Re: farming 100 years ago

Posted by Bill(Wis) on February 16, 2021 at 03:29:05 from (148.75.118.81):

In Reply to: farming 100 years ago posted by swindave on February 15, 2021 at 15:35:18:

Paternal grandfather and grandmother purchased farm in 1901. Grandfather was 35 years old. All brand new buildings. Barn, machine shed, combination wood shed and hired help quarters, house, barn, chicken coop. Silo (12x30) put up in 1911. Barn addition in 1915. Bought a milking machine (Hinman) in 1914. Traded my grandmother's Morgan horse for some farm machinery in 1914 and boy was she ever ticked about that. But, my grandfather, who was a foxy old guy, went into town and bought a brand new 1914 Model T Ford and taught her how to drive it. That made her happy again. Fordson tractor in about 1920 reducing the need for horses from three teams to two. Paid off original mortgage in 1914 and never had another mortgage. Purchased an adjacent farm in 1915 and another in 1930. Paid cash. Farmer was losing his farm due to age and an insistence on keeping horses. Grandfather stepped right in. Purchased a new 1936 Allis Chalmers in 1936 which cut the need for horses down to one team. Dairy farm plus about 40-50 hogs and 200 chickens. 30 milk cows plus youngstock. Model T flatbed truck and Model T cars until 1929 and 1930 when my grandfather and father bought new Model As. 1914 to 1925 were very good years. Europe was war-torn from 1914 on and Herbert Hoover headed up the food for Europe program and administered it very well. Potatoes, at one point, reached a price of $10 per hundred pounds. We had some excellent potato land and had all of the equipment. Horse drawn. Potato planter and digger and the boxes and wagons to haul them into town which, at one time, was the potato capital of the world. Trainloads of potatoes were shipped out. Five starch factories. Starch was used in those days in much greater quantities than today. Dance halls all around were very popular on saturday nights. Many people oranized little dance bands. Church every Sunday followed by picnics and lawn parties in the summer which usually included a softball game in a cow pasture. Work hard, play hard. Men would come with their Sunday go to church clothes and roll their pant legs up a turn or two and their shirt sleeves to the elbow and play ball while talking about how sore they were going to feel the next day. Pony of cold beer on saw horses and soda pop in a tub of ice on the lawn and everyone brought food. Ice came from the local ice house in big blocks. Good business in the winter cutting ice out of lakes and storing it in ice houses insulated with blown in sawdust. More food than we could eat. Homemade pies and bread and cake, etc. Nice river on farm and lakes nearby with plenty of fish. One room country schools. My younger brother graduated from a one room country school, high school, two years of college and then graduated from West Point and went on later to acquire three master's degrees. Well, that got us up to the depression. World War II, The Big One, is another story. (;>))

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• Re: farming 100 years ago Texasmark1 07:15:16 02/16/21 (0)

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