soil is not as fertile now as it was seventy-five years ago; that is, unless it is heavily fertilized. But on the whole there has been an increase in the yield per acre due to improvement by careful breeding, new varieties being produced 'by cross fertilization. By careful cultivation these hybrid varieties have been standardized, thereby enabling farmers to produce larger crops. The earliest wheat statistics seen for Greene county were in 1840, in which year there were 257,465 bushels produced, with a value of $102,980, or about fifty cents per bushel. The acreage is not reported for the year. In 1850 the census reported 241,794 bushels of wheat, neither value nor acreage being given. The wheat yield shows considerable variation from year to year, but for a quarter of a century it has not varied far from half a million bushels each year. In 1916 the county produced 646,722 bushels, but the 1917 crop reached nearer the million mark. If farmers were formerly glad to get one dollar a bushel for wheat, and ready to plant all they could if they thought they could get that much, there was every reason to plant as heavily as possible in the fall of 1917 when they were assured of at least twice that amount for every bushel they raised. OATS, RYE, BARLEY AND BUCKWHEAT. Oats has been raised practically from the beginning of the county's history. As early as 1840 the county produced 157,668 bushels, which, according to the census figures for that year, had a gross value of $23,864, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 409 or about fifteen cents a bushel. In 1850 the government census returned the oat and rye crop together, giving the county credit for 123,772 bushels. Oats has been a stable crop from the earliest days, and is still grown by practically every farmer in the county. It is a grain which responds readily to commercial fertilizer and for this reason has enjoyed a good yield with little increase in the acreage sown. In 1916 the county reported 275574 bushels, Ross township, with a yield of 53,914 bushels, leading in the amount raised. Rye has never been extensively grown in the county for its grain, although many farmers have raised it as a forage crop. The first definite report on rye was in 1840; when 12,006 bushels with a value of $5,000 was produced. The farmers have apparently grown about as much rye year after year as their forefathers did, if the agricultural statistics of the county are to be believed. In 1916 there were only 15,720 bushels reported, and this was above the average. Beavercreek township, with its 4,311 bushels, raised three times as much rye as any other township in the county, Xenia with 1,412 bushels ranking second in yield. Barley has been grown even less than rye. The census report of 1840 makes no return of barley at all, while in 1850 there were only 1,373 bushels reported. For several years the farmers of the county have been growing both winter and spring barley, with the former having the largest acreage. In 1916 the winter crop produced 2,350 bushels, and the spring crop only 1,153 bushels. Xenia is the banner barley township, leading with a yield of 814 bushels. Buckwheat was formerly grown by most of the farmers of the county, although most of them had only a small patch of it. In the early days of the county it was grown for the pancake value of the grain, but in these later days home-grown pancake flour is practically a thing of the past. In 1850 there were 2,735 bushels of buckwheat reported for the county, but this very evidently did not include the small yield of hundreds of the small patches in the county which the farmers did not think it necessary to return to the assessor. In 1916 only two townships reported buckwheat crops : Beavercreek had 62 bushels and Ross had 18 bushels. This grain is practically a thing of the past as far as the farmers of Greene county are concerned. OTHER FARM AND GARDEN CROPS. The Irish potato has been one of the most important food products in Greene county from the beginning of its history. Potatoes are a peculiar crop, some years they seem to flourish like the bay tree and bear as prolifically as the wild crabapple ; other years the bugs, rot, blight, dry or wet weather, or a combination of these potato foes, will practically ruin the crop. A study 410 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO of the potato record in the county will substantiate this statement. In 1840 the yield was 19,016 bushels, with a value of $2,300, or about twelve cents a bushel—quite a contrast with the two-dollar-a-bushel potato of 1917. In 1850 the yield amounted to 48,029 bushels, although the sweet potato was included in this total. These figures for 1840 and 1850 undoubtedly do not include all the potatoes grown in the county, since the average farmer in many cases would not return the few bushels he might raise in his garden. It seems strange that there were fewer potatoes raised in 1916 than in 1850, but the statistics for 1916 reported only 40,022 bushels for the county. This crop was grown on 427 acres. The assessors' report in May, 1917, showed that the demand of the government for more potatoes resulted in a promised planting of 541 acres for the year 1917. There are a few things which were grown by our forefathers in Greene county that are now rarely found. The passing of the buckwheat patch has been mentioned, but along with it has gone flax, sorghum, broom-corn and tobacco. There is no one crop of the pioneer which illustrates the march of civilization more sharply than that of flax. Until the '50s a patch of flax was just as essential to the farmer as his potato patch ; in fact, in the '20s and '30s he could have better missed a potato crop than a flax crop. But now this is all changed ; there is probably not a single flax seed sown in the county at the present time. Formerly there were oil-mills in the county which did a thriving business in making linseed oil, but they have all pressed their last seed. While no statistics are available to determine the amount of flax raised in the first few decades of the county, yet as late as 1850 there was reported 9,445 bushels of flax seed. There was no return of flax in 1917. SORGHUM AND MAPLE PRODUCTS. Fifty years ago the succulent sorghum was grown by the majority of the farmers of the county, but today this saccharine plant has practically disappeared. In other and earlier days there were sorghum-mills scattered over the county, but they have gradually given way to the march of civilization. The discussion of sorghum naturally recalls the product of the hard maple tree—its molasses and sugar, and so-called sugar-water "beer." In the first few decades of the county's development maple sugar was the only sweetening the pioneer had, and many families not only made enough molasses (also known as syrup or tree molasses) for their own use throughout the year, but sold sufficient quantities to make substantial additions of other necessary commodities for the family welfare. The census figures do not by any means tell the whole story of the part the maple tree played in the county's development. When the 1850 census reports only 3,245 gallons of molasses GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 411 and 53,622 pounds—more than twenty-six tons—of sugar, the tale is not all told. Much of 'the product of the humble maple never found its way into the census reports. Gradually, year by year, the industry has decreased in value; and while there is still some molasses and sugar produced, the production is not on anything like the scale it was in former years. The maple products of 1916 as returned to the county auditor evidently do not include all that were produced in the county. Seven of the townships reported maple trees—Caesarscreek, 1,710; Cedarville, 421; New Jasper, 1,200; Ross, 140; Spring Valley, 1,240; Sugarcreek, 4,111; Xenia, 1,600—but only 4,801 gallons of syrup found their way into the assessors' returns, along with 114 pounds of maple sugar. And along with the maple tree and its important part in the life of the pioneer should be mentioned the honey bee. Not to be classed exactly as a farm product, nor yet a garden product, yet the busy bee was also a no inconsiderable factor in ante-bellum days. The bee product was sufficiently important in 1850 to find a place in the government census of the county, and there is no doubt that the 9,420 pounds of honey and beeswax reported in that year was a most welcome addition to the farmer. Bee-tree hunting was one of the sports of early days, and hundreds, probably thousands, of trees have been cut down for the honey stowed away in their boles. The bee industry is not by any means gone. Ten of the twelve townships (all save Jefferson and Miami) reported stands of bees for 1916. There were a total of 166 hives, yielding a total of 269 pounds of honey. Here again it seems that all of the honey in the county was not reported. TOBACCO. Tobacco may not properly be classed as a food product, despite the fact that it has been assiduously "chewed" by a portion of the population since the first pioneer located in the county. It is said that the Indian never chewed the weed until the white man taught him, but, be that as it may, the first settlers were nearly all chewers as well as smokers of the weed. And it may be remarked in passing that hundreds of our good grandmothers whiled away the long winter evenings by the old fireplace and dozed over a corncob or clay pipe. Hence, as may be expected, the great majority of the pioneers had a tobacco patch for their own use; few, if any of them, raising any of it for the market. Statistics are not available to show the aggregate amount grown in the early years of the county. That the tobacco industry is not entirely gone is evidenced by the crop reports for 1916. Four townships reported as follow : Bath, 4 acres and 4,160 pounds; Beavercreek, 3 acres and 2,710 pounds; Spring Valley, 9 acres and 7,460 pounds; Sugarcreek, 46 acres and 53,910 pounds; total acreage, 62; total pounds, 68,240. 412 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO DISTILLERIES. Any mention of the agricultural life of the county must refer to an industry which, in former years, drew heavily on some of the crops grown in the county. Future generations will know of this particular industry only as they read about it, and for this reason a word may be said about it in this connection. One row of figures in the page of agricultural statistics of Greene county published after the federal census of 1850 is thus labeled—distilleries. This row of figures sets forth the fact that the county actually had in operation in 1850 no fewer than twenty-one distilleries, which in the course of the previous year, had produced 324,800 gallons of spirits with a market value of $69,960. There were distilleries from the days when the first settlers located in the county, and their product furnished much of the available "hard" money then in circulation—as well as most of the cases for the local courts. The distillery .as a local industry received its death blow during the Civil War, when the government put such a high tax on spirituous liquors that most of the smaller distilleries throughout the nation were compelled to discontinue. However, it did not close all of the plants in Greene county, and it was not until 1910 that the last distillery in the county ceased operations. There was also considerable beer brewed in the earlier days of the county's history, and as early as 1805 William Gordon opened a small brewery in Xenia. It is also interesting to note that the census of 1850 returned fifteen gallons of wine, but the vintner never reached the prominence that the distiller and brewer did. FORAGE CROPS. The forage crops of Greene county are now a more important part of its agricultural life than ever before. There was a time when the farmer turned his hogs, and all of his live stock for that matter, loose in the woods to find their own food supply as best they could. And they could usually find plenty of it; especially did the patient pig thrive on the mast in the fall. But with the cutting off of the forests, and the gradual increase in the value of land, it was not profitable to let live stock run wild in the woods. Hundred-acre wooded tracts have disappeared, nor is it profitable to have so much untilled land when it is worth from one to two hundred dollars an acre. It is not even profitable to graze sheep extensively on land worth two hundred dollars an acre. Undoubtedly this is one reason why there were 29,529 sheep in 1850 and only 13,650 in 1917. Hence, and for reasons above stated, there have come into use many different kinds of forage crops, as well as new ways of preparing farm products for animal food. Ingenuity has devised methods of grinding corn and wheat in order to separate the parts fit for man and beast. The mast-fed GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 413 porker of our grandfathers is now replaced by the porker fattened on "shorts." The silo has made its appearance within the past few years, a food-conserver which has proved to be an inestimable boon to the farmer. The last report for Greene county gives 256 silos in the county, and an ever increasing number are being built each year. Cedarville township leads the county in silos with a total of 61, with Miami bringing up the rear with 6. The number in each township as reported on April 1, 1917, is as follows : Bath, 9 ; Beaver-creek, 13; Caesarscreek, 26; Cedarville, 61; Jefferson, 32; Miami, 6; New Jasper, 21 ; Ross, 29; Silvercreek, 14 ; Spring Valley, I I ; Sugarcreek, 8; Xenia, 26. These 256 silos had a total capacity of 6,810 tons. As has been stated the farmers of the county in 1916 had 249 acres of ensilage corn, all of which was raised as the direct result of the introduction of the silo. A number of forage crops are used for ensilage. Many of the farmers of Greene county are now raising what is called ensilage corn, which is nothing more than the ordinary "field" corn sown broadcast. Sweet corn is also used to fill silos, as is alfalfa, soy beans, pea vines, English clover and rye. In fact, any kind of green forage crops may be used as ensilage. Alfalfa is a crop of the past few years, but it has already proved its value as a forage crop. In 1916 there were 2,157 acres planted to alfalfa, which produced 5,588 tons, but this tonnage does not represent the total of the three cuttings which most of the alfalfa in this latitude will stand. FOOD FOR THE SOIL, The use of soy beans is increasing and this legume should be more extensively cultivated. It not only furnishes a valuable stock food, but, what is also very useful to the farmer, it is one of the best crops to improve the soil. No soy beans were reported for the county in 1916. Beets, turnips, rape and rye are grown to a limited extent for stock food. Hay, both clover and timothy,, has been grown in the country for nearly, a century. As early as 1840 the hay product was returned in the government agricultural census, Greene county in that year reporting 9,382 tons with a total value of $57,328. In 1850 there were 15,704 tons reported, the return not indicating whether it was timothy or clover, or both combined. Timothy hay in 1916 totaled 19,026 tons; clover, 8,406 tons. The clovers, together with peas and beans, and alfalfa, of course, are being grown more each year for the beneficial effect they have on the soil. Farmers are beginning to realize more than ever before the value of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria of the legumes. In 1916 there were 3,466 acres of clover plowed under in the county. The question of artificial fertilizers has come to the front within the past few years. The farmer has learned by sad experience that his land has to be "fed" as regularly as he feeds his cattle and hogs. The old manure 414 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO pile behind the barn is not sufficient to keep the soil in condition to produce satisfactory returns. Crop rotation partially solves the difficulty, but it will not keep all kinds of soil in shape to produce good crops. The legumes are a big factor in soil conservation, but they need assistance. For this reason, there has been developed so-called commercial fertilizers, soil foods which can be "fed" to the soil to increase its fertility. In 1916 the farmers of Greene county used 5,403,740 pounds of commercial fertilizer, and also 26 tons of lime, the total cost of which amounted to $50,121. The liming of wet and sour soil is not a new thing, having been used by some farmers in the county since the days of the Civil War. Lime is being used to an increasing extent each year. ORCHARD AND GARDEN FRUITS. The most important crops raised by the farmers of Greene county have been treated in the foregoing paragraphs, but before taking up an analysis of the live-stock industry there are a few other crops of general interest to the farmers. Small fruits, such as berries of all kinds—raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, gooseberries, whortleberries and currants—are found in most of the gardens of the county, but there have been very few farmers who have grown more than they could use themselves. Grapes of various varieties are also found on most of the farms of the county, but, like the berries, they are for home consumption. Reference has been made to wine produced in 1850, which would indicate that there was some attention paid to the grape at that time. Every farm has its assortment of apples, peaches, pears, cherries and plums. The apple was formerly grown in larger quantities than it is now, and the same may be said of the peach. Many, of the first settlers brought apple and peach trees, or the seeds, with them when they first came to the county, and there were very few families that did not start an orchard as soon as they got settled. It is probable that the famous "Johnnie Appleseed," of Ohio and Indiana fame, passed through Greene county on some of his peregrinations, and if he did, it is safe to say that he was responsible for some of the early apple trees. Orchard products are listed in the 1850 census of the county to the value of $25,344, although it is not known what these consisted of. Apples found their way into cider (hence into vinegar, apple-butter and "hard" cider) and also into a famous drink of our forefathers known as "applejack." In 1916 Greene county reported 47,530 bushels of apples grown on 747 acres. The chief varieties grown at the present time are the Rambo, Rhode Island Greening, Bellflower, Fall Pippin, Ben Davis, Baldwin, Northern Spy, Grimes Golden, Yellow June, Astrakan, Maiden Blush, Jonathan, Russet, Smith Cider, Winesap and Tulpehocken. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 415 Apples are subject to many diseases and there are many insect enemies of the apple in 1918 which were totally unknown in ante-bellum days. In the early days, and until forty years ago, thousands of gallons of cider were made every year, and a number of cider-mills were found scattered over the county. Today there are few left to tell the story. In those days apple-butter was found on every table—and it was home-made—but now, if found at all, it is a feeble imitation of the brand made by our grandmothers. Many a kitchen was decorated in the olden days with festoons of dried apples and peaches, but all this is changed, very few housewives drying apples at the present time. Of course, that was before the days when our modern canned fruit had made its appearance. It might be mentioned in this connection that our grandmothers also dried corn, pumpkin, raspberries, blackberries—and even beef. Peaches, pears, cherries, plums and quinces are found on most of the farms of the county, being largely used by farmers' wives for canning purposes and also for jellies, butters, jams, preserves, and pickles and pastry purposes. The last annual agricultural report for Greene county gives the following returns for orchard products : Peaches, 22 acres, 338 bushels; pears, 8 acres, 134 bushels ; cherries, 6 acres, 84 bushels ; plums, no acres, 3 bushels; other small fruit, 6 acres, 166 bushels. No separate returns are made for berries of any kind. LIVE STOCK. The growth of the live-stock industry in Greene county would make an interesting study, but the absence of available statistics makes it impossible to follow the story in detail. For at least a quarter of a century after the county was organized the use of oxen was universal, not only for plowing and doing all the hauling on the farm and to market, but the ox-team was the only team many farmers owned.. Many a Greene county pioneer, whose grandson now drives his automobile to the county seat on Saturday afternoon, had nothing but his ox-team to bring him to the county seat. Sometimes, he had an ox and a horse, or a mule, hitched up together. It would be easy to write a volume of considerable size on the live-stock industry of Greene county. The historian has found that there are farmers in Greene county who rank among the best stock raisers in the United States. There is at least one cattle breeder and one sheep raiser who have international reputations. And then there are farmers who have horses and hogs which take prizes at stock shows all over the country. Even the humble chicken has its devotees. It is not too much to say that the farmers of Greene county have carried away more prizes at the Ohio state fair than the farmers of any other county in the state. They have also exhibited at other state fairs 416 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO and at national exhibitions, winning prizes from one end of the country to the other. One of Greene county's farmers, O. A. Bradfute, helped to organize the International Stock Show at Chicago, and for years has been winning first prizes on his cattle. The Williamsons have won more prizes with their sheep than any other breeders in the United States, and have had the satisfaction of having calls for their sheep from all parts of the world. Bryson with his horses and Foust with his hogs are two more Greene county farmers who have brought fame to the county in their respective lines. This is to mention only a very few of the well-known live-stock breeders of the county. The following pages give in a general way the growth of the live-stock industry of the county without mentioning by name the scores of farmers who have been leaders in breeding. The biographical volume gives interesting sketches of a majority of the stockmen, and there may be seen a full account of the work they have been doing to improve the live stock of the county, state and nation. Among the breeders of the county of note who have come to the attention of the historian are the following, listed alphabetically : Andrew, Ankeney, Bradfute, Bryson, Cherry, Corry, Creswell, Cummins, Dobbins, Foust, Gerlaugh, Grinnell, Hawkins, Jobe, Kelly, Lackey, Orr, Peterson, Pollock, Turnbull, Watt and the Williamsons. LIVE STOCK FOR SHOW PURPOSES. With the beginning of the County Agricultural Society in 1833 there was more attention paid to the improvement of all kinds of live stock, but unfortunately all the first records of the society are lost, so it is impossible to tell just what action the society did take in regard to the matter. But the step taken in 1830 regarding sheep, followed by the beginning of the county fair three years later, marks a new step in the live-stock industry of the county. Whatever may have been the standing of the farmers of the county in earlier years, the fact remains that in 1918 they stand at the top in the live-stock industry in Ohio. The statement has been frequently made, and not disputed, that Greene county produces more pure-blood, registered live stock, more varieties and of a higher class, than any other spot on the globe for its size. This is a pretty comprehensive statement, covering, as it does, the globe, but the facts seem to warrant the assumption. The live-stock breeders of the county have been exhibiting at the state fair at Columbus for more than a quarter of a century, and in some years there are as many as twenty exhibitors from the county. On more than one occasion they have won as much as two thousand dollars in prizes on their horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. There have been hundreds of first prizes won at the state fair by farmers from GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 417 Greene county, and not a few at national exhibits. In fact, it is actually true that the cash prizes won by Greene county exhibitors at the state fair total more than the combined winnings of any other three counties in the state. Many of the best stockmen have been exhibiting for years at the state fairs of other states and at live-stock shows all over the United States. Blooded live stock raised in Greene county is shipped to practically every state in the Union, and on more than one occasion it has been shipped to Europe. One of the greatest showings the county has ever made was at the St. Louis Exposition in 1903, when five of the breeders of the county competed with the best that the whole world had to offer—and carried home one hundred and forty prizes. Of this magnificent total there were about fifty first prizes and championships, including, as they did, some of the most valuable prizes offered. The International Stock Show held at Chicago each year has seen Greene county stock exhibited, and there is not a year that some championships are not won by the local breeders. A bull from the herd of O. A. Bradfute has been champion of his .class for three successive years, a record that has never been equalled by any bull, dead or alive, ancient or modern. Another Greene county bull has achieved a record almost as good. Wherever a cattleman may be found in the United States, he will have heard of Lucy's Prince and Whitehall Sultan. Greene county is proud of the fact that one of its sons, 0. A. Bradfute, was one of the nine men who helped organize the International Stock Show at Chicago, and that he has been on the board of directors of the show from the time of its establishment. The. United States does not have any other county as well represented with officers and directors of the leading livestock pedigree registry associations of America as Greene. The county has fine herds of cattle—Jersey, Polled Jersey, Guernsey, Shorthorn, Aberdeen-Angus, Hereford, Red Poll, Polled Durham ; fancy flocks of sheep—Cheviot, Cotswold, Merino, Oxford Down, Southdown, Shropshire Down, Hampshire Down, Lincoln ; sturdy droves of hogs—Chester White, Duroc Jersey, Berkshire, Poland-China ; unexcelled stables of horses. HORSES. The horse has been the companion of man for centuries. Shakespeare has his "King Richard" even offering to give his kingdom for a horse, and there were many pioneers who gave a quarter of a section of land for a horse, and a very ordinary beast at that. The horse accompanied some of the first settlers into the county, proof of which is found in the listers' returns for 1803. In the records of the common pleas court for 1803, under date of (27) 418 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO August 26, there may be seen a list of the live stock of the county as returned by the listers for taxation. There were only four townships at the time, but they covered an immense amount of territory. Mad River township, for instance, included all of the present county of Champaign and a strip as wide as that county northward to the Michigan line. But here are the figures for the horses : Beavercreek township, 241 ; Caesarscreek township, 77; Sugarcreek township, 123; Mad River Township, 243; total for the county, 684. Caesarscreek reported one stallion. The horses were listed for taxation at thirty cents a head. This statement of the number of horses refutes the idea so often heard that there were so few horses in the beginning of the county's history. The horse gradually displaced the ox, although the plodding ox was better adapted to some of the extremely heavy work that had to be done. By 1840 the number of horses had increased to 6,987, or rather this figure included both horses and mules, separate returns not being made for them. In 1850 the horses and mules had increased to 7,171. The report for 1916 gives 11,192 horses for the county. "SLEEPY TOM," A KING OF PACERS. Among the factors that have made Greene county famous must be mentioned "Sleepy Torn," the greatest pacer, when his chances are considered, the world ever saw. He was foaled in the hotel stable at Bellbrook in 1866. He was a stoutly bred horse, being sired by "Torn Rolph" and he by "Pocahontas" ; "Tom's" dam was sired by "Sam Hazard." "Tom" was a very unpromising colt, both in gait and appearance, there being nothing about him that would even hint at the greatness which he would achieve on the track: During his early colthood and after he was broken, he led the life of a vagabond and was racked about the streets of Bellbrook as a common "plug." His dam was a natural pacer and "Tom" also showed indications of that gait, which was more obvious as he grew older; hence his owner, Isaac Dingier, began training him, but with only indifferent success. Along with his failure, the seeming end of "Tom's" career was sealed when he became stone blind, probably as a result of the strenuous work he had done during his training. He was then withdrawn from the track as worthless and was repeatedly sold and traded from hand to hand, at one time changing hands in consideration of thirty dollars and a bottle of very poor whisky. Finally he became an inmate of a livery stable in Xenia. At that time there lived a man in Xenia by the name of Stephen Phillips, who trained some trotters and pacers in a small way, and he became acquainted with "Blind Tom," as the horse was then designated. As the story goes, in those days of 'the late seventies, the Cincinnati Sunday papers were brought from Dayton to Xenia by horses, and there was an intense rivalry between GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 419 the men who handled the Enquirer and the Gazette as to which would win the weekly race between the two towns. It was "nip and tuck" for a time until the Enquirer man hired the little blind pacer, "Tom," from the Xenia livery stable and then it became a question as to how soon the Gazette would arrive in town after the Enquirer. This was "Tom's" first victory and it eventually led to his becoming famous. Phillips, who had known the horse for a long time, of course heard all about "Tom's" weekly exploit of winning the race from Dayton to Xenia, and it was not long before he bought the chestnut horse for one hundred and fifty dollars. Then "Tom's" new owner began giving him regular training, but for a time the results achieved were not up to expectations. Of course Phillips's friends made much fun of him and his pacer, but he said nothing, Phillips had one friend, however, who seemed to understand the possibilities in the little chestnut. This was Frank T. Stark, the train dispatcher on the Panhandle railroad at Xenia and who later became a prominent railroad man at Dayton. Phillips consulted with Stark quite frequently about the progress of "Tom" in the training, and finally early one morning the former routed the latter out and imparted to him the welcome intelligence that the pacer was at last going right and he invited Stark out to the track to see "Tom" perform. The invitation was accepted and Stark saw "Tom" make a mile in a little better than 2 :30. Stark readily saw that Philipps had' the greatest pacer in the world and he advised him to strike out for places where appropriate money was to be had for that brand of pacing. Phillips took the advice and soon "Tom," whose name was changed to "Sleepy Tom," made his debut on the turf with the best. At the races held at Chicago on July 24 and 25, 1879, "Sleepy Tom" won the third, fourth and fifth mile heats in 2 :16%, 2 :16 and 2 :12 1/4, for a purse of fifteen thousand dollars against "Mattie Hunter," "Rowdy Boy" and "Lucy," who were considered the greatest pacers of that year. In the last heat of this race "Tom" made the best time known in the world in any gait, and his name immediately became a household word and his fame spread throughout the world. But this grand old pacer was doomed to a miserable end. After he had lowered the world's record, he was sold for ten thousand dollars. When he became too old to be of any value as a race horse, he drifted from one owner to another until he finally perished in a burning stable out West. CATTLE. Cattle have been found in Greene county since the day the first ox-team pulled a Conestoga into the county. The days of the ox have gone forever, but the day of the Jersey cow was never so bright as it is today. If there' is any one thing the farmers of Greene county are proud of it is their ability 420 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO to produce good cattle. While they have taken prizes far and wide on horses, hogs and sheep, it is their cattle which have made them the most famous as live-stock breeders. The first cattle to merit the name of a distinct breed were the Shorthorns. The first cattle of the county were a nondescript breed, of uncertain ancestry, and were decidedly more useful than ornamental. The first man in the county to introduce pedigreed stock of any kind is not known, and the idea that a cow's ancestry would one day be traced with more care than was bestowed on her owner's ancestry would have struck our grandfathers as absolutely ridiculous. Again, the statement must be made that the times have changed. It would seem from existing records that the sheep came in for more attention at first than the cow or horse; at least, as early as 1830 the county commissioners noted that an act of the Legislature provided that steps be taken to improve the breed of sheep in the state. The first statistics on cattle in Greene county are found in the records of the common pleas court, dated August 26, 1803, and are the reports of the listers of that year, the first report on the live stock of the newly organized Greene county. It is presumed that the tots s include all kinds of cattle, cows, calves, bulls, oxen, etc. The complete report is given by townships as follow : Beavercreek, 430; Caesarscreek, 154; Sugarcreek, 192; Mad River, 492. These cattle were listed for taxation at twelve and a half cents a head. In 1840 there were reported a total of 14,914 cattle with a value of $149,140, an average value of about ten dollars a head. The number had increased to 17,444 by the next decade. At this time, 1850, a return was made showing that the county had produced the previous year no less than 524,129 pounds of butter and cheese. There has not been an appreciable increase in the number of cattle raised in the county for the past sixty years. In 1916 there were reported 19,884 heads of cattle of all kinds. Xenia township, with a total of 3,097, was the leader, followed by Cedarville, with 2,298. However, there is far more milk, cream and butter being produced now than ever before. The 1916 statistics show the following: Total gallons of milk sold for family use, 576,566; gallons of milk not sold for family use,. 220,088; gallons of cream sold, 251;095; total pounds of butter made in the home, 507,925. THE TALE OF THE PIG. The tale of the pig in Greene county might easily be drawn out to the length of a volume. The pig, of all the domestic animals, seems to be the butt of more jokes and more humor than falls to the lot of any other creature of the barnyard. One of the funniest stories ever written is entitled "Pigs Is Pigs," and it actually seems that the humble pig is the cause of more good- GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 421 natured remarks than all of his barnyyard comrades combined. Let him explain it who' will. There are pigs and pigs and there is as much difference between the pig of a hundred years ago and his descendants of today as there is between the wild plum of the forest and the luscious damson of our garden. The pioneer pig must have been, if half of what has been said about him is true, truly a ludicrous looking creature. He was a thin, cadaverous looking specimen, constructed for speed, and produced a quality of ham and bacon entirely in keeping with his general wiry and tough appearance. With an intestinal tract only about five times' his length, this ungainly creature could not fatten himself as can his descendants of today with his intestinal tract of ten times his length. He might eat as much as his descendant, but he could not get as fat, and for this very anatomical reason. In the days before the railroad, the only way to get hogs to market was to haul them overland or drive them. Most of them were driven, and here is where his wonderful powers of locomotion came into good use. It is certain that the four-hundred-pound porker of today could not have made the long overland trip to Cincinnati with the ease that did his long-legged, long-snouted, long-tailed, long-bristled, razor-back, slab-sided brother of the '20S and '30s. This many-adjectived creature bore the name of "razorback," "elm-peeler," "rail-splitter" (smaller specimens being. called "sapling-splitters"), names which were graphically descriptive of his anatomical structure. It is said that one of these pioneer pigs could outrun the fleetest horse for a considerable distance, and that a sow with a brood was a fiercer animal to meet in the woods than a wolf. DESCRIPTION OF A HOG DRIVE. The men who bought hogs in the days before the railroad rendezvoused all of their several droves at some central station. Such a station was Xenia for many years for this whole section of the country. After they had all the hogs they thought they could manage, plans were made for the drive to Cincinnati, or wherever the destination may have been, but usually Cincinnati for the hog buyers of Greene county. There was an occasional drive to Columbus, or Dayton, or even to Baltimore—and every foot of the distance was made on foot. It is small wonder that this pig of other days was, as old settlers were wont to say, "built for speed and endurance." The following account of one of these famous hog drives was prepared by an old settler who took part in one of them, and gives a fine description of a forgotten feature of pioneer days. It was not uncommon to see a drove of hogs driven into the public square to be weighed, preparatory to starting them on their long journey. As each porker was caught 422 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO it was thrust into a kind of leather receptacle, commonly called the harness breeching, which was suspended to steelyards. As soon as the hog was fairly in the breeching 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 hindquarters as evidence of the fact that the pig had been weighed. Two or three days drive made the hogs quiet enough to be driven along the highway without trouble, moving along at an average gait of eight to ten miles a day. Much difficulty was experienced in keeping together in herds the hogs bought in distant and sparsely settled neighborhoods, where they were but little handled and rarely fed. The highways, even when well opened, led through hazel brush and fallen timber, and even down to a late day were rarely fenced on both sides. Every strange sight and sound gave an alarm, and the hogs scattered in every direction, to be gathered together again at their former haunts. This difficulty was obviated, we are informed, by John Earson, an old settler who engaged in collecting hogs from distant settlements into one drove, by enticing them into a pen and then running a "stitch" through the eye lids and securing the same by a knot. Thus blinded the hogs seemed instinctively to keep the road, and once started could easily be driven by a person on horseback. Two or three days drive made them comparatively quiet and tractable, and reaching their destination a clip of the scissors or knife made all things right again. Another pioneer adds to this statement that in order to catch the hogs shelled corn was trailed from the brush into a strong rail pen having a "slip-gap." As soon as the hogs were in the pen the gap was closed, and by means of a long pole with a hook on the end, which was made to catch behind the foreshoulder of the leg, the hog was drawn to a convenient place ; a strap with a slipnoose, which was placed just behind the tushes of the upper jaw, drew the animal to the desired spot, when the stitches were made without further trouble and the brute then released. HOG STATISTICS.. It is fair to presume that there were a few hogs in the county in 1803 when the first listers traveled over the county and placed the horses and cattle on the tax duplicate, but since the pig was not to be taxed he was not counted. Hogs were hard to handle in a new country, and they were not very numerous in this county until after the War of 1812. The number of hogs in the county during the past hundred years shows a great variation from year to year. The cholera has been the greatest enemy of the hog, and thousands of hogs have been lost to the farms of Greene county through this disease. When hogs were selling for from three to five cents a pound there were more of them in the county than there are today when the price is from fifteen to eighteen cents a pound. On April 1, 1917, there were 57,198 hogs reported in the county, and, as far as statistics show, if their reliability may be depended upon, this was a lighter production than the county has had for several years. In 1840 there were 26,770 hogs in the county, with a total value of $1 00,000, or less than four dollars to the porker. In 1850 the number had increased to 36,994, while in the same year the federal census reported the value of slaughtered animals in the county at $121,362. It is fair to presume that practically all of the packing done by the meat-packing plants in the county was confined to pork. Local newspapers of the decade before the Civil War speak of fifty thousand head of hogs being slaughtered in Greene county in one year, and while there were GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 423 some hogs shipped in from outside, it is more than likely that the bulk were raised in the county. The decrease in the number raised began to show up after the cholera scourge appeared in the latter '80s and fore part of the '90s. Then the dread disease came into the county, like a thief in the night, and spread death and destruction on every hand. Thousands of hogs were lost and many farmers became so discouraged that they quit raising them altogether for the market. The disease persists to the present time; in 1916 there were 7,299 hogs, valued at $64,960, lost 10 the farmers from the disease. The prevailing breeds of hogs grown in Greene county are Poland-China and Berkshire, although there are many farmers who have Chester Whites, Duroc Jerseys, Hampshires and Mulefoots. The latter breed is supposed to be immune from cholera, but it has other characteristics which keep it from being widely raised. Ed. S. Foust's great boar, "Orion Cherry King, Jr., 58113," weight 1,030 pounds, raised in this county, was crowned the world's champion Duroc boar at the national swine show at Omaha in October, 1916, and is conceded to be the greatest Duroc living. SHEEP. There is no domestic animal raised in Greene county that has a more variable history than the sheep. The pioneer family had to raise at least two things—a patch of flax and a flock of sheep; from the former came the linen, from the latter the wool, while from the combination came the linsey-woolsey. There were few families in the county that did not have a spinning-wheel, and there was probably not a woman in the county who could not take the raw wool and make it into cloth. It is equally true that there is probably not one in the county who can do the same thing today. One of the first industries in the county was the woolen-mill. Some of the mills only carded and fulled, others gave most of their attention to weaving and spinning. The so-called Xenia factory performed all four operations, that is, it carded, fulled, spun and wove. It is a difficult matter to trace the various woolen-mills in the county, since most of them disappeared before the Civil War. More than ninety years ago—in 1826—a summary of woolen factories in the county shows nine in operation, namely : The Xenia factory, near the county seat, previously mentioned ; Oldtown, carding and fulling; McFarland's factory on Massies creek, carding, fulling and spinning; Bradford's factory ; Smith's factory on Beaver creek; Sayer & Wells, on Little Miami river ; Laughead's factory on Yellow Springs branch; Bonner's factory near Xenia ; Pelham's factory in Xenia. The last factory in operation was the Barrett factory near Spring Valley, which closed down forever in 1910. The first statistics on sheep in 1840 show that there were more in the 424 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO county then than there are at the present time-29,529 in 1840 as opposed to 13,655 in 1916. By 1850 the number had increased to 47,898, with a reported wool clip of 112,063 pounds. The wool clip in 1840 had been 54,312 pounds with a value of $13,000. In 1916 the county produced 25,291 pounds of wool. The high tide of the sheep industry was in 1876, and since then it has shown a steady decrease. Of course, there is a reason for this sharp decline in the number raised. It is not the cholera, for the sheep is not subject to it, nor to any other sort of an epidemic. The increase in the value of land is one contributing cause; it is not as profitable to raise sheep on one-hundred-and-fifty-dollar-an-acre land as it is on fifty-dollar land. Another factor is the sheep-killing dog, hundreds of sheep being lost from this cause every year. Nor must the tariff be excused from all blame in the matter, since there can be no question that the placing of wool on the free list a few years ago was followed by a sharp decrease in the number of sheep raised in this country. The Merino was the first sheep brought into the county and for many years was the only breed. It has already been noted that there was an early effort to improve the breed of sheep. A record in the county commissioners' minutes under date of March 2, 1830, notes that : "It was then resolved by the commissioners of Greene county that the act to improve the breed of sheep passed January 13, 1829, be adopted and in force in said county." It is not known what the commissioners did relative to putting the act in force, but it is significant that they were interested in the matter. Later the Delaine Merinos and Rambouillets were introduced. Still later came the various breeds which are found in the county today.