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810 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. CHAPTER XI. BY HON. A. T. MCKELVEY. AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY-EARLY SETTLEMENTS - REVOLUTIONARY VETERANS-TIDE OE IMMIGRATION-TOILS AND DANGERS- POISONOUS SERPENTS - EARLY SETTLERS' HOMES- IMPLEMENTS OF LABOR - PENETRATING THE WILDERNESS-EARLY ROADS-SOIL AND CROPS - LEADING 1NDUSTRIES-COMPARATIVE TABLE OF YIELDS-SHEEP HUSBANDRY-FRUIT CULTURE - A UNIQUE CHARACTER - A PHILANTHROPIST-GRAPE CULTURE-OTHER FRUITS - A REVIEW - A PREVIEW. MUCH of the history of the agricultural development of the upper Ohio valley may be epitomized in a history of the growth of agriculture in the counties of Belmont, Harrison and Jefferson in the state of Ohio. Perhaps no section of the state affords a finer field for the writer of heroic adventure, for no class of people in the history of the commonwealth were subjected to so much of peril and hardships as the pioneer farmers of the upper Ohio valley. First Settlements. - The first settlement in this now prosperous and populous valley, was probably made in 1781, near the mouth of Short creek, in Jefferson county, by John Carpenter, who built a rude cabin and cleared a small tract of land for a "corn patch." Returning for his family he was captured by the Indians, and was held a prisoner for several months, eventually escaping he rejoined his family who accompanied him to his newly established home, on the western shore of the Ohio. The next settlement in the order of time was effected by Capt. Absalom Martin, in 1787, at what is now the thriving city of Martin's Ferry. Two years later Capt. Robert Kirkwood built a cabin and opened up a farm at what is now the city of Bridgeport and Kirkwood, opposite Wheeling. These settlements were made contrary to the orders of the general government because of the then unprotected condition of the western border. Revolutionary Veterans. - The Revolutionary war having been brought to a conclusion, the tide of veteran soldiers, discharged from their long service in the cause of American independence, began to pour through the passes of the Blue Ridge seeking homes on the then far distant frontier along the banks of the Ohio. Land was the object which induced the greater number of these people to hazard their lives by an entrance into the territory of the northwest in advance of the government's protection. Four hundred acres of land and a preemption right to I,000 more could be secured by any settler who built BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 811 a cabin, however rude, and raised a crop of grain, however small. Carrying their few earthly possessions upon pack horses, men, women and children treaded their weary way over the perilous bridle paths, and, regardless of the government prohibition, pushed across the frontier determined to possess the land " if they tomahawked their way through." The streams of immigration flowing from the north, south and east, converged into one broad current that poured into the upper Ohio valley, bearing on its bosom the descendants of the Puritan, the Quaker, the Huguenot and the cavalier, and thus it was, that the flood of these diverse types of colonial days mingling together in the valley of the Ohio, brought forth that greatest product of our modern civilization, the " Ohio man." Following the course of the different streams these hardy pioneers penetrated into the new territory, making settlements on Glenn's Run, on Wheeling creek, on Captina creek, on Short creek, on McMechans creek, on Stillwater and at Dillie's bottom, and notwithstanding the complainings of the Indian tribes and the government's forbiddance, they squatted upon the land and began the work of improvement. These old soldiers innured to the dangers and hardships of the bivouac and the march carried few weapons of defense save their trusty flint-locks and few implements of labor, aside from their gleaming axes. Beneath their ringing blows our primeval forests vanished like the mists of the morning, revealing to the constantly arriving pioneers, fertile fields, rank with luxuriant crops, to strengthen their weakening faith, and dispel their lurking doubts. The Pioneer' s Toils and Dangers. - The crops cultivated by these early settlers were gathered with infinite toil and danger; from the opening of spring until the advent of winter, the pioneer farmer was forced to abandon his cabin home and seek protection for his family in the shelter of the block-house or the fort. When the rigors of winter locked field and forest in its icy embrace, he was exempt from the depredations of his savage foes, but just at the time when his constant presence upon the farm was of the utmost need when the spring was opening and the time of seeding was at hand, the implacable savages started on the war path and began their work of pillage and destruction, hence it was necessary for the farmers to go out upon their farms to work in companies, one party doing guard duty with their muskets in hand, while the other party cultivated the growing crops; thus they alternately worked and stood guard until the shades of night forced them to again seek the shelter of the block-house or the fort. Not unfrequently while thus involuntarily absent from their cabins the savages would make a raid during the night, pillaging the home, driving off the stock, and burning their scanty store of grain. Amid dangers and discouragements like these, the intrepid farmers of a century ago, aided by their heroic wives and children, " made the wilderness to blossom," and pushed the frontier a little nearer the setting sun with each passing year. The necessary labors of these pioneer farmers were performed amid dangers and difficulties little 812 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. understood or appreciated by their descendants of the present generation. The disheartening losses they sustained by the wolves, and bears destroying their flocks and herds, was often times aggravated and augmented by the total destruction of their crop of corn by the multitudinous squirrels and raccoons, and thus it was that many families, after a hazardous and laborious spring and summer, would enter upon the long and dreary winter but illy provided with the very necessaries of life. Poisonous Serpents. - The country, too, was infested with poisonous reptiles that were a constant menace to old and young. Rattle snakes and copperheads were so numerous that there was scarcely a harvest field in which great numbers were not found, the reaper bending over his sickle would be startled by the warning whiz-z-z of the rattle snake, and frequently, before he could escape, its poisonous fangs had pierced his quivering flesh —the grain was so rank and heavy, that when cut, the farmers were obliged to leave it in little grips to cure; these grips were the favorite resorts of concealment for the serpents, from which they would frequently uncoil into the arms of the binders. The flax patch was another favorite resort of these deadly serpents, and as the flax was always pulled by the women, the terror and alarm into which they were thrown by the deadly attacks of the reptiles, can be better imagined than described. The deprivations of the early settlers of the upper Ohio valley, were inconceiveably great, the farmers of to-day, with their comfortable homes and well filled larders, with overflowing graineries and bursting barns, has little conception of the wants and deprivations of their forefathers. The Early Settler's Home in the rude log cabin with its puncheon floor and clapboard roof, was built without the aid of screws or nails, greased paper stretched over an opening in the logs, served in lieu of windows, and the pine knots and glowing logs that burned in the great open fire place, answered for both light and fuel at night. Upon a few pegs in the wall, hung the scanty wardrobe of the entire family, and some clapboard shelves supported by pins in the logs, served the double purpose of cupboard and closet. The scanty furniture consisted of a split slab table, and some three legged stools, a forked pole witd one end fastened to a joist overhead and the other sunk in the floor, and cross poles extending to a crack between the logs supported the rude bed. Bunches of seeds and herbs which the good wife had collected as simple remedies for the ailments of the family, hung in festoons over the high mantel, and the trusty flint lock and powder horn, were suspended from a pair of polished buck's horns. The table ware consisted of a few pewter dishes with wooden bowls, and trenchers, and if these were scarce, gourds and hard shelled squashes supplied the deficiency. The rude articles of furniture corresponded with the plain, but wholesome diet that made up the pioneer farmer's daily bill-of-fare, hog and hominy for breakfast, was followed by mush and milk for supper; roasting ears, pumpkins, potatoes and beans, from the little truck patch, varied the diet in summer, and wild turkey, venison and bear's meat were the variations in winter. For BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 813 years, corn bread, corn pone and Johnny cake were the only form in which bread was made, and sometimes when the supply of corn meal was exhausted, pumpkin meal was used instead, or the children grated the new corn upon coarse tin graters, to minister to their pressing necessities. Implement's of Labor. - Before the days of the water mill, the hominy block and hand mill for crushing and grinding corn, were rude attachments to every farmer's home— deer skin seives took the place of bolting cloth in these primitive machines, and the whole were operated by the good wife and the children, who, in addition, wove and spun the flax and the wool that composed the warp arid woof of the substantial linsey with which the entire family were clothed. While the needs of the pioneer farmer were many, they were more than counter-balanced by a natural ingenuity that developed in many of them a fertility of resources of which the modern farmer has little knowledge. He was a tanner, a shoemaker, a tailor, a carpenter, and a blacksmith, and to his neighbors who could not exercise the mechanic's art, he was willing to exchange his hand craft for their labor. The implements of labor employed by the farmers of the upper Ohio valley a century ago were very simple and rude. Primitive plows with wooden mold boards, harrows with wooden teeth were employed to break the sod and smooth the virgin soil —sickles and scythes (with straight handles), reaped the wheat and cut the grass, and the grain was threshed with a flail, or trodden by horses or cattle. With these crude instruments of labor, and amid dangers, deprivations and discouragements, the character of which I have only hinted at, our forefathers began the herculean task of felling the primeval forest and opening up its fruitful valleys and fertile plains. Penetrating into the Wilderness. - As early as 1801, these dauntless pioneers had penetrated into the interior a distance of thirty-five miles; settlements had been made along the waters of the Captina, in what is now Wayne and Washington townships, in Belmont county, in 1798, and in Goshen, Union, Flushing, Wheeling and Kirkwood townships, in the same county, in 'S0o. The same year a little band of Friends, principally from the southern states, in order to escape the baneful and degrading influence and association of slavery, had crossed the frontier and effected a settlement that occupied about one-half of the eastern section of Warren township, in Belmont county. Another band located at Concord, in the eastern part of the same county, and near the borders of Jefferson county, in the vicinity of the present town of Mt. Pleasant. The descendants of these sterling pioneers still occupy the lands their forefathers settled, and are to-day among the most prosperous, intelligent, virtuous and progressive farmers in the upper Ohio valley. Early Roads. - For a number of years immigration clung to the line of the Wheeling and Pultney roads, the former built by authority of the general government in 1803, and better known as the Zane road, extending from Wheeling to Chillicothe via St. Clairsville, and the latter built by authority of the northwest territory, extending from 814 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. Dillie's bottom on the Ohio river, near Bellaire, to Guernsey county via Barnesville. Prior to 1801 there were no roads in the upper Ohio valley except the bridle paths which extended from cabin to cabin and connecting the widely separated settlements. These bridle paths were marked by the blazing on trees that served to guide the traveler through the primeval forest. The principal thoroughfare up to this time was the famous Zane trail, which extended from Fort Henry at Wheeling, to the Upper Muskingum, at what is now the prosperous city of Zanesville. This bloody trail was the scene of many hair-breadth escapes and thrilling adventures, the memory of which still linger in the traditions of rural homes, to be told with ever increasing interest around the hearthstones for generations to come. This celebrated Indian trail from constant use, was worn into a rut so deep as to become almost impassible. Eventually the government took the matter in hand and employed Col. Zane to build the road above mentioned. About the same time a road was built from what is now the city of Bellaire to St. Clairsville, and also one from Martin's Ferry to what is now known as Tiltonsville, at the mouth of Short creek. These probably comprised the roads of the upper Ohio valley at the opening of the nineteenth century. To-day there upward of 200 miles of macadamized roads traversing the length and breadth of this great valley, over which the farmers at all seasons transport their products with comfort and ease. Subduing- the Forests. - The work of subduing our primeval forests was marked by the most reckless waste of valuable timber, thousands of acres covered by forests of oak, walnut, poplar, beech, sugar, and chestnut, were utterly destroyed. Of the 800,000 acres of land in the upper Ohio valley, less than 200,000 acres yet remain in timber, and to-day with many of our hills entirely denuded, and their steep declivities washed into deep seams, the work of destruction goes on. The surface configuration of the upper Ohio valley is greatly diversified. The land for the most part is high and rolling, with abrupt bluffs rising to great altitudes along the shores of the Ohio. The rugged hillsides are rich in mineral wealth and enclose beautiful and fertile valleys that are swept by the waters of the Ca ptina and McMechan's creek, Short creek, Wheeling creek and Yellow creek. The beautiful undulating uplands are watered by innumerable springs that afford the countless flocks and herds an abundance of pure water through the most prolonged drouth. A rich vein of bituminous coal underlies the entire surface which furnishes the farmers a cheap and abundant fuel. The Soil and Crops. - The streams abound in fish in great variety, and their waters are clear and limpid. The soil along the water courses is very rich and fertile, upon the uplands it is mainly a strong limestone or clay loam, very productive and capable of great endurance. The staple crops grown by the early settlers were wheat and corn, and until the overtaxed soil began to rebel against the unceasing BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 815 demands made upon it, the upper Ohio valley was recognized as the great grainery for the south and southwest. From 1820 to 1845, the incomparable Wheeling creek valley in Belmont county, was without a rival in wheat growing; at harvest time it presented the appearance of a great golden sea, waving in its wealth of ripening grain. Individual farmers raised from ma to 500 bushels of wheat annually, and the ten grist-mills that were built in Wheeling township, were kept running night and day to satisfy the demands made upon them. Leading Industries. - The rapid descent of Wheeling creek and the excellence of its water power, early invited the construction of gristmills along its shores, and we learn that the first mill operated by water power in the valley, was built at the forks of Crab Apple creek in 1800; four years later a second mill was built on the waters of Captina, near what was known as Cat's run. The leading industry in the territory watered by Short creek, as in the Wheeling creek valley, was wheat growing. No less than twenty-three mills were constructed and in operation along this stream, grinding the enormous crops of grain, and thousands of barrels of flour were annually transported by wagons to the river, and from thence shipped by flat-boats to New Orleans and intermediate points. Another staple source of revenue to the pioneer farmer was hog raising. The immense crops of corn grown upon the virgin soil was mainly fed to hogs, and pork packing became a leading industry as early as 1820. Large slaughter pens were established in and near Smithfield and Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson county, and Uniontown and other points in Belmont county, and the bacon thus manufactured was transported in wagons across the mountains to Baltimore, from whence it was distributed all over the south. The cultivation of tobacco in the upper Ohio valley began in 1819, near Barnesville, in Belmont county. An itinerant Methodist preacher named Price, from Maryland, who had brought some seed from his native state, tried the experiment of growing it in the soil of his new home. The result was so gratifying that a large acreage was grown thereafter. Up to the year 1825, corn, wheat and flax had been the staple crops in the southern part of Belmont county, but when it was discovered that the rich hillsides of the border tier of townships was adapted to tobacco culture, and that the crop was far more remunerative than grasses or grain, if thereafter became the staple industry, and soon the tall log dry-houses became a marked feature of the tobacco farmer's home. The continued cultivation of this exhausting crop, however, has greatly impoverished much of the land in that section, and the farmers are turning their attention to sheep husbandry as a means of re- storing the loss of fertility, thus the acreage in tobacco has been greatly reduced. In 1870 the yield in the upper Ohio valley was 996,119 pounds; in 1880 Harrison and Jefferson counties had practically abandoned tobacco-growing, while Belmont had increased her crop to 1,679,158 pounds; in 1888 the entire yield in the counties named had been reduced to 938,455 pounds. 816 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. Comparative Table of Yields. - The cultivation of wheat and corn as a staple crop in the upper Ohio valley continued until 1844-5, when the gradually decreasing yield as well as the radical changes in methods of transportation, led the farmers to seek for more diversification in agriculture, and a marked change took place as the following figures will show: In 1850 there were 105,666 acres of wheat grown in the counties of Belmont, Harrison and Jefferson, which yielded an aggregate of 1,816,269 bushels, or an average of about sixteen and one-fourth bushels per acre. In the same year the acreage in corn was 57,758, and the yield, 2,169,000 bushels, or an average of about thirty-eight bushels per acre. In a single decade the acreage of wheat had been reduced to 49,906 acres, a decrease of nearly 60,000 acres, and the aggregate yield was but 502,594 bushels, or an average of but a fraction over ten bushels per acre. The same year the area planted in corn had been slightly increased, but the average yield had been reduced to but thirty-seven bushels per acre. In 1870 the acreage of wheat was reported as 52,625, but the average yield was about the same, viz.: ten bushels per acre; the acreage of corn was reduced to 54,795, producing an aggregate yield of 2,184,522 bushels thus advancing the average yield per acre to thirty-nine bushels. The acreage of wheat continued to advance until 1880, when 69,958 acres were reported, with an aggregate yield of 1,203,864 bushels, or an average of about seventeen bushels per acre. This large increase is due in part to commercial fertilizers which came into general use about this time, but mainly because of the adoption of better methods of culture and the introduction of new and improved varieties. The same year the acreage in corn advanced to 56,969, yielding an aggregate of 2,427,932 bushels, or an average of forty-two bushels per acre, the highest average reported in thirty years. The reports for 1888 show a falling off in both acreage and yield; the total acreage of wheat was but 46,281; the aggregate yield 555,629 bushels, or an average of about twelve bushels per acre; the open winter of 1887, following the protracted drouth, was probably The acreage of corn for the same year was 52,672, and the aggregate the cause of this marked reduction. The wheat fields were bare nearly the entire winter, exposed to alternate thawing and freezing. yield 2,216,976, or an average of forty-two bushels and a fraction per acre. Sheep Husbandry. - The introduction of the merino sheep, with Improved breeds of cattle and horses which occurred about 1816-20, seemed to afford the farmers that had hitherto cultivated but wheat leys were swarming with valuable flocks and herds, and so rapid was the growth of sheep husbandry that as early as 1860 and 1865, it increased. In the brief period of twenty years the hill-tops and val- and corn the diversification so much needed; as the area devoted to the cultivation of these cereals lessened, the flocks and herds became in many sections of the upper Ohio valley a leading industry. In 1870 the clip of wool in the counties of Belmont, Harrison and Jefferson amounted to 1,871,017 pounds, and ten years later, in 1880, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 817 it had increas ed to 2,308,392 pounds. These industries have proved so well adapt ed to the uplands of eastern Ohio, and the business, with occasiona 1 fluctuations, so profitable, that it has continued ever since. The n umber of sheep of all kinds reported in 1888 was 388,528, and th e wool clip 2,097,552 pounds. While sheep husbandry in certain sections of the upper Ohio valley has been mad e a specialty, and the wool growers of these sections have acquired a well deserved reputation for the high grade of wool produced, it cannot be said to be the staple industry, for while the value of the sheep in the three counties of Belmont, Harrison and Jefferson in 1888, is given at $874,005, the value of the cattle is reported at $955,981, and of horses at $1,689,421; and while the value of the wool clip in the same counties is $639,541, the value of the hay crop is placed at $1,175,984, and the wheat crop at $587,317. Fruit Culture. - Perhaps no section of the country has acquired a higher reputation for fruit culture than the upper Ohio valley. As early as 1801, the eccentric Johnny Appleseed established his first nursery on the headwaters of Big Stillwater, from thence he traversed the entire valley, planting seeds wherever there was a settlement and furnishing stock to the poor and needy without money and without price. A Unique Character.* - Many of the choicest apples in existence today, originated in the nurseries of Johnny Appleseed, and the fruit growers of Ohio owe a debt of gratitude to this unique character for his untiring efforts and unflagging zeal in the cause of pomology. John Chapman, better known as " Johnny Appleseed," was born in the vicinity of Boston, Mass., in 1773, and early became widely known throughout the counties of western Pennsylvania, Virginia and eastern Ohio, on account of his passion for producing apples from seed. How he obtained the idea of growing choice apples from seed, and opportunities for the sale of his trees is not known, but it is enough to know that, before the close of the eighteenth century, he was frequently seen, with ax in hand and a bag of apple seeds on his back, wending his way through the settlements to the wilderness, there to practice his cherished theory. His method of operation, after securing a suitable situation, was to clear away the underbrush, deaden the trees, and then sow his apple seed. This done, he enclosed it with a brush, fence, and during the summer cultivated the young trees and looked up suitable places for other nurseries. In the fall he returned to the settlements, procured another stock of seed and, at the proper season, again wended his way to the wilderness and repeated the previous year's operations. The western country was rapidly settled, and as soon as the pioneers made their clearings, _ Johnny was ready with his apple trees. The price of the trees was of little consequence, and he seemed to derive intense satisfaction in seeing them transplanted in orchards. The benevolence of this eccentric man was unbounded. He gener- * From Atlas of Belmont and Jefferson counties. 52-B. 818 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. ally went barefooted, but if he had a pair of shoes, and saw any one whom he thought needed them, he would take them off and give them to the person. Among his many eccentricities was one of bearing pain with the fortitude of an Indian warrior. He gloried in suffering, and would very often thrust needles and pins into his flesh without a tremor or quiver. He hardly ever wore shoes, except in winter, but if traveling in summer time, and the roads hurt his feet, he would wear sandals, and a big hat, with one side very large and. wide and bent down to keep the heat from his face. He was religiously inclined, and at an early day embraced the doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg. Almost the first thing he would do when he entered a house, and was weary, was to lie down on the floor, with his knapsack for a pillow, and his head toward the light of the door or window when he would say "will you have some fresh news right from Heaven?" and carefully take out his old, worn books, a testament and two or three others, the exponents of the beautiful faith that Johnny so jealously lived out—the Swedenb0rgian doctrine. A prominent nurseryman and pomologist, of Ohio, in an article published in 1846, thus speaks of Johnny Appleseed: " Obscure and illiterate though he was, in some respects he was another Dr. Van Mons, and must have been endued with the instinct of his theory. His usual practice was to gather his seeds from seedling trees, and take them from as many different trees as were to be found within the range of his yearly autumnal rambles, and from those particular trees affording the highest evidence in their fruit that the process of amelioration was begun and was going on in them. At first his visits were necessarily extended to the seedling orchards upon the Ohio and M0nongahela rivers, but when orchards of his own planting began to bear his wanderings for the purpose of collecting seed, became more and more narrrowed in their extent, till the time of his departure farther westward." It is known that he planted a nursery in Belmont county, but what became of it is now a matter of c0njecture. His greatest nursery was in the valley of the Walhonding, in Coshocton county, but he proceeded on up the Mohican, and at one time had several large nurseries in the counties of Knox, Ashland and Richland. He continued to push his operations farther west t0 the Maumee valley, and continued to plant apple seeds in different parts of the country until old age. He died near Ft. Wayne, Ind., in the spring of 1845, aged seventy-two years. First Nurseries - The first seedling nursery established in the upper Ohio valley was that of Ebenezer Zane, on Wheeling Island, in 1790. A year later Jacob Nessley began the propagation of fruit trees, near the mouth of Yellow creek, but the first orchard of grafted fruit trees was planted in 1810, upon the farm of Judge Ruggles, near St. Clairsville. These trees were obtained from the old Putnam nurseries, near Marietta, and were the source from which all grafts were subsequently obtained in the vicinity of St. Clairsville. A Philanthropist. - Judge Ruggles was a philanthropist deeply interested in the cultivation of fruit. He furnished scions fr0m his BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 819 young orchard freely to all that asked for them. In 1815-20 while serving his state in the senate of the United States he brought scions obtained from the original Seckel pear tree near Philadelphia, and introduced the cultivation of that celebrated pear in eastern Ohio. An eccentric lawyer named Thomas H. Genin, residing near St. Clairsville, planted largely of this choice variety of pears and the orchard is still living and producing biennial crops of excellent fruit. And thus it was that many of the old orchards of natural fruit were converted by means of top-grafting into thrifty trees that annually bore great crops of choice Greenings, Golden Pipins, Gate, Bellflower, Pennock, Rambo and other old time varieties of apples, that for beauty, flavor and productiveness, have never been excelled. The city of New Orleans furnished a good market for the apples of the upper Ohio valley, and the demand for them grew so rapidly that many farmers were induced to engage in the business; the same flat-boat that carried the pioneer farmer's surplus flour and bacon, completed their cargo with immense quantities of choice apples. The cultivation of orchards thus begun has steadily increased until the hill-tops of eastern Ohio to-day are crowned with trees that in October are burdened with their crop of golden fruit. In 1870 the total number of bushels of apples produced in Belmont, Harrison and Jefferson counties was but 311,274; in 1880 it increased to 1,153,563 bushels, and in 1888 it reached the enormous figure of 1,607,059 bushels, Belmont county alone producing 854,000 bushels, the largest yield, in proportion to acreage, produced by any county in the state. Grape Culture.—The sunny slopes along the banks of the Ohio seemed so well adapted to the cultivation of grapes, that in 1855-6 large vineyards were planted and the business has been conducted with varying success up to the present time. In 1872 there were 164 acres in Belmont county alone, yielding a total of 200,800 pounds of grapes; in 1879 there were under cultivation in the same county 361 acres in the single township of Pease. About this time the mildew and rot began its destructive work, and the acreage has steadily decreased, until, according to the statistics of 1888, there were but acres in the counties of Belmont, Harrison and Jefferson, and that mainly upon the river slopes, which yielded a total of 450,000 pounds. Other Fruits. - Plums, peaches and cherries are cultivated successfully in every part of the upper Ohio valley, but notably upon the hill-tops, where the fruit is highly colored and comparatively free from blight and mildew; extremely cold weather occasionally kills the germ of tender varieties of peaches and cherries. Pear blight and curculio are the inveterate foes of plums and pears, but modern methods and appliances for killing the one pest and preventing the development of the other, has given the business a fresh impetus. In 1888 there was produced in the counties of Belmont, Harrison and Jefferson, 8,558 bushels of peaches, 3,464 bushels of pears, and 6,292 bushels of plums. Strawberry Culture.- Small fruit culture in the upper Ohio valley has become in many sections a leading industry, and hundreds of acres are now devoted to the cultivation of strawberries and raspberries alone. 820 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. The fame of Barnesville strawberries is as wide-spread as the nation; from a small beginning the business has reached extraordinary dimensions. In 1866, the success that attended the venture of the berry-growers in shipping to foreign markets, induced others to enter the field, and in less than ten years upwards of sixty-nine acres were under cultivation in the vicinity of Barnesville alone. The business has extended to several adjoining townships, but Barnesville is the recognized center of the berry industy of the upper Ohio valley. In 1889 there were 340 acres under cultivation in Warren township, viz.: 140 acres in strawberries and 200 acres in raspberries, and the aggregate yield was 30,250 bushels, as follows: 12,250 bushels of strawberries and 18,000 bushels of raspberries; 500 acres would not be an exaggerated estimate of the land devoted to small fruit culture in the entire valley. A Review. - Thus we have briefly set forth a century's growth of agriculture in the upper Ohio valley, but in order that the reader may have a proper conception of the magnitude of this magical development, and an appreciation of the almost limitless resources of this almost incomparable valley, we present for their consideration the sum of the products of a single year. Upon the 700,000 acres of land embraced in the counties of Belmont, Harrison and Jefferson, devoted to agriculture, there was produced in 1888, 3,500,000 bushels of grain, 2,000,000 bushels of fruit, 2,00,000 pounds of wool, 77,000 tons of hay, 938,000 pounds of tobacco, 1,100,000 pounds of butter, 500,000 bushels of potatoes, 1,300,000 dozen of eggs, 370,000 gallons of milk, 21,000 gallons of mollasses, 30,000 pounds of honey, 470,000 pounds of grapes. It produced and sustained withal an aggregate of 500,000 head of live stock, and millions of fowl. A Preview. - The historian of the twentieth century, looking backward over the age of electricity upon which we are entering, will contemplate with wonder the achievements accomplished by the farmers of the upper Ohio valley, in this year of grace 1890, with their cumbersome appliances of labor, and their limited facilities of transportation. When the horse has been discharged from service upon the farm, except to minister to the farmer's pleasure, the husbandman of the future will harness the lightning to plow his fields, to mow his meadows, to reap his wheat, and to thresh his grain. And when steam is almost into forgotten as a motive power, electric tramways will have penetrated the sections of the upper Ohio valley, that are today the most remote from modern civilization, and the swift motor gliding noiselessly through the valleys and over the hills will bring a market to every farmer's door. When the farms of today have been divided and sub-divided into little tracts, and every rood of land is cultivated to its utmost capacity in order to support the vast population that will a century hence swarm the streets of its great industrial centres, some inventive genius will arise equal to the occasion and successfully imprison the illimitable free nitrogen that invitingly envelops us today and impress it into service in supplying the over-taxed and hungry soil with a feast of fertility from its inexhaustible store. |