The Jackson daily standard. (Jackson [Ohio]) 1873-188?, 1880-09-16

would clear up piece ground as as his field
became worn out Glover was almost unknown, and
rotation ofcrops was not considered necessary.
Before leave this part ofmy subject, might men
tion the minor vegetables raised, such pumpkins,
beans, cucumbers &c. Beans and pumpkins were
raised with the corn the beans running up the stalks
of the corn. The beans were used as snaps and
cooked with bacon during the summer, nearly the
same as at the present day. Some strung upon
threads and dried for winter use scalded,
put into barrel, salt sprinkled among them, water
poured in, aweight put upon them, and they would
ferment like crout. What remained in the field un-
til they rpened were sheed and used in the winter
and spring nearly the same as they are now used.
Pumpkins were stewed and used as at the present
day. Some peeled. cut into rings. put upon
sticks, hung up and dried. pretty fair article of
molasses was made from pumpkins, and pumpkin
butter was good.
A great variety of gourds was raised. The most
common would hold from pint to quart. Ifthe
vine was trained to run upon some support the neck
ofthe gourd would be straight being rendered so by
the weight of the gOurd. If the vine was permitted
to run upon the ground, the gourds lay upon the
ground, and the neck would grow curved, and thus
make convenient handle. piece would be cut out
of the top the inside scraped out clean gourd scaded
and then 1t used to dip water, milk, &c. The
largest gourd I raised, and
it held over a bushe 1t nearly the shape of a
pear and my mother had the top cut off, and she used
it TO put feathers In when she picked her geese Then
we raised gourds not much larger than hens egg.
They were very hard and Of beautiful cinnamon
color. They were nearly round, with bottom fiat
enough to make them stand firmly and long, slen-
der, straight neck. The end of the neck would he
cut off the seeds and inside pulled out, and they
mostly used to keep gunpowder in.
Nearly every family raised their own tobacco. All
n1n
some of the old men smoked pipes. I never saw
young man or boy use tobacco, and never saw cf
gar until was old enough to vote. will not take
the space to give description of the cultivation of
tobacco or the rude manner in which 1t was manu-
featured for use. The only enemy it had was the
worm. There was large moth, as big as hummng
bird, which could be about the flowers about
dusk. 1t deposited its eggs upon the leaves of the
growing tobacco. Soon little black horn would ap-
pear, and In Il day or two worm would make its ap
pearance under the horn. The worm green-the
very color of the tobacco leaf while the horn its
end looked like black thorn In few days, if not
destroyed, this worm grew as large as Il mans finger
| and was most repulsive-Ooking thing. 1t would
eat large part of the leaf upon which it grew
These worms had to be closely watched and pulled of
| and killed.
| Stock-raising was confined mostly to horses and
cattle, although every farmer raised sufficient hogs
| sleeI, uOSSt StcSt CHlcheHS loT OWL HSt.
stock in the range or woods, during the spring.
summer and fall and got fat. Horses, cattle and
sheep wore bells, and the horses were branded, by
having the shape of rude letter made upon the end
of piece of rOn the iron then heated and press
ed against the shoulder. The scar from the burn re-
mained during the life of the animal. Cattle, sheep
and hogs had ear-marks. These marks which were
made by pieces being cut ont of the ears, had their
technical names, such as "crop," "underbit,' "upper
bit" silt" &c. There was statute which provided
that man could choose an ear-mark have it record
ed by the Township Clerk, and no one could infringe
upon it, and it was prma iacie evidence of ownership
of the animal bearing 1t.
When the farmer wished to prevent his horses from
going too far into the range he would hobble SPAN
Gel them The hObble was made of hickory withcs,
or hickory bark, 2a feet in length, and one end
was fastened around fore-fo0t and a hind-tOot on
the side, and ii much impeded the movement Of
the horse. The spancel was much shorter and united
the fore-fec in the same manner. The horse when
spanceled reared up and jumped with the fore-feet
and then stepped with the hind-feet.
| Horse were very troublesome, and annoyed
horses very much, especially the small ear-fies.
| The farmers might have made money by raising
horses and CATTLE if they had made the effort Horses
sold for fair price. remember that my father sold
a horse for $50, cash, that was only common work
horse, about Is hands high five years old. The diff
Guilty with cattle was there was no home market, and
| the only means of transportation to drive them
| East, to Baltimore, some other Eastern market.
This was tedious, expensive way to reach market.
| There was improved stock but the cattle a
fair size, and the cows good mixers. Not near so
much beef used then nOw in proportion to the
| inhabitants, and the number of cattle raised Milk
and butter largely used in every family. Oxen
used-not in large teams, as now, but only sim
gle yoke, pair, at time. AS there no wagons
used then, one yoke of oxen was sufficient to sled,
eXcept at the few saw-mis, where logs were hauled
| in the winter with two or three yoke of oxen.
The milk-cows were fed on corn and husks in win
ter and ran in the range in the summer. One of the
cows would have bell on that could be heard a
still evening distance of mile or more. The chill
dren would generally so for the cows in the evening"
starting an hour or two before sunset. Sometimes
they could not be found but generally they would go
into the same localities every day. will publish in
one of these daies piece of poetry about the
coming home, that will remind many an old man f
the days of his boyhood when he heard the changing
of the bells, as he drove the home from the
woods In the evening. ..r ....
| (CoNTINUED TOMORROW
EVERY farmer, every mechanic, ev-
or,, ,nonufacturar every huSInpSS man