PART II.

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

TOPOGRAPHICAL - GEOLOGICAL- GEOGRAPHICAL -AGRICULTURAL.

The relation of the physical features of a country to its history is an important one, and he who would learn the hidden causes that make or mar a nation at its birth must seek in these " the divinity that shapes it ends." Here is found the elixir vitae of the nation ; the spring from whence flow the forces that on their broader current wreck the ship of state, or bear it safely on to its appointed haven. In these physical features are stored those potent industrial possibilities that make the master and the slave among the nations. From the fertile soil comes fruit-ladened, peace-loving agriculture; from the rock-bound stores of mineral wealth springs the rude civilization of the Pacific slope, or the half-savage clashing of undisciplined capital and labor in the mining regions of Pennsylvania; from the rivers rises, fairy like, the commercial metropolis, which, "crowned with the glory of the mountains," and fed with the bounty of the plains, stands the chosen arbiter between the great forces that join to make a nation's greatness. The influence of this subtle power knows no bounds. Here it spreads the lotus plant of ease, and binds the nation in chains of indolent effeminacy; here, among the bleak peaks of a sterile land,

"The heather on the mountain height

Begins to bloom in purple light,"

type of a hardy and unconquered race; here it strews the sand of desert wilds, and man, without resource., becomes a savage.

The manifestations of this potent factor in human economy are scarcely less marked in the smaller divisions of the State, and in them we find the natural introduction to a consideration of a county's civil, political and military history.

Morrow County is situated very near, but a little north of , the center of the State, and is just south of the great water-shed, or rather lies on its broad summit, just far enough south to have a slow drainage into the Ohio River. It is bounded on the north by Crawford and Richland Counties, east by Richland and Knox, south by Knox and Delaware, and west by Delaware and Marion. Its form is nearly that of a rectangle, lying north and south. Its western boundary is broken by its wanting a township in the northwest corner, and by its inclosing Westfield in the southwest corner. Its area, given by the State Board of Equalization in 1870, and which has not since been changed, is 253,149 acres, of which 83,698 acres are arable, 91,045 acres in' meadow and pasture laud, and 78,406 acres are uncultivated or woodland. The average value, exclusive of buildings, is $30.40 per acre. The eastern half of the county is decidedly rolling, and even billy; the western half is more level. In the latter section is found a considerable extent of swamp land which gives rise to three streams that grow to some importance further south, the East Branch of the Whetstone, Alum Creek, and the Big Belly or Big Walnut as it is known further in its course. On the eastern side,

166 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

the three branches of Owl Creek and one of the branches of the Mohican find their sources, but do not reach any importance within the limit& of the county. The upper parts of Alum Creek and Big Belly have been enlarged by the County Commissioners, and made to do greater service as drains. The most of the drainage of the county is into the Scioto River. Its eastern portions are drained into the Muskingum; yet the Sandusky, which flows into Lake Erie, has some of its sources in the township of North Bloomfield, in the northern portion of the county. The streams, though not large, are ample for the purposes of an agricultural community, and furnish motive power for the numerous flouring mills that exist in the county.

"The undulations in the rocky structure are usually very gentle, even imperceptible, through the drift sheet. Hence the general surface was originally nearly flat. The unevenness that now prevails in some parts of the county is mainly due to subsequent causes, and can be referred to the known effect of atmospheric forces. The drift was at first deposited with unequal thickness, whatever may have been the condition of the preexisting surfaces. In the valleys of those streams that flow toward the east in the eastern part of the county, there are unmistakable evidences of a previous erosion of the rock surface, but in the western part of the county, no such indications have been seen. Besides occasional irregularities in the surface of the bedded rocks, the manner of the disposition of the drift was such as to leave very noticeable differences in its condition and thickness in different parts of the county. In the sandstone region, and especially where the Berea grit forms-a line of junction with the underlying shale, the drift is coarse and strong, and the surface broken. Frequent springs of ferriferous water issue from the hillsides, which seem to be very gravelly. The channels of the streams are deeply cut into the bed-rock-plainly beyond the power of the present volume of water-and the valleys are marked by large bowlders. Such bowlders are found in the valleys, in all parts of the county, but are much more noticeable in the sandstone district. Near South Woodbury, in the creek bottoms (Lot 10), is a bowlder of fine-grained syenite, the extreme dimensions of which are nine feet by seven and a half feet, showing four and a half feet above ground. In this bowlder hornblende predominates, and the feldspar is flesh colored, quartz being scarce, giving a rather dark color to the whole. In the western part of the county, however, where the surface is underlaid by shale or The black slate, the drift is more evenly spread, and the country is flat. The streams have (in very much the same manner, though not to the same extent) out their channels into the bedrock, but they are fewer in number, and have a less average descent to the wile. The water of the wells and natural springs is apt to be sulphurous, and bubbles and jets of gas are very often met with. In some marshy places, an inflammable gas rises spontaneously, though this is not known to be the same as that which rises from the shale below the drift. The surface is clayey, and the soil needs artificial drainage.

"The following observations for altitude, by aneroid barometer, are referred to the level of Lake Erie through Levering Station, the height of which is given at 466 feet by the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad:

	Above Lake Erie	Above the ocean
Levering Station	466 feet	1,031 feet
Sills of National House, Mt. Gilead	516 feet	1,081 feet
Creek at the mill, Mt. Gilead	391 feet	956 feet
Creek at South Bridge Mt. Gilead	356 feet	921 feet
Summit of bridge, 1 ½ miles north of Franklin Center, Sec.7, Franklin	625 feet	1,190 feet
Summit of ridge, Franklin Center	599 feet	1,164 feet
Chesterville, Main Street	320 feet	885 feet
Chesterville, bed of creek	286 feet	851 feet
Bloomfield Cemetery, N. W. 1/4 Sec. 17	576 feet	1,141 feet

Thus, in the eastern part of the county, where the sandstone beds lie nearly horizontal wherever exposed, there are short undulations in the natural surface of over three hundred feet, and that, too, without any exposure of the rock. It is alto-

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY. - 167

gether improbable that the drift has that thickness. It is more reasonable to suppose that the rocks themselves suffered erosion, and embraced valleys running according to the direction of drainage before the deposit of the drift.

"The soil of the county presents great diversity. The flat portions of the county have a heavy clay soil. The sandstone district and the belt of rolling land that marks the junction of the Berea grit with the Bedford shale, have a lighter and more porous soil. Stones and gravel are almost never seen in the western part of the county, but in the eastern the plow turns them up constantly. The timber varies noticeably with the change in soil. Probably one-half of the native forest trees in the county are beech, while another quarter is made up of sugar maple, ash and oak. The chestnut is confined to the rolling and gravelly portions of the county. In the survey of the county the following species of timber were noted:

White oak, shingle oak, pin oak, black oak, red oak, chestnut oak, swamp white oak, sugar maple, swamp maple, chestnut (only in the eastern part of the county), American elm, white ash, sycamore, blue ash, honey locust, gum, black walnut, black cherry, tulip-tree, ironwood, shagbark hickory, water beech (three inches in diameter), basswood, slippery or red elm, butternut, black willow, pig hickory, june-berry, buckeye, papaw, spice bush, largetoothed aspen, hackberry or sugarberry. This is a large tree in Morrow and Delaware Counties, of two feet in diameter.

"The geological series of the county embraces that much-disputed horizon that lies near the junction of the Devonian with the Carboniferous. It has been satisfactorily shown, in the Michigan Survey, however, that the Upper Waverly belongs to the latter, thus dividing between the two ages the series usually embraced under the single designation of Waverly. For the upper or fossiliferous portion of the old Waverly, the term Marshal group has been used in the Michigan survey, and that name, intended to cover the base of the Carboniferous, antedates all other names.

"To what extent these subdivisions exist in Morrow County, it is not possible to determine from the exposures that occur. It is only known that there is (1) in the eastern part of the county a free-grained, shaly sandstone, which is probably some part of the Cuyahoga shale and sandstone, although having more the lithological character of the Logan sandstone, its equivalent in the southern part of the State. (2) Succeeding this shaly sandstone is a valuable series of even-bedded sandstones, useful for building, and extensively quarried, the equivalent of the Berea grit. (3) Below this is a blackish slate, although its exact junction with the overlying Berea grit has not been observed. It may be separated from the Berea grit by a thin stratum of shale representing the Bedford shale. The thickness of this black shale has not been made out. It is succeeded by (4) a considerable thickness of bluish or gray shale seldom seen exposed. This is followed (5) by the Huron shale, a black slate, which occurs in the western part of the county.

"The quarry of W. T. Appleman, on the north side of the creek, in Section 7, Troy Township, is in the sandstones of the Upper Waverly (Marshall). The surface of the country here is generally very broken, the streams having cut deep channels through the drift and into the rock.

These sandstone beds here lie horizontal. They are from one to four inches in thickness, But few feet can be actually seen, but the bluffs and ridges show every indication of being composed of beds of the same formation in situ to the thickness of nearly a hundred feet. This stone is without the gritty texture of the Berea beds. It is more shaly, and has shining specks. Sometimes the heaviest beds show parting plains, by which they separate into thin layers, giving the whole very much the appearance of a true shale. Occasional fossils are found upon the surface of these beds out west of this quarry is that of Mr. Jacob Aman (about northwest quarter of Section 18).

* Graduating below Into thin-bedded, shaly sandstone.

168 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

It occurs along a little ravine running north, and shows the following section:

Feet.

No. 1. Rusty, irregular, shattered sandstone; micaceous, with intercalated beds of shale;

beds 1 to 6 inches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

No. 2. Micaceous shale with intercalated beds of sandstone (some of which are fossiliferous).

This shale is argillaceous, and when dried has a glittering and soapy luster,

appearing in talcose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

"Jacob Mandeville's quarry is situated on the northeast quarter of Section 13, in North Bloomfield, and consists, so far as exposed, of a hard, ringing, blue limestone, which seems silicious. The most of a thickness of eighteen inches is devoted to this limestone. Generally a coating of sandstone incloses the limestone, filling out the angles in the bedding, and making the limestone really lie in lenticular pieces with rounded edges. Beds of sandstone are known to underlie this limestone, but the overlying rock is unknown. No fossils have been seen. The beds are horizontal.

"The quarry of Mrs. Treisch is on the northwest quarter of Section 19, Troy, and occupies the banks of a precipitous ravine. The section exposed is as follows, in horizontal beds :

Ft. In.

No. 1. Thin beds of sandstone, with some shale, seen . . . . 11

No. 2. Interval unseen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5

No. 3. Thin bedded sandstone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6

No. 4. Fossil blue shale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

No. 5. Thin beds of sandstone, seen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 6

"Daniel Stull owns a quarry in the same beds, adjoining Mrs. Treisch's. Along the creek, on Section 36, North Bloomfield, Mr. John Snyder and Mr. Daniel Sorrick have taken out a little stone for common use; it lies in thin beds, and is poorly exposed., Other exposures of this shale and sandstone are found on Lot 8, a mile and a half northeast of Chesterville, on the northwest quarter of Section 5, east, Franklin Township, and on the farm of Irwin Lefever, three-fourths of a mile southeast.

"The Berea grit is found in the quarries near Iberia, owned by O. C. Brown, Section 23, J. J. McLaren, Section 34, David Colmery (not now worked), John T. Quay and Benjamin Sharrock. Stone also shows on Mr. Gurley's land, a quarter of a mile southeast from McLaren's quarry. That of Brown covers the horizon in which fall all the others. The section here is as follows, in descending order. The beds lie so nearly horizontal that no dip can be distinguished:

Feet.

No. 1. Drift ..............................................................3

No. 2. Three beds of sandstone, with distinct

quartzose ............................................................18 to 22

No. 3. Heavy beds of sandstone (1 to 3 feet),

with evident quartzose grains, yet

finer than the Berea grit .....................................18 to 22

No. 4. Shales (in a talus, poorly seen) ...............30

The thirty feet of shale (No. 4 above) is obtained by measuring from the level of the water in the Rocky Fork of Olentangy Creek, which passes near Mr. Brown's quarry, to the bottom of the sandstone in the quarry. This interval is known to be occupied by shale, but its special characters are hid by the sloping turf covered talus. It can only be seen about six inches below the sandstone, where it is fine and blue, and in beds one-half to one and a half inches. It thus appears that the heavy beds of the Berea continue intact down to the shale, although at Mount Gilead the heavy sandstone graduates below into a thin-bedded and shaly sandstone, 'before the beginning of the shale.

"The quarries at Mount Gilead are in the banks of the East Branch of the Olentangy or Whetstone Creek. Here there is a slight dip toward the south-southeast, and the following section can be made out, in descending order:

Ft. In.

No. 1. Drift, stratified in some places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

No. 2. Berea grit, thin beds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

No. 3. Berea grit, thick beds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

No. 4. Thin beds of sandstone, with shale . . . . . . . . . . .19 7

No. 5. Shale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 1

Total exposed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 8

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY. - 169

"Calcareous and chalybeate waters issue from springs along the banks, and make copious deposits of their carbonates on the face of the bluffs. The quarries are owned at Mount Gilead, by Charles Russell, George Wieland, and by Smith Thomas.

"About three and a half miles southeast from Cardington, in Lincoln Township, occur several quarries on the horizon of the Berea grit, the exposures being, caused by the upper forks of Alum Creek. They all lie within the area of a square mile, and are owned by D. M. Mosher, Daniel Steiner, Morgan B. Brooks and T. C. Cunnard. The beds are about horizontal, or show a gentle dip east. The section at Mosher's quarry is as follows, in descending order:

Feet.

No. 1. Hardpan drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 to 10

No. 2. Flagging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 to 5

No. 3. Heavy stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 to 8

No. 4. Shale and thin stone (seen) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

"Mr. Steiner's quarry shows a singular fault or variation of bedding. An oblique seam crosses the face of the exposure, and on freshly-quarried edges the bedding is very evident. On one side of the seam, which may be called the lower side, the beds are nearly all thick, running from five to eight inches above, and reaching twelve inches below. These thick beds terminate on reaching the seam or joint, their ends being obliquely beveled in consonance with the angle of the slope of the seam. On the other side or' the seam, the beds are conspicuously different from the above. The most of them are very thin, running from one inch to three inches, and the remainder, the lowest, are sometimes eight inches thick, varying from five inches. The Berea grit is also exposed and slightly wrought on Mr. T. N. Hickman's land, southeast quarter of Section 11, Gilead, and on Furbay Conant's, near Mr. Hickman's.

"The only evidence there is of the continuance of the Bedford shale into Morrow County consists of the difference between the Cleveland shale and that seen to lie below the quarry of Mr. Brown at Iberia, and immediately below the sandstone and shale (No. 4) at Mount Gilead. The Cleveland shale may be seen in the section at the latter place. It occupies the lowest portion of the shale of No. 5, and lies in the bed of the stream. It is supposed to have a thickness of about fifty feet, and to be followed by the Erie shale and sandstone, which is followed by the Huron shale (the great black slate). There is an exposure of similar shale in the low banks of the creek near S. Woodbury, on northwest quarter, Lot 9, in the northern part of Peru Township. The exact relations of this exposure to the great group of shales that make up the interval between the Hamilton and Berea grit, it is impossible to state. It is thought, however, that the horizon of the bottom of the Berea grit passes about half a mile east of this point, judging from the topography; and if that be correct, there is no doubt this shale belongs to the Cleveland. On the contrary, the frequent slight exposures of black slate throughout Peru Township, and especially in the banks of Alum Creek, make it evident that the underlying Erie shale, if it exists at all, must be reduced to a few feet in thickness. The absence, then, of the Erie shale, or its great attenuation, makes it uncertain whether the above exposure may not belong to the Huron. In the absence of fossils, it will be necessary to leave its designation conjectural.

"The existence of the Erie shale in Morrow County is altogether hypothetical. This horizon, owing to its shaly character, is generally deeply buried under the drift. It is represented in the geological maps as running out in this county, but the evidence to that effect is not conclusive. The Huron shale underlies the western tier of townships, its eastern limit leaving the county near the southwest corner of Bennington Township, and the northwest corner of Washington Township. It is well exposed at a number of places, especially along the valley of the East Branch of the Olentangy, in Westfield and Cardington Townships, and along Alum Creek, in Peru Township.

170 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

When wet, it has no unctuous feel, but keeps its color and texture. It is rather firm, and of a black color. It contains no concretions or hard masses. An incrustation of alum forms on the exposed edges of the beds, but very little pyrites can be seen. The beds have a slight dip east.

" The whole country is heavily covered with northern drift. It embraces stones of all sizes, irregular patches of stratified gravel and sand, and much clay. The mass of the whole is made up of that usually denominated 'blue clay,' although the blue color is only found at the depth of fifteen or twenty feet, the action of the air and water on the iron, and other substances contained in it, having produced hydrated, impure peroxides that pervade the soils and the clay to about that depth. The drift is usually perfectly unassorted ; yet at Mount Gilead, where there seems to have been an accumulation of standing water about the foot of the glacier, the upper portion of the drift clay is very fine, and free from stones and gravel. This clay here also shows the exceptional character of stratification, although the laminae are considerably disturbed, not lying so true and nearly horizontal as in the laminated clays at Fremont or at Cleveland. The average thickness of the drift would probably not exceed forty feet. It seems to be thicker in the northern part of the county than in the southern.

"About a mile above Mount Gilead, the left bank of the East Branch of the Olentangy consists, so far as seen, of hardpan, containing bowlders throughout from top to bottom, and measures sixty-four feet nine inches. This was a fresh exposure, where the washing over the dam had laid it bare. Only ten feet of the blue hardpan can be seen, the lower portion being hid by debris. The thickness of the oxidated drift was about eighteen feet. One very large northern bowlder was seen projecting from the bank, just above the lowest part of the brown hardpan. Half a mile below Westfield, the banks of the same creek show thirty-one feet seven inches of drift, made up, according to the following section, in descending order :

No. 1. Hardpan (unstratified) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 ft

No. 2. Gravel (stratified) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 ft. 7 in.

Total thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 ft. 7 in.

"The black slate is exposed at this place in the bed of the creek, and the above shows nearly the full thickness-of the drift. Glacial marks were seen at a single locality in Morrow County. They were noted on fragments removed by the quarrymen at the quarry of Mr. Daniel Stiner, in Lincoln Township ; but their direction could not be ascertained.

"In the eastern half of the county there is no difficulty in obtaining water for the household and for dairy purposes. The sandstone underlying is apt itself to give a ferruginous character to the springs that issue from it; but most of the springs and wells that give an irony taste derive the iron, as a carbonate, from the drift, gravels and sands with which that part of the county is well supplied. That kind of water is very often met with in the eastern part of the county. In the western half of the county, the water of wells and springs is very often sulphurous. Some very strong sulphur springs occur in that part of the county, issuing directly from the black slate. Some very remarkable and copious sulphur springs occur in Peru Township. The following list, with the adjoined columns, will convey a very good idea both of the thickness of the drift and of the nature of well water obtained in different parts of the county:

PAGE 171 - PICTURE OF MORROW COUNTY COURT HOUSE

PAGE 172 BLANK

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY - 173

"The material resources of the county, are liberally provided. It is, however, destitute of stone for making lime. The quarries in the corniferous limestone at Delhi, in Delaware County, have furnished most of the quicklime used here. Since the construction of the chartered road, the operators of which are allowed to collect toll of travelers, many consumers have been directed from Delaware County to limekilns in Marion, to which access from Morrow County is still free. The county is well supplied with building-stone of the best quality. The openings in the Berea grit, at Iberia, Mount Gilead and near Cardington, are widely known, and supply a great extent of territory with stone of an excellent quality. The grain of the Berea grit becomes finer in the central part of the State, while at the same time the heavy bedded portion becomes reduced. This is noticeable in Morrow County, where it is considerably used for purposes for which it would not be well adapted in the northern portion of the State. There is no way of ascertaining the annual product of these quarries, owing to the frequent change of ownership and the lack of record of

174 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

sales. The prices at Iberia , given by Mr. Brown, are as follows. They would not vary much from those at Mount Gilead and Cardington, although Mr. Brown has unusual natural facilities for working his quarry: Small, thin stone for common walls and foundations, sells for $1 per perch or twenty - five cubic feet; spalls, 40 to 50 cents per wagon load ; flagging, 8 cents per square foot; stone, four to six inches thick, $1.50 to $2 per perch; best heavy blue, even and fine-grained stone, for bases to monuments, 10 to 40 cents per cubic foot.

"Gravel and sand from the drift are abundant in the eastern portion of the county. It is not unusual to meet with these materials in the drift in the shale and slate area. For brick, tile and common red pottery, the clay of the drift, when sufficiently clear from small stones, are well adapted. Yet there are not many establishments of this kind in the county. This is probably due to the abundant supply of good building stone, and the prevalence of a heavy forest in the settlement of the county. The material used by Messrs. Miller & Smith, at Mount Gilead, is fine, entirely free from gravel, and somewhat indistinctly assorted, though not arranged in layers like that at Fremont, in Sandusky County. The bank presents a massive section of fifteen feet, appearing somewhat like the I bluff formation of the Missouri River, though less arenaceous. It passes below into clear, gray quicksand. It makes a very fine brick of even texture and perfect outline, the angles and corners being well filled. Near Cardington, Mr. Abram Hickson makes brick and tile, and on Section 7, Troy, Mr. W. T. Appleman makes enough to supply the demand in a limited neighborhood.

"At West Liberty salt was found at an early day on a farm belonging to Mr. James Flemming. The well was sunk to the depth of 330 feet in 1818, from which brine was taken sufficient to produce a few bushels of salt. There were -no indications of salt or salt lick within forty rods of the place. The well was drilled by A. Walker, but the water did not rise to the top. By means of a thin copper tube, seventy-five feet in length, and a pump, they succeeded in raising enough to make about fifteen bushels of salt. The tube then collapsed, and no further efforts were made to extract the brine. In 1870, another drill was made at the same place for the purpose of reaching oil, when the same deposit of brine was struck at about 330 feet. It is the impression of some that the location of the well at West Liberty was determined by the occurrence of deerlicks in that neighborhood. A well was drilled a few years ago, west of Iberia, near the county line, for the purpose of finding oil. It passed through shale and slate so far as it was prosecuted, which was to the depth of 200 feet. This shows the strike of Berea grit to be at some point further cast, and the exposure of the same in Tully Township, Marion County, a few miles west of the well, must be an outlying mass.

"For mineral paint, the shale lying below the Berea grit seems to be adapted. It had been used to good advantage by Mr. Brown at Iberia. It is dried, ground and mixed with boiled linseed oil, making a blue paint. It is also worthy of being tested as a fine clay and for pottery.

"Several deposits of bog-ore are met with in the county. It occurs on land of Samuel Elder, southeast quarter of Section 24, Washington, and on that of James Thomas, in the same section. The hydrate peroxide which constitutes the ore in most bog deposits here seems to be associated with a considerable spathic iron ore, or carbonate of iron. At Mount Gilead there is a copious deposit of carbonate of iron on the rock-bluffs of the creek, associated with calcite. Other deposits of bog-ore are found in the eastern part of the county. One is in Section 5, Franklin Township, on land of Calvin Blair and of John Blair. A small deposit of crag, or cemented gravel, may be seen on Milton Levering's land, in the left bank of the North Fork of Owl Creek, Section 5, Franklin. It is due to the discharge of calcareous water from the bank, the source of which it is not easy to explain.

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY. - 175

"The economical value of the black slate consists in the supplies of oil and gas for which it is noted, both in Ohio and Virginia, as well as in Pennsylvania. There are no productive oil or gas wells in Morrow County, but there is much reason to suppose the formation which supplies them in other places is equally charged with these mineral products in this county. Many copious gas jets have been struck in the area of the slate in digging common wells. In one case, near West Liberty, the discharge was so sudden and so great that the laborers were greatly in danger of suffocation. An associate who descended thoughtlessly to aid those overpowered lost his life. A passing stranger being summoned, he in like manner was overcome, and died before he could be rescued. Those who were in the well in the first place were finally raised and resuscitated. Other similar gas streams have been encountered in other parts of the slate area. Sometimes the water in wells Shows a constant slow escape through it of gas, in the form of bubbles, indicating a continuous discharge of this substance from the black slate throughout the drift." The chief material resource of Morrow County, however, lies in the rich and varied soil with which it is furnished. It is necessarily an agricultural rather than a mining or manufacturing county. It partakes largely of the prominent features that are common to the most of Northwestern and Northern Ohio, yet it has not that flatness of surface and sameness of agricultural capacity that characterizes so much of this area.

The first settlers here found a country thickly covered with a heavy growth of timber, and the land, shielded from the piercing rays of the sun by the dense forest foliage, saturated with the moisture which the character of the country favored. To erect here a home, and render the land subject to an annual tribute for the sustenance of his family, tasked the powers of the pioneer to their utmost. It was an even-handed Struggle for subsistence, and anything accomplished might safely be set down

* Professor N. H. Winchell, in "Geological Survey of Ohio."

as an improvement. This was practically true for the first twenty years in the history of a settlement. An average of five years were consumed before the frontier farm could be relied upon to furnish a support, and in the mean while the fare furnished by the abundance of game and wild fruits was eked out with economical purchases of corn from the older settlements. After erecting a cabin with the aid of hospitable neighbors, from five to ten acres were felled. It was then "chopped over," i. e., the trees out into suitable lengths for rolling into piles for burning. After the universal bee for rolling came the burning, which was not the least exacting of the frontier farmer's labor. When the amount of labor performed and the dearth of labor-saving conveniences are considered, it will appear that, in accomplishing, so much, labor was not less effectively applied than now, but in such a consideration the methods must not be lost sight of. On a single claim this much was frequently done in three months, and a small crop of corn harvested in the first year, but the average results were riot so favorable. The effort was to get ready for the "bee" as early as possible, for when the "rolling season" began, there was an uninterrupted demand upon the settler for from six to eight weeks in the fields of his neighbors. Many were called upon when they could least afford the time, but from the necessities of the situation there was no refusal possible, and large as this demand appears, it will not be considered exorbitant when it is remembered that the neighborhoods covered an area of from ten to fifteen miles square. Under such circumstances, the prevailing tendency is to underrate the value of timber, and to carry the work of clearing to the very verge of denuding the land of this important aid to agriculture. This tendency has not been so marked in Morrow County as in many of the older counties of northern and northeastern parts of the State. Considerable clearing is now done every spring, especially in the low, swampy portions of the county. Wood is still the principal article in use for fuel, selling at very moderate prices save when

176 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

the bad roads of spring and winter make its delivery more expensive than the timber itself. Coal found its way into Mount Gilead and Cardington but comparatively a few years ago, and is even now used more on account of its convenience than because a cheaper material than wood. The prevailing system of agriculture in Morrow County may properly be termed that of mixed husbandry. Specialties find no favor with the farmers. The practice is to cultivate the various kinds of grain and grasses, and to raise, keep and fatten stock, the latter business being the leading pursuit of three fourths of the farmers. The mode of cultivation of the farming lands has not been of the highest type. Provided with a rich and varied soil, the average farmer has not felt the need of studying the principles of such branches of learning as relate to agriculture, and frequently hesitated to accept, or rejected, the teachings of science. A few persons, however, were found at a comparatively early day, who brought to the business of farming that amount of patient investigation which the greatest industry of this country demands. Farmers are becoming less and less unwilling to learn from others, and the husbandry of the county is attaining a commendable thoroughness, and is rapidly improving in every respect.

Owing to the richness of the soil, the subject of fertilizers has not received the attention which it has obtained in many other parts of the State. Phosphates and plaster are seldom used, and many have scarcely exercised the customary care in preserving the ordinary accumulation of the barnyard, much less to add to this store by artificial means. There are many fields to be found in the county that have been cropped with wheat or corn for years without renewing or fertilizing and others have only been relieved by a rotation of crops. This practice has, in most cases, borne its legitimate result, and awakened a decided interest in this vital subject in late years. Rotation of crops is now being gradually introduced, corn being the first crop planted on sod ground, followed by oats or flax and then wheat. With the latter crop, the manure is used, as it is thought it shows the largest result and leaves a better soil for the grass which follows. Deep plowing with the Michigan double plow was practiced to a considerable extent about 1856, with good results. Crops grown upon lands so treated furnished a much larger yield than those grown upon shallow plowed lands. It afterward fell into disrepute, from the fact that the upper soil was buried so deep that several seasons were required to effect the proper mixture of the soils. Later, another system was adopted with beneficial effect. Two plows were used and the team divided between them. A shallow-soil plow turned over the surface, which was followed by a long steel plow without a turning-board. The latter simply raised and loosened the subsoil to a depth of twelve or fifteen inches, and upon this the top soil was turned by the lighter implement. This proved a vast improvement upon the old plan, furnishing the requisite depth without burying the upper soil, and loosening the subsoil, thus furnishing a natural escape for the excessive moisture, which the character of the hardpan too often resists, allowing it to escape only by evaporation. This treatment, experience showed to be necessary only about once in eight years, which was not considered expensive. The practice of subsoiling, however, has of late years fallen into disuse, and is not now used to any considerable extent. Artificial drainage has been a necessity from the first. There are seven county ditches with an aggregate length of eighteen miles, the longest of which reaches a distance of seven and three - tenths miles. These were constructed at an aggregate cost of $11,656, and de efficient service in carrying off the surface water. Underdraining has been carried on to some extent for years. The first drain tile were introduced in 1859, and have rapidly grown in the public estimation with each succeeding year. In 1874, a manufactory of tile was established at Mount Gilead, and later another establishment had been added to the industries of this village, while others have been started at Sparta, and, in a small

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY - 177

way, at other points in the county. These establishments have found a ready sale for all they can make, disposing in the last six years of not far from sixty thousand rods of their manufacture. Farms are everywhere being greatly improved by underdraining and ditching. Low lands that were. nearly an entire waste, and rolling lands of the character called "spouty," are being reclaimed, so that there are less than 300 acres of what can be properly called waste land in over 254,000 acres in the whole county. The land thus reclaimed produces the finest crops; can be cultivated much sooner after a rain, and from eight to ten days earlier in the spring.

The subject of grass lands has always been an important one in Morrow County, from the fact that the majority of the farmers have made a leading feature of stock-raising. Grain is raised principally for home consumption, and the system of husbandry, so far as any has prevailed, has been directed mainly to secure the best results for the grass crop. Timothy grass is mainly relied upon for the supply of hay, meadows being turned over about once in five years. Meadows are seldom pastured, the grass lands being seeded for the especial purpose for which they are designed. Meadows are seldom underdrained, and have generally received very little attention in the way of top-dressing, the manure being generally applied to the wheat crop which preceded the seeding down. Orchard and blue-grass have been introduced to a limited extent of late years, experiments with a mixture of these grasses having proved their value as pasture grasses. There is considerable hesitation manifested in experimenting with the blue grass, as it claimed by many-among them some scientific agriculturists-that the June grass, poa pratensis, is the same thing modified by the difference of soil and climate. An experiment was made with this grass on the southeast part of the upper public square in Mount Gilead. About a sixth of an acre had been filled in with Yellow clay from a bank, and, after pulverizing thoroughly, a peck of blue-grass seed and fifty pounds of bone dust sown upon it. In seven weeks, the ground was completely covered with a growth of grass about ten inches high. Millet and Hungarian grass have been used to some extent for the past fifteen or twenty years, and are in more or less demand every year. The latter is the one principally used, furnishes a valuable substitute for a failing crop of meadow grass, or when the acreage has been temporarily cut down too low for the necessities of the farm. From the returns made of the number of acres in meadow, and the number of tons of hay made, we compile the following statement:

	Av. For 7 years, 1858 to 1864, inc.	1866	1876	1878
No. acres meadow.	22,391	24,077	25,562	28,033
No. tons of hay	27,155	30,696	29,122	35,975

The above statement shows the general average yield per acre to be a fraction over 1 18-100ths tons, with a variation in the product of the meadows of only 1-100 to 9-100 of a ton per acre. In the matter of clover lands the lack of any general, well-grounded system of agriculture is plainly apparent. The demand for the seed, which made it a cash article with a ready sale, proved a great temptation to raise it for the market. It is very frequently sown in combination with timothy for the purpose of producing a quality of bay highly esteemed for milch cows and sheep. It is largely used also as pasturage, but the predominant purpose is for seed. The acreage turned under has been very small in past years, but this short-sighted policy is being somewhat remedied of late, and more value is placed upon it as a means of renewing exhausted lands. The following table, compiled from the reports, gives a condensed exhibit of this culture:

Year Average of	No. Acres	No. tons of hay	No. bushels of seed	Acres plow'd under
1863-1864	3,199	3,303	2,377	58
1866	2,583	1,495	1,757	34
1876	4,616	5,660	1,520	151
1878	2,513	3,145	1,607	48

The general average, as shown by this statement, is l.85 of a ton of hay and .56 of a bushel of seed per acre. The average number of acres

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY. - 178

annually plowed under, as shown by the table, is nearly seventy-three acres. This is an over-estimate, as the quantity plowed under in 1876 was exceptionally large. If the number of acres plowed under in 1877 (five acres) were added to the statement, the annual average would be a little over fifty-nine acres, which is probably nearer the facts. This matter is receiving, of late years, much more attention, and the number of acres turned over will probably be greatly increased.

Nothing is more strikingly apparent in an agricultural survey of Morrow County than the entire absence of anything like specialties in cultivation. The aim of the early settlers was obviously to derive from their lands, their only resource, a simple subsistence, and to this end a system of mixed husbandry was a necessity. Their descendants, hedged about by the results of experience, and aiming to sell their surplus product, in such form as would take from the land the smallest amount of its fertility, have, from the nature of the case, followed in their footsteps. Grain has been produced for home consumption entirely, and has barely sufficed for that until quite recently. In the early culture of wheat, a great many discouragements were met. The weevil destroyed it year after year, and when no particular exception could be taken to the season, the crop seemed to fail because it was in an uncongenial climate. For fifteen years, from 1850 to 1864 inclusive, the average was only a bare trifle over eleven bushels per acre. During later years, and especially during the past three years, there has been a marked improvement in the results of wheat culture. The grain seems to have become acclimated, and farmers, gaining more confidence, have sown the present year a larger breadth than for many years previous. The variety principally sown in later years has been the Lancaster or swamp (bearded), in the northern part of the county, and in the southern part the Hack and Fultz (beardless). Experiments have been made with the Genesee, White Mediterranean, Golden Drop and Amber, but the Fultz has taken the lead during the last four years, having been almost exclusively sown during the last year. No particular system has been adopted in the cultivation of this grain. At an early date, the practice of plowing of "bare fallows" during the summer, and then re-plowing the same before sowing in wheat, was followed to a considerable extent, but latterly has fallen into disuse. While recognizing the marked benefit it has upon the crop, it is considered as too expensive a mode of culture, and is now only seen here and there among the German farmers in the northern part of the county. Oat or flax-stubble grounds are principally used for growing wheat. After plowing, manure is spread upon the surface, and when the seed is sown broadcast, the wheat and manure are harrowed in together. Where the drill is employed, as in a majority of cases, the manure is well harrowed in first. The practice of sowing wheat upon the same ground for many successive years is becoming less common, though still followed in certain localities, where the soil appears well-nigh exhaustless. The breadth of land sown is by no means uniform, varying about in proportion to the uncertainty of the product per acre. The average breadth sown when the average product was eleven bushels to the acre was something over 11,000 acres. Four years later, the average yield per acre was only nine bushels, and the number of acres a little more than 6,500. Ten years later the average sown reached a breadth of 10,559 acres, while the average yield per acre only reached seven bushels. In 1878, the last report at hand, the yield was an average of a little more than eighteen bushels per acre. The difficulty experienced in commanding anything like a complete file of the State Reports renders any attempt at a tabular statement very ineffective, but the following embodies in a condensed form the growth of this grain in the county:

Average 1850 to 1864 inclusive-acres, 11,520; bushels, 127,650. 1866-acres, 6,558; bushels, 59,296. 1876-acres, 10,509; bushels, 74,248. 1878-acres, 13,696; bushels, 249,313. With the increased yield and the larger breadth

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY - 179

sown, exportation has grown into considerable proportions, and farmers are beginning to look forward to this crop as a source of considerable revenue, finding a ready and accessible market at Mount Gilead and Cardington.

The grain is usually thrashed in the field. The first machines worked by horse-power were used in 1839. Of late, machines worked by the portable steam engine have been the favorite and very largely used.

Rye and barley are but little cultivated. The former is cultivated almost exclusively for the straw, which finds a ready sale in limited quantities for binding corn stalks, and when chopped up, as packing for eggs. The average yield of the grain is about fifteen bushels per acre. Barley is occasionally raised to some extent for exportation, and where the soil is fitted for it, proves a valuable crop. Its cultivation, however, has not been made the subject of much investigation, as the distance of the market has rather discouraged its growing.

Buckwheat was formerly grown to a considerable extent. In the average acreage and product for seven years, from 1858 to 1864, inclusive, Morrow led all other counties in the Scioto Valley by upward of a thousand acres, and by from seven to fifteen thousand bushels, and numbered the tenth county in the State in this regard. In 1876, it stood eighth on the list, but, in 1878, it lost this advanced position, and passed to the lowest ranks.

Oats are extensively grown, but find a demand at home for the full supply. It is a reasonably sure crop, and, though occasionally affected by drouths, it is relied upon with considerable confidence for home use. Rust has at times proved a serious drawback to the raising of this crop. Just before the war, one season when the crop promised an extraordinary yield, the rust suddenly attacked it and destroyed the whole crop. Even the straw was rendered useless, many of the farmers believing that it would prove poisonous to stock. The following exhibit will show the status of these minor grains:

Year	Barley		Rye		Oats		Buckwheat
	Acres	Amount Produced	Acres	Amount Produced	Acres	Amount Produced	acres	Amount Produced
Average - 1858-1864	204	3997	326	3854	8899	221571	1451	20190
1866	665	10945	1226	10878	8848	250564	1374	19547
1876	61	945	635	4195	14288	428696	543	2904
1878	20	293	661	8458	12818	436135	130	790

The corn crop, while not grown to the exclusion of the others, is the one upon which the farmers of Morrow County mostly confidently rely, and the land devoted to its culture is only limited by the necessities of the situation. It is far more stable in its yield, less liable to disease, and may be slighted in its cultivation with greater impunity than any other crop. The soft varieties of seed are generally preferred, and are usually planted on sod ground. It is usually well put in, the ground being prepared with considerable care, and worked until it "tassels out." The old rule of "going through" the field a certain number of times before "laying by" the crop, has long since been abandoned by the better farmers. The last plowing, after the corn has reached the height of five or six feet, is considered the most effective in its cultivation, but the exigencies of the season often prevent the farmer's bestowing this crowning attention. The farms, generally small, are worked by the owner alone, and the clover and wheat cutting coming close together, frequently obliges the small farmer to slight his corn. When, however, the farmer is able to hire help, or has boys who can be trusted to do the work, the plow is kept going through the corn, an expense that is amply repaid by the increased yield. The crop is usually cut and hauled into the barn, to be husked at leisure times during

180 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

the winter. The custom of husking from the standing stalk, which was early much in vogue, was abandoned some time since, as wasteful of time and material. The breadth planted and the yield per acre is somewhat variable, but with improved cultivation the yield has increased, and more land has consequently been devoted to the crop. The following table gives in a condensed form the result in its cultivation:

Years	Acres	Bushels	Av. Per acre
1850 to 1864 - av	20,391	609,094	29.87
1866	18,224	656,153	36.00
1876	26,079	985,312	37.78
1878	29,103	984,138	33.85

The other crops that occupy, or have occupied, a prominent place among the agricultural products of the county, are potatoes, flax and sorghum. The quality of the soil is well adapted to the raising of potatoes, and farmers who have given considerable attention to the proper cultivation of this highly-prized and indispensable esculenta, have always been well rewarded for their labor and pains-taking. It is a staple vegetable, universally used, always commands a fair price, and its general cultivation for exportation would undoubtedly prove highly remunerative. The fact, however, seems to have been overlooked or ignored, and no more are produced than are used in the county. The leading variety is the Early Rose, with the Peerless and Peachblow cultivated in considerable quantities. The Snowflake is highly prized and cultivated by many, while the Vermont Beauty and Davis Seedling are being cultivated as experiments. The average yield of this crop is good, and is not often seriously affected by disease or insects.

Flax, although grown in this county to some extent every year, is subject to violent fluctuations in the acreage devoted to its cultivation. It is raised exclusively for the seed, which has become an important article of commerce, large amounts being purchased annually by dealers at Mt. Gilead and Cardington. It is an exacting crop and the fiber is only incidentally valuable, owing to the unsalable condition in which it has to be sold; an amount of discouragement which is only overbalanced by the fact that the seed frequently commands a high price, and is always a cash article. It is not relied upon to any extent, however, as a source of revenue.

The history of the cultivation of sorghum cane in Morrow County is similar to that of most other parts of the State. The first introduction of this cane was received by the farmers of Morrow County with great enthusiasm, and high hopes were entertained that in this would be found a substitute for the sugar-cane that would prove a valuable addition to the resources of their farms for home sup. ply, if not a source of income. The first seed was brought in about 1857, and small bags of seed containing about a half a, pint sold readily for a dollar each. The experimenters, however, were not over sanguine, and though the aggregate acreage reached a considerable extent, the largest amount under cultivation on a single farm was not more than two acres. With the rapid growth of the cultivation came the means of manufacturing molasses, so that in 1859, there were some ten or twelve establishments in the county for manufacturing the product, and something over three hundred barrels produced. Homer Emery, of this county, invented a wooden mill which became the favorite for some years. The first molasses produced in most cases, owing to the lack of information on the subject and the carelessness with which its manufacture was conducted, was sorry stuff. To the skeptical part of the farming community and the consumers, this result gave rise to a great prejudice against the project that re-acted with discouraging effect upon the experimenters, Another cause which contributed to this result was the exercise of ruinous economy on the part of the mass of farmers. Instead of purchasing new seed, and sparing no pains to make a fair trial of this new crop, the majority of those who planted it borrowed seed of their neighbors, and

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY - 181

allowed the work of the farm to seriously interfere with the cultivation of the sorghum. The result was that the cane deteriorated in quantity and quality, and the whole thing was voted a failure. A few, however, were not so easily discouraged, and kept up the experiment until a really fine molasses was obtained. Experiments, involving considerable expense, were made to produce sugar from this cane, but its manufacture was found to be so expensive that it had to be abandoned. The manufacture of molasses the cultivation of the cane is still kept up by some who began years ago, and who are by no means willing to acknowledge that the experiment - in sorgbum was a failure. Some four or five establishments do a limited business in this line, and by careful and intelligent handling of the cane, produce a first class article which has attained a considerable local reputation.

Tobacco has been cultivated to a very limited extent, simply for the private use of the producer, and it may well be hoped that its culture may not be further extended. It is an exacting crop upon the land, and, sooner or later, the exhaustive process will ultimately work the deterioration of any neighborhood or farming district where its culture is a prominent part of the farming operations.

The forests of Morrow County are well supplied with the sugar maple, and the people have not been slow to utilize them in the way of making sugar. It was the practice at an early date to make the product of the maple into sugar, as in this shape it answered the needs of the household to better advantage, and this practice continued down until 1865, when a complete revolution took place in this branch of farming industry. Less dependent upon their own manufacture for sugar, the farmers turned their attention to the manufacture of syrup, which has ever since been the prevailing practice.

The following tables will show something of the status of these products:

Years	POTATOES		TOBACCO		MAPLE SUGAR
	Acres Planted	Bushels Produced	Acres Planted	Pounds Produced	Pounds of Sugar Produced	Gallons of Syrup
Averages	* 757	59,224	(1) 11	6,591	(2) 91,255	3,633
1866	1,490	52,739		550	1,490	52,739
1876	949	57,724	6	547	949	57,724
1877	951	22,344	5 1/4	1,010	951	22,344
1878	870	54,867	2	325	870	54,867

(1) Average acreage and product for 5 years; 1860 to 1864 inclusive.

(2) Average acreage and product for 1863 and 1864.

* Average acreage and product for 5 years; 1860 to 1864 inclusive.

182 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

It will be notice d that in later years, no return of flax fiber has been made. The explanation lies in the fact that a flax-mill located at Mount Gilead afforded a good market for this product, but since its destruction by fire, the fiber has been a sheer waste as noted elsewhere. In the Agricultural Report of 1859, we notice the following premium crops raised in Morrow County: in 1853, S. Hayden raised 117.6 bushels of corn on 1 1/8 acres ; in 1859, J. Wood, Jr., raised 99.42 bushels on a single acre, and R. P. Russell, in the same year, on the same space, raised 89.54 bushels. In 1858, Joseph Mosier raised, on 1/2 an acre, 260 bushels of potatoes.

A survey of this branch of Morrow County's agriculture would hardly be complete without some reference to the famous June frost of 1858, which operated so disastrously all over the State. The first damage was done on a Friday night. On the following night came a "killing frost" that left scarcely a vestige of the growing crops alive. Corn was about eight or ten inches high, and potatoes had reached the growth that made the effect of the frost most damaging. All grain was ruined and the people suddenly found themselves brought face to face with the prospect of starvation. On he Sunday following, the churches were almost, deserted. The farmers wandered aimlessly through their stricken fields, while the villagers thronged the country ways anxious to measure the extent of the disaster which had involved town and farms alike. Fortunately, there were some late crops that had not come on far enough to be injured by the frost, and the less fortunate ones set at once to repair the misfortune so far-as possible. The corn and potatoes were replanted, buckwheat was sowed in place of the wheat, and, thanks to an unusually long season, these crops were fairly matured. There was a large proportion of soft corn, hundreds of bushels of which molded and proved a complete loss. The check upon other enterprises of the county was not less severe ; one dealer in agricultural machinery who had secured twenty orders for mowing machines had all his orders revoked save one.

Fruit culture may be safely said to be yet in its infancy in Morrow County. The first settlers, deprived for a time of its use, and realizing the great demand in every family for this important article of food, early set about planting orchards. But little care was exercised, in a majority of cases, in the selection of varieties, or in their care of orchards after once well set, and taking into consideration the value of good fruit as a substantial element of food, as a valuable agent in preserving and promoting health, and as a luxury which all classes may enjoy, this subject has not received the attention which its importance merits at the hands of the careful agriculturist. The orchard culture of apples has only of late years begun to command the serious attention of farmers. The old orchards have been prolific producers, and in favorable seasons, thousands of bushels have been marketed. Before the railroads made the markets accessible, large quantities of fruit were dried and hauled to market-almost every well-regulated farm being provided with a dry-house. Large quantities were fed to stock, and we find, in the Agricultural Report of 1856, favorable notice of the feeding of cider pomace and apples to sheep. This abundance of fruit has made the farmers careless of the subject, and many are awakening to the fact that unless something is done at once to renew these orchards there will be an interregnum when there will be no fruit of this kind at all in the county. The recent addition of railroad facilities has had a quickening effect upon this branch of agricultural pursuits, and many are puting out new orchards with a view of marketing the produce. Mr. Charles Carpenter, owning a small farm in the middle part of the county, has devoted the larger part of his land to fruit, and intends to make a specialty of fruit-growing. Mr. Job Wells, near Cardington, is making a specialty of orchard fruit also. Among the varieties now found are the Rambo, Bellflower, Seek-no-further, Russett, Autumn Strawberry, Rhode Island Greening, Spitzenberg, Northern Spy, Baldwin, Ben Davis, Fall Pippins, Belmont, Summer Queen, King of

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY. - 183

Tompkins County, beside others of inferior kinds. The latter variety is a favorite for a large apple, some of the fruit measuring 14 1/2 inches in circumference, and at the same time retaining its fine flavor and smooth grain. John Blinn, of Sparta, has a peculiar species of the Greening, which is of a dark green color, and a generally unfavorable appearance when picked in the fall, but which gradually turns to a beautiful yellow when stored, and is ready for use about the time other varieties lose their vitality. Samples of this variety have been exhibited at the county fair that were admirable specimens of eating apples after being kept in store for a year. The apple is the hardiest, and most reliable of all fruits for this region, and there are probably more acres in apple orchards than in all other fruits combined. Peaches, by reason of the unfavorableness of the climate, are, of late years, exceedingly uncertain, and are but little planted. Thirty or forty years ago, this fruit was as certain and prolific in its yield as apples, but succeeding years have wrought such climatic changes that there is a fair crop of this fruit only about once in five years. Late frosts in the spring usually out off the crop, either in the blossom or when the young fruit has just formed, and, in addition to this, there occurs, every few years, a winter of such severity that even the trees themselves are seriously injured or destroyed. The case of cherries of the finer kinds is very similar to that of peaches, as the trees are somewhat tender, and the blossoms are liable to be destroyed by late frosts in spring. The hardier kinds, such as the Early Richmond, the Morellos and May Duke, are much more reliable and hardy, and often yield fine crops. Pears are planted in a small way, principally in gardens; but few extensive pear orchards exist in the county. The first trees of this sort were seedlings, which of late years have been entirely supplanted by dwarfs, or their outgrowth of half standards. The tendency to blight, which the pear-tree allows here as elsewhere in Ohio, prevents any extended attention to the orchard culture of this fruit. There is quite an orchard of pear-trees on the grounds of the County Infirmary, and several orchards of a hundred trees are found in the county. Plums are scarcely grown at all, owing to the prevalence of the curculio i sect, although the trees grow well and remain healthy. In the culture of orchard fruits in Morrow County, the great demand is for more attention. The farmers recognize that this lack of proper attention is the great drawback to this branch of agriculture in Morrow County, and some impetus is needed to bring from this knowledge some practical result. A glance at the accompanying table, embodying the results for the last three years, shows that the most reliable fruit orchards have fallen into the unfortunate habit of bearing full crops every alternate year, with scant ones or failures between. The effect of this habit on the market is disastrous to the grower, while its effect upon the tree is hardly less harmful. This habit, it is thought by eminent horticulturists, may be remedied by patient care and study. The new departure now being inaugurated in Morrow County may furnish the needed stimulus to the farmers, who, finding that the success of a few prominent fruit cultivators are likely to supply the market at their expense, may be induced to adopt more rational methods and greater care in the culture of orchard fruits. The following table will show the orchard crop for the last three years, the lack of reports preventing a more extended exhibit :

YEARS	APPLES		PEACHES	PEARS
	ACRES	BUSHELS	BUSHELS	BUSHELS
1876	5,198	310,080	5	143
1877	5,226	38,149	59	496
1878	5,436	602,895	7,087	597

To the cultivation of small fruits but little general attention at present is given. Some ten or fifteen years ago there was quite a general interest excited in the raising of straw, black and raspberries, and considerable time and space was devoted to their culture, but the inaccessibility of markets and the lack of a steady purpose has interfered to

184 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

work the ruin of this enterprise. A Mr. Murray was prominent in this movement as early as eighteen years ago, and made a considerable quantity of blackberry wine, supplying the bulk of the home market with the fruit and its product. The interest in this direction is again reviving in a small way, in several localities, but there is not enough fruit raised to begin to supply the home demand. Grapes have received some attention in this county, but not so much at present as in earlier years. This fruit succeeds reasonably well in most parts of the county, though the extensive culture of vineyards in a large way has never been attempted. The Isabella, Iona, Concord, Catawba and Delaware are the principal varieties to be found here. The latter variety, named and disseminated from an adjoining County, found its way early into Morrow County, but the skill required for its successful cultivation caused it to become unpopular through failures, occasioned by mismanagement and neglect. The. Catawba is highly prized, and by many considered the best grape for cultivation here. It is a tart grape, pleasant to the taste, and is raised successfully with as little care as any of the better varieties. It is prone to develop an overgrowth of foliage here, which not unfrequently prevents the ripening of the fruit and causes it to mold. The proper amount of care, however, easily obviates this difficulty and results usually in a generous yield. The statistics of this crop as published in the State reports from the Assessor's returns, are so unreliable as to be nearly worthless; we give them, however, for the year 1866, and the three last, for what they are worth.

YEARS	GRAPES AND WINE
	Whole No.of Acres in Vineyard	Acres plant-ed last year	Pounds of Grapes Produced	Gallons of Wine made
1866	25	5 1/4	2,580	761
1876	14	30	2,790
1877	5 ½	4 3/4	1,880	145
1878	5	1	2,700

In this connection, it may not be inappropriate to say a word of the various nursery enterprises, which have found more or less support in this county. One of the earliest was situated about three miles south of Mt. Gilead, and owned by W. B. Lipsey. He carried it on for a number of years, but sold out in the summer of 1858. Closely succeeding him came Waldorf, who conducted a nursery a mile and a half southwest of the village. He sold out to Chase & Albach, who -enlarged it to 40 acres, and did an extensive business for a number of years. Joel Bruce has had a nursery for some years, and is still in the. business in Chester Township.

The persevering, patient care and investigation which seemed to be wanting in the cultivation of crops, does not appear to have been lacking in the raising of stock. It would seem that the early settlers had a predilection for fine stock., and stamped this characteristic upon the agriculture of the county. There has been a constant effort to improve breeds, until Morrow County now boasts of a better average in stock than almost any other county in the State. In this department, and in others, the prevailing disposition of the farming community is apparent, and no class of the domestic animals of the farm is developed to the exclusion of others. The early history of the horse in Morrow County is involved in some obscurity. It was some years before horses were introduced to any extent. Oxen were better suited to the work of the clearing, were easier kept and not so liable to accidents and disease, and these qualifications were all that were demanded of the early teams. In later years, as the demand for teams for traveling purposes began to be made, these useful animals began to supersede the ox, until now one would scarcely meet an ox team upon the road in a month's travel through the county. The first effort to improve the common stock of horses was by the importation, about 1840, of "Bagdad" from Tennessee, by G. D. Cross. Another horse of the same strain was owned by Mr. Loring, and did much to raise the stock of the county. The sire of these horses

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY. - 185

was "Bagdad," a pure, thoroughbred Arabian horse, imported by a company in Tennessee interested in that breed. The horse succeeding the Bagdad " horses was "Young Royalty," an animal of admirable qualities, and one that had very much to do in forming the early stock of horses in the county. He was sired by "Old Royalty," of Loudoun County, Va., and was eight or nine years old when he was brought here. He was owned by Colley McAtee, who brought the horse with him when he moved here in 1840. The horse was kept by Mr. McAtee for some twenty years, and was in active demand the larger part of that time. Not very much later, Robert Maxwell introduced a horse from Virginia, " Sir Andrew," sired -by a horse of the same name, a thoroughbred running horse. About 1848, Joseph Mosier introduced the Morgan strain, which for a time attracted considerable attention, "Sir Richard" was an early horse that came under the class of "general purpose;" then followed the "Sir Archie" stock, "Eclipse," "Bellfounder," "Mohawk" and "Black Tom." The latter is counted by competent horsemen as probably the best " general purpose " horse that was ever in the county., 'His pedigree is in dispute. His dam was sired by "Paoli," a horse that at one time was highly esteemed by stock men. The mare was owned by McKee, and his story is, that while out of the county one day the colt was got by a fine black horse called " Black Figure." This is contradicted by others, but upon the fact of the value of his stock all are agreed. Among those horses which have contributed to the present grade of stock in the county, should be mentioned, Flying Cloud," of the Black Hawk strain, Duff Green,"Old Punch" and "Lecompton," imported from Kentucky by Up. Smith. The Norman breed of horses was introduced in the southern part of the county about 1863. "Nonesuch," "Louis Napoleon," or "Old Bob," as be was variously known, was exhibited at the fair in 1862, and made a season in the county the following year. This horse is really what is strictly classified as the Percheron, but is known in the books and by dealers as a Percheron-Norman. " Old Bob" was the first horse of the kind ever brought west of the Alleghany Mountains. He was bought by Charles Fullington and brought to Union County in 1851, and, some time after, became the property of Louis Lee, of Delaware, by whom he was introduced into this county. This breed of horses, constitute the base upon which all of the later improvements have been made. They originated in La Perche and Normandy, in France, and are noted for their docility, excellent health, and a hardy, elastic temperament. They are possessed of great bone, muscle, tendon, and hoof which gives them immense strength as draft horses. Their color is a fine silver-gray, the best adapted to withstand the burning rays of the sun in the field or on the highway. About the same time as the Percheron- Norman horse, was introduced a fine English horse owned by the Darby Plains Importing Company, known as "English Glory." He got some fine colts, and left his impress upon the stock of the county. "Erie Abdallah" is a later importation to the county. He is a " general purpose " horse, noted as a spirited, active and fleet traveler, with surprising powers of endurance. He made at one time a single dash of ten miles in the extraordinary time of thirty-one minutes and nine seconds. "Red Eye," and "Judge Evans," a Hambletonian, were introduced a few years ago by Adams & Chase. The latter is a fine white animal, sired by "Rysdick's Hambletonian," and is highly esteemed by lovers of- fine horses. In 1874, Messrs. Griffith, Rowland & Manson imported " Ethan Allen, Jr.," a horse of good strain and valuable qualities. The latest importation is "Sterlingshire's Champion," a Clydesdale thoroughbred, sixteen and a half hands high, a beautiful dappled-brown color, and weighing about nineteen hundred pounds. He was bred by Matthew Minneo, at Foot-a-Green, Scotland, and is now rising six years old. He was sired by " Donald Dinnie," a horse that took the first premium

186 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

at the Centennial Stock Exposition, and was sold to a Mr. Murray, of Wisconsin, for $5,000. The " Champion " was imported from Scotland by Messrs. Reesor & Graham, of Canada, in August of 1876, and bought of them by Smith Bros., of Mount Gilead. They have bought, also, a fine bay Clydesdale mare that took the first premium at the Centennial Exposition. She weighs 1,730 pounds. Among the prominent horse-breeders should also be mentioned John Sellers, of Cardington Township. He has at present four stallions, one of which is highly esteemed in the county as a trotter. He is called " Mohawk Jackson," and bears all the marks of that celebrated strain of horses, the Mohawks.' There are a large number of his colts in the county, and for good roadsters his stock is considerably sought. The subject of fine horses is one that interests the farmers of this county-to an unusual degree, and the result is, that in blood, size, fine style, s)mmetry of form, and the enduring qualities of the horses of Morrow County, it is not excelled by any county in the State. It is estimated by competent judges that the average horse is above medium size; will probably measure fifteen and a half hands high, and weigh about twelve hundred pounds. It is but natural that this county should be the resort of buyers for other markets. Large numbers are sold every year, and yet the number does not seem to decrease.

Mules have never been received with favor by the general mass of the farmers. Their appearance was not prepossessing, and those conditions to which this animal is supposed to be best fitted have never existed in the county, and the mule has therefore not secured much of a foothold. From the following table, it will be seen that the number of horses in the county has not materially changed during the past fifteen years, notwithstanding the large number shipped to other markets. The price of horses has not reached the high average price reached in some other localities, nor has it touched so low a figure. From 1858 to 1864, the average listed price per bead was $48.32; in 1876, the average price was $58.04; in 1878, $57.10, and in 1879, $55.17.

	Horses		Mules
Years	Number	Value	Number	Value
1858-1864	8,594	415,338	86	4,083
1866	7,090	440,303	173	10,207
1876	7,627	442,667	88	5,855
1878	7,543	431,169	90	4,945
1879	7,330	404,455	104	5,861

The introduction of cattle into the county was as early as the coming of the first settler. Cows were a necessary part of the pioneer's outfit, without which his chances for obtaining a reasonably comfortable existence-were very poor indeed, and few families were without them. But once here, it required all the care and diligence of the settler to protect them against the ravages of wild beasts and disease. The wolves took off the yearlings and frequently made successful attacks upon the cows; the murrain, a little later, took off scores of these animals, and journeys of a hundred miles were frequently undertaken to replace the animals thus lost. Then the marshes and the rank vegetation took their quota, so that in spite of the employment of all the available children of the settlement as herders, and the dosing of cattle with soot and soft soap, hundreds fell victims to the snares of a new country. Under such circumstances, the effort was narrowed down to a struggle to maintain rather than to improve the breed. Among the early settlers of the county were many Englishmen and Yankees who had been used to seeing fine cattle, and, as soon as the pressure of the first years in a new country was removed, they began to look about for means to improve the cattle of their adopted land. The first attempt in this line of which we have any record was by Stephen F. Randolph, of Peru, in 1836. Two years before, the Ohio Importing Company had made their first importation of Short-Horn Durham stock, and exhibited it at the State fair of 1834. It set the whole farming community of the

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY. - 187

State agog to improve their stock, and nothing but a. Short-Horn Durham was to be thought of. In the year we speak of, Randolph was in New York, and purchased of his cousin, Cornelius Baker, who owned a stock-farm, near Rahway, N. J., a fine thoroughbred bull of the Short-Horn Durham variety. The animal was shipped by steam boat from Elizabethport to Albany, and then driven fifteen miles, to Schenectady, stopping with a breeder of Devon cattle, who very much ad mired the animal. From there, the animal was shipped by canal and steamboat to Huron, and from there driven to Peru Township. It was a perfectly white animal, fourteen months old when purchased, and two months later, when exhibited at the Delaware fair, weighed 1,400 pounds. His mother was an imported cow, by Degrott. Although not then in this county, the effect upon the stock of that region was most happy. Farmers had an opportunity of comparing improved breeds with the native cattle, and were not slow to fall in with the popular tide that was then making toward the Short-Horns. Soon after this beginning, J. Meredith and W. F. Bartlett introduced the breed in Chester Township, and succeeding them was G. W. Hiskett, of Cardington. The latter herd was started from Dun's importations, in 1855, and were exhibited in the Mount Gilead fair of that year. Since then, he has added to his herd "Gov. Chase," 4,848; " Gen. Rosecrans," 4,839; " Christmas King," 16,479, and "Louan's Mazurka," 14,796. In the report of 1876, there were in this herd twelve cows and heifers, and two bulls. The exhibition of this breed at the fairs in the county have reached as high as three hundred entries in one year. Other parties joined in these stock improvements, Hull, Trowbridge and Mosier being the more prominent at an early date, and Neely Noble, John Quay and Joseph Grove a little later. A few grades of Hereford have been introduced, and, more recently, McCage Peasely has introduced the Jerseys for their milking qualities. There are at present five or six herds of blooded cattle in the county, among which, the writer is informed, are some representatives of the Ayrshire.

Sheep were introduced as early as 1811, but the number and boldness of the wolves made sheep raising a burden upon the resources of the early pioneers that taxed them to the uttermost. The earliest were brought in by Henry George, of Chester, and, soon after, Jacob Vandeventer introduced these animals in Peru Township. Not long after their introduction, lightning killed four of his fattest sheep, and, desiring to reap the largest benefit from his misfortune, he dressed them and distributed the meat about the settlement. It was found however, that the lightning had so impregnated the meat with sulphur as to make it unfit for use. The first information as to the improvement of this stock is found in a letter by " J. M. W." to the Ohio Cultivator, in 1852. The writer had taken a ramble through Delaware, Union, Champaign and Logan Counties, and, on returning to his home in Mount Gilead, writes as follows in regard to sheep, etc.: "There is a very rich tract of land lying northeast of Delaware, toward Woodbury, but few people have found it out yet. The best field of corn that I saw was on this tract of land. Being a great favorite of good stock, strained my eyes considerable to see some, but all in vain, until I came near Woodstock, Champaign County, where I had the pleasure of seeing good cattle, also one of those fine French sheep of last year's importation. I also found a flock of fine-wooled ewes of Spanish blood at Lewisburg, owned by R. B. Spain, out of which I bought twenty ewes and lambs, and have brought them to Morrow as an improvement on our common stock, and our friend, Joseph Mosier, has lately bought five full-blood French ewes of John Campbell, of Vermont, which he found it necessary for him to do to keep ahead. One of said ewes was shorn of fourteen pounds of unwashed wool. The following are the dimensions of said sheep: Length, 4 1/2 feet ; height, 21 feet; girth, 3 1/2 feet, and two years old." In the wake of Mosier and Wright, came in this line, Messrs. Sellers, Earl, Harrod, Swetland,

188 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

and, in later years, J. G. Blue. The latter's flock is at present by far the most important one in the county, and has deservedly a high reputation among breeders.

Capt. Blue began breeding fine-grade sheep as early as 1865, but, in 1864, he sold this Stock off and imported some thoroughbred Spanish merinos, selected from the flocks of S. S. Rockwell, F. & L. E. Moore, H. C. Burrell and J. T. Stickney, of Vermont, and later of F. S. Higbee in Homer, Ohio. His first purchase was sixty ewes, twenty seven of which cost him $2,700. He bred at first to different celebrated rams in the country until, his business becoming well established, he provided himself with one of his own. His present stock ram is "William Jarvis," bred by R. Lane, Middlebury, Vt., and was imported in 1878. His present flock numbers 220 bead, all registered, and fine-looking animals. The wool clip averages fourteen pounds per head right through the flock, the buck fleeces varying from twenty to thirty - five pounds, and the fleeces of the ewes from ten to twenty - six pounds. The annual increase of lambs is about seventy head, which measures the sales from the flock each year. There is a good demand for this class of sheep, and Capt. Blue realizes from $30 to $150 per head for all that he has to sell. He 'has some animals that he prizes even higher, but declines to sell at present. His success in sheep-breeding has been rapid and uniform, and be attributes it to the fact that he has never lost sight of the animal physique while striving to enhance the quality of the wool. He believes Ohio to be second to no place in the world for sheep-breeding, and his experience goes far to support his judgment. One of the pets of his flock is an ewe fourteen years old, that has one of the finest lambs in the flock.

Combing or long-wool sheep was introduced by G. Criswell and A. H. Wrenn in 1867 and 1868. This is called a wool county, and the improvements made upon the native stock; has increased the sixty or seventy-five pound carcasses of the natives to ninety and one hundred pounds, and from fleeces of from three to four pounds to those weighing from five to six pounds, washed on the sheep.` A few have introduced the Cotswold and Leicester, but only in small flocks, and there is occasionally a small flock of Southdowns. Some of the coarse-wool kinds axe crossed with the merino, producing a delaine wool which commands a ready sale with good prices. It is calculated, take one year with another, that wool can be produced for 25 cents per pound. A few years ago, the foot-rot and scab were prevalent ; stockmen resorted to many remedies, but the most effectual was to pelt the sheep. Thousands were treated in this way, Which, while proving expensive, effected a permanent cure. The following table, compiled in 1862, will give the status of merino sheep in the county at that time :

PAGE 189 PICTURE OF L. D. MOZIER

PAGE 190 BLANK

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY. - 191

The only full account of flocks is that pertaining, to George Lefevre's flock. In this were four Spanish full-blood bucks, bred from the flocks of Richard Atwood and Hammond, in Vermont, and brought to Ohio by H. E. Taylor, of Addison County, of that State. Two of the animals were claimed to be superior in form and quality to anything previously introduced in the county.

The Woods breed of hogs is extinct in this county, and where it used to take two years to make a two-hundred-pound hog, a three and four hundred-pound hog can be made in nine to twelve months. The principal breeds are the Suffolk, Chester White, Magies and Berkshire. The latter was introduced about 1850, but they were at that time a rough coarse-boned hog, and were soon abandoned. Fine-boned Suffolks were introduced about 1855, by J. and R. Mosier. They were easily fattened at any age, but did not possess strength in their limbs to travel, an important defect in that day, when pork was largely driven to market. The Chester White were introduced later, and bred by Mosier, Wood, Bartlett, Wrenn, Peasley and others. A cross between these and the Suffolk made a profitable breed and was highly prized for market purposes. More recently, the Magie, a cross, Poland-China, and a fine - boned Berkshire have been introduced. All have their admirers, but the general favorite is a cross between the Suffolk and Chester White, taking the bone and size from one and the flesh of the other. There is considerable interchange of animals with dealers from abroad, for breeding purposes, and large numbers are shipped from the county for market uses.

Considerable attention has been paid to the improvement of poultry within the last twenty-five years, and is still made a specialty by a few persons. Poland-white and black top-knot-White Leghorn, Black Spanish, are favorites as layers, but poor for the table. In the latter respect, and as setters, the Light, Dark and Dominico Brabmas, Cochin China and Dockings are considered more favorably. Efforts have been made to improve geese, ducks and turkeys here, but no results worth mentioning are shown.

In the following table, we give a condensed statement of stock products of the county for the last three years, with an average of the period from 1855 to 1864:

YEARS	CATTLE		SHEEP		HOGS
	NUMBER	VALUE	NUMBER	VALUE	NUMBER	VALUE
Av. 1858-1864	21,350	$198,487	72,605	$166,206	25,413	$53,052
1877	14,801	272,698	101,841	238,199	19,377	80,108
1878	16,402	298,003	106,883	239,334	20,591	49,347
1979	17,873	288,410	116,974	260,101	17,142	45,628

192 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

Dairying is but little known in Morrow County. The farmers appreciate the luxury of fresh milk and butter, and sell their product in the villages or to their less fortunate neighbors, but any organized enterprise for this purpose has been unknown until the current year. In May of this year, Dr. Thooman, of Williamsport, Congress Township, conceiving the idea that this was a good field for a cheese factory, hired a building and put a man in it to make cheese on the factory system. About the same time, Lemon, Potts & Lemon hired the old foundry building south of the village of Mt. Gilead, and, fitting it up for the business, began on the 3d of May to make cheese. At this writing, they receive about 1,500 to 1,800 pounds of milk per day from some 150 cows. Those who have made cheese in a private way heretofore, hail this enterprise with a good deal of satisfaction and readily give their support. With others, the innovation is a little startling to their conservative notions. This fact, taken with the small number of cows kept by the farmers, renders the work of getting an adequate support of some difficulty. At present, milk is hauled from Woodbury, a distance of nine miles south of the factory, but it is confidently expected that in a few weeks the number of cows will be increased by one hundred without taking in any more country. It would seem that Morrow County is finely adapted to the business, and the future historian will undoubtedly find this industry rivaling, if not excelling, the sheep husbandry of the county.

A noticeable and favorable feature of the agriculture of the county is the moderate size of the average farm. There are several large landholders in the county, but the average farm is not over eighty acres. These farms are well tilled, the buildings well improved, and a general well-to-do air of neatness and comfort prevails everywhere throughout the farming community. The method by which this state of affairs has been brought about, and the character of some of the prominent farms will best appear, perhaps, in a description of some of the premium farms in the county. J. L. Fish, whose farm was awarded the premium in 1875, thus describes his methods and their results:

"In the spring of 1868, 1 took possession of the farm above named, and found the buildings very much out of repair, and the fences very poor, with not a pair of bars or a gate upon the farm. I commenced making repairs as soon as I came into possession of said farm, and have continued up to the present time. My fences are now good, have all the gates necessary for convenience, and have all the buildings needed upon the farm for the accommodation of man and beast, all of which are in good repair. My manner of plowing is deep plowing. I am satisfied that deep plowing is what the soil of this county requires-that as deep as the ground is stirred, so deep the soil will become rich and productive. And in wet weather it allows the surface water to sink away, thereby saving the crop.

"In seeding to grass, I generally seed with my oats, after which I use a heavy roller, rolling the ground thoroughly. Upon my farm, when I came here, were several ponds and swamps, which were considered of no value whatever. They were grown up with weeds and bushes, so a person could scarcely pass through them. I cleared them out, and ditched them up with drains until I could get tile, when I got tile for them, and filled the ditches up. Now, the only way a person can tell where these ponds were is by grain or grass growing larger than any other place. I am a great friend to tile; I claim that the increase in yield of the first crop raised after tiling, will more than pay the cost of tiling. The soil on my farm is a clay loam, except one-fourth, which is bottom land. The water is about ten feet below the surface. There is considerable of limestone pebbles mixed all through the soil." In 1879, there were five farms entered for the premium offered by the County Fair Association for the "Best Cultivated and Improved Farm," and Messrs. G. W. Hiskett and J. S. Denman were appointed to make the report on these farms. From that report, as it appeared in the Union Register of January 28,

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY. - 193

1880, we make the following extracts: "We met on the 18th of October last, at D. Levering's, whose farm of 130 acres lies on the north fork of Owl Creek (Perry Township), and is mostly first and second bottom of good quality and of easy cultivation. The buildings consist of a large, two story brick dwelling, a brick dairy house, through which flows an excellent spring of water, a two story brick used for storing and smoking meat, and a frame barn with stone basement, all of ancient architecture, and the latter quite ordinary. This farm has been owned only six years by the present proprietor, and in that time quite a portion has been cleared and all newly fenced, and with fences as are worthy of imitation. We cannot better describe them than to say, they are 'horse high, hog tight and bull strong,' and each field supplied with a durable gate. The live stock on the farm is quite ordinary, save the horses, which are good." From here the committee went to J. McCammon's farm of 200 acres, in Franklin Township. Here they say, "the fences are all good and in the very best repair. We failed to find even a single rail misplaced, but there are not as many gates as should be on a well-regulated farm. We found the fence-corners as clean as a well-kept lawn, as were also- the pastures, meadows, grain fields and orchards. The barn is a magnificent structure, 40x72, and is what is commonly called a 'bank barn,' and is finished in the highest style of ornamental architecture. The dwelling is not in keeping with the barn and farm, and the grounds about it are small and cramped. The tenant house and barn would add greatly to the appearance of the farm if they were painted. Of live stock, horses, good ; hogs, full-blooded Poland-China ; sheep, good cross-breeds, and cattle, quite ordinary." The farm of M. Harrod's lying on the south side of the road leading to Levering Station, they found "mostly first and second bottom of the very best quality, and in a high state of cultivation. Fences generally good, but in places somewhat racked and out of repair, and some weeds in the fence corners, pastures and orchard, and some rubbish scattered about. A large corn-field yielded the past season, on an average, between sixty-five and seventy bushels to the acre, of the best corn we have seen this season. The lawn, which adds very much to the appearance of the farm, extends from the highway back over twenty rods to a beautiful elevation, on which is situated the dwelling a fine showy, frame building of Gothic style.. Near by, and east of the dwelling, is the horse and cattle barn, poultry house, etc. From these buildings, a graveled driveway runs through the lawn to the highway. West of the lawn is a large, showy bank barn, well painted, the basement finished exclusively for sheep, the winter quarters of a flock of over eighty head of thoroughbred Spanish merinos, excelled in quality by few if any flocks in the county of equal size. The farm, with a little cleaning up, and by painting the horse-barn and other out-buildings not already painted, and replacing the present stock of cattle with a herd of thoroughbred short-horns, might well be called a model one." At Israel Gordon's, in Harmony, on a farm of 400 acres, the committee found good horses, a " herd of good grade cows, headed with a fine, thoroughbred short-horn bull, a flock of thoroughbred Spanish-merino sheep, and herds of Poland-China and Berkshire swine." The result of their investigation was the conferring of the first premium on the farm of Mr. McCammon, and the second upon the farm of Mr. Harrod.

With the improvement of farms came the use of improved implements. Indeed, this has been a marked characteristic of the Morrow County farmer, and the new inventions in this line were early introduced here. To A. H. Wrenn, whose enterprise as a dealer in agricultural machinery was stimulated by a practical knowledge of the farmer's needs, is due the first introduction of most of the early improvements. The first cast iron plows used here were manufactured by Tabor Bros. in 1849, and in the same year A. H. & R. C. Wrenn had manufactured the first revolving horse-rake, horse corn-planter and cultivator.

194 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY.

Three years later, the first steel and the first combination plow were introduced, and in 1854 or 1855 the first Manny mower and reaper, the pioneer machine of the county, was brought in. The first mowing match was held on Mr. Loring's farm in 1846. Mr. Joseph Mosier handled the "Ball machine," George Hull the "Hutchinson," and A. H. Wrenn the "Manny." A fourth machine that took part in the competition has been forgotten. An acre was allotted to each, and a spirited contest was began. The "Manny" completed its task in twenty-eight minutes (the quickest time on record), and won the prize. The yield of hay was nearly two tons to the acre. The others were from forty to forty-five minutes at their work. In 1856, the first "corn and cob crusher" was introduced, and was received with marked favor by the farming community, but of late years those mills have fallen into disuse, as the feed is thought by some to be injurious for sheep if not for other stock The first horse-power wood-saw was introduced about the same time, and in 1860 or 1862, the first riding horse-rake and horse hayfork. In 1865, the riding corn-plow was brought in, and still maintains its place on the best improved farms. These improved implements are now generally used, and quite a brisk trade in this line is done by the principal hardware merchants every spring and summer.

In the matter of markets, the recent additions of railroad facilities go far toward solving a problem that has long vexed the farming community of Morrow County. With the finishing of the railroad projects which are now fast approaching completion, Morrow County produce may be put into the markets of Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus and Cincinnati, in from six to twelve hours, and it only needs the earnest co-operation of the farmers in constructing suitable roads, to make this county as far advanced in this respect as it is in the matter of taxes and county debt. As it is to-day, to a stranger knowing something of the accumulated wealth and agricultural richness of the county, the character of its roads is a matter of astonishment. The county is far behind the most of its neighbors, having but nine miles of graveled pike, and that until recently a toll-road, and not a single foot of plank road. This graveled road has recently been abandoned, and is in as poor a condition, at this writing, for teaming purposes, as the mud roads. This feature is the more important from the fact that it often happens that in the winter the farming community is practically travel-bound for two or three months. One of the important drawbacks to improvement in this direction is the absence, as it is thought, of any considerable deposit of gravel in the county; but a more insuperable obstacle lies in the impenetrable conservatism of the farmers who are most to be benefitted by the improvement. The bridging of the county is not an important item of expense. The, forks of the Whetstone are the only considerable streams in the county, which can be easily spanned anywhere in one hundred feet. The old covered bridges, the early favorites of the county, are fast passing away. Of late years, all bridges of spans of fifty feet and upward have been constructed of iron, there being now in the county some fifteen of these structures, built principally within the last five years.

Among the agricultural institutions of the county should be mentioned a horticultural society, which maintained an existence for a few years, about 1865. The principal movers in this project were M. Lewis, John Gardner and Mr. Albach. Horticulture requires so much study and persevering research, that it seldom finds the favor or support that it deserves with the general farming commu unity, and here, as in most small villages, the society died out by the removal or the increasing age of the few who were its life. For some years, the display of this society at the fair was a marked and interesting feature, and it has accomplished much for the fruit growing of the county. The Morrow County Fair Association was formed in 1850, and held its first exhibition on the 17th of October of that year, on the grounds now owned by Bradford Hull on North Main street, Mount Gil-

HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY. - 195

ead. There were no premiums, no admittance fees no inclosure, and but little exhibition. The principal feature remembered now, is the riding on horseback of certain ladies, who displayed their equestrian abilities to the admiration of the gathered people. The exhibitions were held here for two or three years, when seven acres were purchased on the east side of Main street, just south of the Whetstone. These grounds were inclosed, suitable buildings erected, and later a fine fountain was constructed which proved a very attractive feature of the grounds. In 1867, thirty acres were purchased on the west side of the street, where the fair is now held. The grounds are well laid out, furnished with every convenience for the exhibition of stock, fruits and vegetables, and manufactures, and are provided with one of the beat half-mile tracks in the State. The early founders of this association struggled against a great many difficulties, not the least of which was the apathy manifested toward the project by the farmers. For years a few chosen spirits did the work, made the entries, and drew the premiums to be turned back into the society's treasury to help pay expenses. Of late years, there has been some improvement in this respect, but the interest has not yet reached the point where the highest success can be attained. Among the early movers in this matter may be mentioned G. Winters, John Dumble, A. H. Wrenn, W. S. Irwin, Joseph Mozier, Dr. Bebee, William F. Bartlett, Samuel Hayden and John Farley. In 1857, the society secured Cassius M. Clay, to deliver the annual address. He was in Ohio at that time, on a political tour, and he cordially responded to the request of the association. There were about fifteen thousand persons present to hear him, a number that would have been largely augmented had the board felt certain enough of his coming to advertise the fact extensively. In the evening, Mr. Clay made a political speech, which won him hosts of admiring friends in the county. In 1857, an independent fair was held at Chesterville, called the "Chesterville District Fair." This was continued for a few years when it passed away. An attempt was made a year or two ago to secure permission of the Legislature to raise a tax of 3-10ths of a mill for fair purposes. This proposition was so violently opposed by many of the farmers, that the subject was never seriously considered by the Legislature. Public opinion has since been changing and many who have received from $5 to $10 in premiums from the association began to feel that it is no more than right to pay a single levy of $2 or 85 in return, The effect of the association upon the farming population is marked, and has had no small share in bringing about the general progress which has been made in the agricultural education of the country community. In substantial educational attainments, in moral culture, and in social accomplishments, Morrow is the peer of any agricultural county, and her progress in these directions seem only to have reached the morning of their development.

The following results of meteorological observations made at Urbana, latitude 40' 6' north, longitude 84' 43' west, for this region, are here appended. They were made by Milo G. Williams, in accordance with the methods adopted by the Smithsonian Institution, the hours of observation being 7 A. M., 2 P. M., and 9 P. M.

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