Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 77, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1916 — FARM LIFE IN 1840 [ARTICLE]

FARM LIFE IN 1840

Today the farmer buys much that, in the past he made, and this is said to account to a certain extent for the increased cost of producing farm products. The process of evolution by which the old-time farm lost its identity as a separate and detached institution, almost complete in itself, affording the farmer practically everything that was necessary to his comfortable living was very slow, but it has been accomplished. In a letter to the New York Times, an old man recalls a farm that he knew as a youth. It is almost as different from the farm that this generation remembers in its youth as the present is from the farm of forty or fifty years ago, before the farm was brought closer to the city by the rural free delivery of mall, the telephone and the automobile. In regard to the farm as he remembers it in 1840, he wrote: The farm I have In mind con-

sisted of 200 acres; the stock was fifteen cows, a yoke of oxen, twenty sheep, an old white horse, a dozen pigs, fifty hens, ten geese, a few ducks and a flock of turkeys. The farm produced practically everything the family consumed, both clothing and food. The sheep furnished the wool, Which was carded at a fulling mill and made into rolls for spinning. At home it was spun into yarn and woven on a hand loom. For beds it was left white, for clothing it was dyed any color desired—a competent housewife could make dyes of logwood, indigo or cochineal. The white and black wool were mixed to produce a gray like the Confederate uniform. There were no ready-made clothes; all clothes were made in the home. There, was no woven underwear. Stockings wereknitted at home, as well as mittem/ and tippets. Caps with of" rabbit skin. There were no shoes; in the winter boots' came up to the knees. Several cows were killed each year. There was a tannery nearby, where the skins were tanned. A shoemaker made our boots. They were usually too small, and gave much trouble and pain. The flax, cut and laid down until the fiber loosened from the woody part, was put through a heckle worked by hand and then spun and woven. This strong linen cloth was used for summer cloth-, ing, towels, etc; The seed was saved to make flaxseed tea (a medicine) or poultice for bruises. For food w’e had everything needed—fresh meat, potatoes, beets, cabbages, parsnips, pumpkins for pies, apples, which lasted from fall to spring, cider which gave us vinegar or produced a cider champagne. Half a dozen pigs killed in the fall gave us plenty of ham and bacon, lard, sausages and salt pork. The hams and bacon were hung up in the smoke house, a small building with no opening except the door. A small fire produced more smoke than heat, but gave the hams and bacon a very delicious flavor. There were pleAty of chickens for roasting and pot pies and eggs—turkeys for Thanksgiving and .Christmas; occasionally a roast goose with apple sauce.

From the cows’ milk we made both butter and cheese. What butter and cheese the family did not consume was sold in a nearby village—butter usually brought cents a pound. Chee&e was also made at home, as there were neither creameries nor cheese factories. Cheese was sold at 5 cents to 6 cents a pound. All eggs not used went to the village store and brought 10 cents to 12 cents a dozen. Every farmer made his own soap; it was called soft soap; it was soft, but very strong, and took the dirt off your hands and face very thoroughly, and some skin also unless you were careful in your ablutions.