Crop Statistic Report

 

It’s that time of year again-fried foods, fun games, and entertainment, otherwise known as Fair Season! It’s the opportunity for farmers to show off their best livestock, and for the rest of us to marvel at how cute the animals are. So for this month’s “Living in the County Archive” we are celebrating all that goes in to agricultural production and studying the 1914 Crop Statistics volumes.

The Records and Archives department is currently in possession of Crop Statistics Volume 65, which is for the year 1914. Volume 65 is broken up in to three books by township. Township numbers 1-10 include: Bennington, Bowling Green, Burlington, Eden, Etna, Fallsbury, Franklin, Granville, and Hanover. Township numbers 11-19 include: Harrison, Hartford, Hopewell, Jersey, Licking, Liberty, Lima, McKean, and Madison. Lastly, township numbers 20-27 include: Mary Ann, Monroe, Newark, Newton, Perry, St. Albans, Union, and Washington.

 


  The purpose of crop statistics is to gather trends for planning and forecasting future agricultural undertakings. These records account for all foreseeable aspects of farming and all it produces. In this record we see an account for land owned and how it was farmed: i.e. acres cultivated, arable, timber, orchard, and even the amount lying in waste unused.  We can see the number of acres sown vs. bushes produced of crops grown, such as wheat, corn, rye, oats, and potatoes, including hay for livestock. Record of livestock include horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, and even documentation for the number of sheep killed or injured by dogs.

But that is just a summary of all these volumes record. The images below show an entire series of recordings for a period.






 The condition of the Crop Statistic books, while not terrible, certainly shows their age and what improper storage can do. Below are before and after photos of giving the record a cleaning.

*image: mold before*

*image: mold after*

And here is a photo of the dry sponge used to clean the records compared to a brand new sponge before any use:


The residue found on the records is most likely mold, although we are unable to verify this without specialized testing, and it is caused by improper storage conditions. Mold thrives in the damp and the dark. Basements and attics are perfect breeding grounds for mold because of their unstable temperatures and humidity. Many of the county’s historical records were stored for decades in the courthouse attic where conditions were not favorable, and the records paid the price. Luckily, they are now housed in our archive where temperature and humidity conditions are optimal, and molded records are able to receive cleaning treatment like these Crop Statistics volumes. 

To learn more about the Crop Statistics Records and take a look at the volumes, you can stop by or make an appointment to visit the office by contacting 740-670-5121, or by email at archives@lcounty.com.

 

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