Archibald Stewart; born in Lycoming county, Pa., June 3, 1797; located at Scipio, 1825.

William Davis; born in Perry county, Ohio, January 18, 1819; located in Seneca county, November 12, 1825.

Later, the pioneer society of Crawford, Seneca and Wyandot counties took the place of the old association of Seneca county, and at the annual meeting held near Melmore, in 1885, Dr. Kagy, of Eden township, made the address of the occasion, saying: "It was the original purpose of the institution of these picnics to show our respect, and to testify our appreciative regard for the bold hearted pioneers of this country. The events of their useful lives, collated and recorded, constitute the history of our country. To locate a home in an American forest, inhabited by savage beasts and by a still more savage human race, and unbroken for miles around by the sturdy woodsman's blow, was an act of moral heroism that equals the most daring exploits of the battle field. His dangers, his privations, his arduous labors and his unflagging courage entitle him to be hailed the hero of the forest. But when dangers threatened and enemies environed his glorious country the hero of the forest became, also, the hero of the field. When we follow his line of march and chronicle his successsive achievements, we find his labors combined the matters and facts of history; the expansion of communities; the institution of schools and other educational agencies; the planting of churches, developing the arts and resources of peaceful industry; the processes of manufacture, and the means and methods of commerce." Gen. W. H. Gibson, exGovernor Foster and others dwelt on the importance of local history, and related many stories of pioneer days.

The

This Tri-County Pioneer Association continues to hold annual meetings at Schock's grove, near Melmore, in September. meeting last September was a large and interesting one.

CHAPTER VIII

FARM AND ORCHARD

RISE OF WESTERN AGRICULTURE-LIVE STOCK INTRODUCED TO OHIO THE SHEEP INDUSTRY-FIRST IMPORTED HOGS PLANTING OF FIRST ORCHARDS-ISRAEL PUTNAM, THE HORTICULTURIST— JOHNNY APPLESEED THE KIRTLANDS-LONGWORTH, FATHER OF WESTERN VINEYARDS-CEREAL CULTIVATION-COMING OF THE POTATO FARMING IMPLEMENTS-FIRST OHIO THRESHERSPIONEER AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES-POMOLOGY AND HORTICULTURE -COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-ORIGIN OF THE GRANGESENECA COUNTY GRANGES JOHNNY APPLESEED AGAIN THE JOHNNY APPLESEED MONUMENT.

Doubtless many readers of the Seneca county history are farmers; hence, a resume of agriculture in the state will be appropriate and valuable as a matter of history. Agriculture is the true basis of national wealth and prosperity, and therefore justly occupies a prominent place in Seneca county history.

In the year 1800, the territory of Ohio contained a population of 45,365 inhabitants, or a little more than one person to the square mile. At this date, the admission of the territory into the Union as a state began to be agitated. When the census was made to ascertain the legality of the act, in conformity to the "compact of 1787," no endeavor was made to ascertain additional statistics, as now; hence, the cultivated land was not returned, and no account remains to tell how much existed. In 1805, three years after the admission of the state into the Union, 7,252,856 acres had been purchased from the general government. Still no returns of the cultivated lands were made. In 1810, the population of Ohio was 230,760, and the land purchased from the government amounted to 9,933,150 acres, of which amount, however, 3,569,314 acres, or more than one-third, was held by non-residents. Of the lands occupied by resident land owners, there appear to have been 100,968 acres of first-rate, 1,929,600 of second, and 1,538,745 acres of third-rate lands. At this period there were very few exports from the farm, loom or shop. The people still needed all they produced to sustain themselves, and were yet in that pioneer period where they

were obliged to produce all they wanted, and yet were opening new farms, and bringing the old ones to a productive state.

Kentucky, and the country on the Monongahela, lying along the western slopes of the Alleghany mountains, having been much longer settled, had begun, as early as 1795, to send considerable quantities of flour, whisky, bacon and tobacco to the lower towns on the Mississippi, at that time in the possession of the Spaniards. At the French settlements on the Illinois, and at Detroit, were being raised much more than could be used, and these were exporting also large quantities of these materials, as well as peltries and such commodities as their nomadic lives furnished. As the Mississippi was the natural outlet of the west, any attempt to impede its free navigation by the various powers at times controlling its outlet, would lead at once to violent outbreaks among the western settlers, some of whom were aided by unscrupulous persons, who thought to form an independent western country. Providence seems to have had a watchful eye over all these events, and to have so guided them that the attempts with such objects in view, invariably ended. in disgrace to their perpetrators. This outlet to the west was thought to be the only one that could carry their produce to market, for none of the westerners then dreamed of the immense system of railways now covering that part of the Union. As soon as ship building commenced at Marietta, in the year 1800, the farmers along the borders of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers turned. their attention to the cultivation of hemp, in addition to their other crops. In a few years sufficient was raised, not only to furnish cordage to the ships in the west, but large quantities were worked up in the various rope walks and sent to the Atlantic cities. Iron had been discovered, and forges on the Juniata were busy converting that necessary and valued material into implements of industry.

By the year 1805, two ships, seven brigs and three schooners had been built and rigged by the citizens of Marietta. Their construction gave a fresh impetus to agriculture, as by means of them the surplus products could be carried away to a foreign market, where, if it did not bring money, it could be exchanged for merchandise equally valuable. Captain David Devoll was one of the earliest of Ohio's shipwrights. He settled on the fertile Muskingum bottom, about five miles above Marietta, soon after the Indian war. Here he built a "floating mill," for making flour, and, in 1801, a ship of two hundred and fifty tons, called the Muskingum, and the brig Eliza Greene, of one hundred and fifty tons. In 1804, he built a schooner on his own account, and in the spring of the next year, it was finished and loaded for a voyage down the Mississippi. It was small. only of seventy tons burden,

of a light draft, and intended to run on the lakes east of New Orleans. In shape and model, it fully sustained its name, Nonpareil. Its complement of sails, small at first, was completed when it arrived in New Orleans. It had a large cabin to accomodate passengers, was well and finely painted, and sat gracefully on the water. Its load was of assorted articles, and shows very well the nature of exports of the day. It consisted of two hundred barrels of flour, fifty barrels of kiln-dried corn meal, four thousand pounds of cheese, six thousand of bacon, one hundred sets of rum puncheon shooks, and a few grindstones. The flour and meal were made at Captain Devoll's floating mill, and the cheese made in Belpre, at that date one of Ohio's most flourishing agricultural districts. The captain and others carried on boating as well as the circumstances of the days permitted, fearing only the hostility of the Indians, and the duty the Spaniards were liable to levy on boats going down to New Orleans, even if they did not take it into their erratic heads to stop the entire navigation of the great river by vessels other than their own. By such means, merchandise was carried on almost entirely until the construction of canals, and even then, until modern times, the flat-boat was the main-stay of the shipper inhabiting the country adjoining the upper Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Commonly, very little stock was kept beyond what was necessary for the use of the family and to perform the labor on the farm. The Scioto valley was perhaps the only exception in Ohio to this general condition. Horses were brought by the emigrants from the east and were characteristic of that region. In the French settlements in Illinois and about Detroit, French ponies, marvels of endurance, were chiefly used. They were impracticable in hauling the immense emigrant wagons over the mountains and hence were comparatively unknown in Ohio.. Until 1828, draft horses were chiefly used here, the best strains being brought by the "Tunkers," "Mennonites," and "Ormish,"-three religious sects, whose members were invariably agriculturists. In Stark, Wayne, Holmes and Richland counties, as a general thing, they congregated in communties, where the neatness of their farms, the excellent condition of their stock, and the primitive simplicity of their manners, made them conspicuous.

In 1828, the French began to settle in Stark county, where they introduced the stock of horses known as "Selim," "Florizel," "Post Boy" and "Timolen." These, crossed upon the descents of the Norman and Conestoga, produced an excellent stock of farm horses, now largely used.

In the Western Reserve, blooded horses were introduced as early as 1825. John I. Van Meter brought fine horses into the Scioto valley in 1815, or thereabouts. Soon after, fine horses were brought to Steubenville from Virginia and Pennsylvania. In

northern Ohio the stock was more miscellaneous, until the introduc

tion of improved breeds from 1815 to 1835. the strains of horses had greatly improved.

By the latter date
The same could be

said of other parts of the state. Until after 1825, only farm and road horses were required. That year a race course-the first in the state was established in Cincinnati, shortly followed by others at Chillicothe, Dayton and Hamilton. From that date the race horse steadily improved. Until 1838, however, all race courses were rather irregular, and, of those named, it is difficult to determine which one has priority of date over the others. To Cincinnati, the precedence is, however, generally given. In 1838, the Buckeye course was established in Cincinnati, and before a year had elapsed, it is stated, there were fifteen regular race courses in Ohio. The effect of these courses was to greatly stimulate the stock of racers, and rather detract from draft and road horses. The organization of companies to import blooded horses has again revived the interest in this class, and now, at annual stock sales, these strains of horses are eagerly sought after by those having occasion to use them.

Cattle were brought over the mountains, and, for several years, were kept entirely for domestic uses. By 1805, the country had so far settled that the surplus stock was fattened on corn and fodder, and a drove was driven to Baltimore. The drove was owned by George Renick, of Chillicothe, and the feat was looked upon as one of great importance. The drove arrived in Baltimore in excellent condition. The impetus given by this movement of Mr. Renick stimulated greatly the feeding of cattle, and led to the improvement of the breed, heretofore only of an ordinary kind.

Until the advent of railroads and the shipment of cattle thereon, the number of cattle driven to eastern markets from Ohio alone, was estimated at over fifteen thousand annually, whose value was placed at $600,000. Besides this, large numbers were driven from Indiana and Illinois, whose boundless prairies gave free scope to the herding of cattle. Improved breeds, "Short Horns," "Long Horns" and others, were introduced into Ohio as early as 1810 and 1815. Since then the stock has been gradually improved and acclimated, until now Ohio produces as fine cattle as any state in the Union. In some localities, especially in the Western Reserve, cheese making and dairy interests are the chief occupations of whole neighborhoods, where may be found men who have grown wealthy in this business.

Sheep were kept by almost every family, in pioneer times, in order to be supplied with wool for clothing. The wool was carded. by hand, spun in the cabin, and frequently dyed and woven as well as shaped into garments there, too. All emigrants brought the best household and farming implements their limited means would