Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-02-03
LOOKING BACKWARD.
Paper Read by Miss Lucy Brayton at the Dcla-
ware County farmers Institute.

| LOOKING BACKWARD.
Paper Read by Miss Lucy Brayton at the Dcls-
ware County Farmers Institute.
Thinking that it might be inter
esting to you, at this time, to look
backward for few minutes, | have
looked up some items relating to
the pioneer agriculture of our
country.
The first white men who settled
our country were poor in the mater
ials of wealth. They were strangers
in strange land, and with strange
climate. They saw the golden ears
of the maize strung up in the wig
vans of the Indians.
They learned it's value as food,
how to plant it, and the value of
putting fish under the seeds as a
fertilizer.
The hoe was the implement of in
dustry. 1t was made at the smithy.
The blade was Informed and clumsy
the handle sapling with the bark
left on.
At first they had no beasts of
burden. The first COWS brough
over were poorly fed on the coarse
wild grasses, and often they died
from exposure and want of proper
food or were killed by the wolves or
Indians, In one COLONY n red calf
came to be cheaper than black
one, because it might more easily be
taken for deer and killed by vol
yes. When cows sold for 25 pounds
and 30 pounds sterling, and oxen at
40 pounds a pair, quart of new
milk could be bought for a penny.
The OK was small and i'll shaped.
Even as late as the early part of the
eighteenth century, the average gross
weight of the cattle brought to the
Smithfeld market was not over $40
pounds.
The first dairy cattle were brought
from the coast Of Devonshire. There
were also the black cattle from
Spain, the black and white Dutch
cattle, the Swedish cattle, and the
large yellow Danish cattle. These
various stocks were crossed and thus
formed the original stock Of the
country. These cattle Jared miser-
IDLY in some sections, fed on poor
materials with little OF no protec-
ton from storms and cold. Some
of the colonists believed that hous-
ing and milking COWS in winter
would kill them.
Columbus brought forty-two
horses to Florida, but they soon
perished. DeSoto abandoned some
fine Spanish horses, and their des-
cendants were probably the wild
horses of the South West. A French
lawyer brought horses to Acadia.
These were probably the founda-
ton of the Canadian ponies. The
horses of New York were brought
from Flanders, and these seem to
have been the original stock of the
race of American horses
The OK and the cart were used
together. The wagon came with
the increased use of the horse. The
buggy and trotting horse grew up
together.
Here is the description of plow,
known as the Old Colony plow, and
which was in general use in the
Eastern States as late as 1920. "It
had a 10 foot beam, and foot land
side; your burrows stand up like the
ribs Of a lean horses in the month
of March. A lazy plowman may
sit on the beam and count every
bout of his days work. Six of these
plows cost me on an average last
year five dollars each to keep the
shares and coulters fit for work, and
the wear Of the other parts could
not be less than one dollar more
six dollars per year for each plow."
A cast-iron plow had been patent
ed and made twenty-three years be-
fore this, but the farmers were pre-
judiced against it, thinking that
cast-iron plow would "poison" the
land.
The change from the old system
of agriculture to the new has been
slow but gradual, and you are all
familiar with the rapid advancement
made in the last thirty wears.
Agriculture is now science.
Farming can no longer be done by
main strength and awkwardness"
The farmer of to-day who is "long"
on muscle and short" on brains
would better find some other occupa-
ton.
According the best authority, the
object of agriculture is to devlop
from seed and soil the largest poss-
ible value of useful plants and use
full animals at the smallest cost.
The careless methods pursued in
pioneer farming will not do to-day
Then the sill was rich in plant
foods, accumulated during ages,
and crop after crop was taken from
the soil with little or no attempt to
supply the materials consumed.
Very little regard was paid to the
use and value of manures. Some
times barns were moved to get
them out Of the way Of heaps Of
manure, because the owner would
not be to the expense Of removing