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In the early 1800s, the western frontier of Euro-American moved through Illinois (seemap). Many of the early immigrants to Illinois brought relatively simple tools that they had used in the east: wagon, plow, harrow, axe, rake, scythe, fork and shovel (Bogue, 1963). In central and north western Illinois, they discovered, vast expanses of prairies with occasional wooded groves associated with streams. These early pioneers gravitated toward the forested areas, which provided wood for housing, fencing and fuel. Furthermore, they usually had some familiarity with clearing and farming woodlands. Although they may have had some experience with natural meadows, their wooden or iron faced moldboard plows were not suited to either breaking the prairie sod or for working the fine textured soils after the sod had been broken. But in the 1820s and 30s farmers, blacksmiths and other innovators introduced variousmodifications to the plow that provided a sharper and stronger cutting edge (share) and smoother surfaces so that soil did not stick to either the plow share or the moldboard. John Deere's plows reportedly became a standard for excellence in the 1850's, but Deere was neither the inventor nor the only manufacturer of steel plows. Deere's contribution to the plow lie in manufacturing a large number of high quality plows at a competitive price. Steel plows, however, were expensive, and both Deere and other manufacturers sold many cheaper iron plows that were manufactured by various processes to have sufficient strength and smoothness to be serviceable for a growing number of prairie farmers. When the prairie sod was first broken, the land was surprisingly productive. Withoutapplying fertilizer or manures, without even paying much attention to weeds, western farmers would harvest yields that were equal to or greater than yields that their eastern cousins has struggled for. The natural fertility of the prairie soil had been accumulated during the previous six to ten thousand years in the organic matter produced by the prairie vegetation. Plant nutrients were released as the prairie sod and soil organic matter decomposed as a result of cultivation. A similar flush of nutrients occurred when woodland soils were brought under cultivation, which would provide acceptable yields for two to five years. In 1890 the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station in Urbana reported only a minimal crop response to manures or commercial fertilizers to soils that had been used for continuous corn production for 15 years, and that this small response was not sufficient to justify the investment in fertilizer. The settlers planted a mixture of crops both for home consumption and for the market:wheat corn, oats barley, rye, flax, and potatoes could be commonly found on farms in addition to vegetables and fruit grown for home consumption. Some attempted to redress limitedavailability of lumber by planting trees. This tree planting led to a slight expansion of theforested area in Illinois between 1830 and 1860, until the railroads' demand for fuel consumed it (Walters and Smith, 1992). Once the railroads were established, they could bring lumber and fuel from other parts of the country in exchange for agricultural commodities. Although pioneer farms were much more diversified than today's corn and soybean farms,corn was grown on considerable portion of cropland acres because it gave high and reliableyields and the mature crop could stand in the field all winter without spoilage or much loss towildlife. However, corn's low price per bushel did not justify transporting it very far andconsequently much of it was used to feed livestock on or near the farm where it had been grown. Thus, by 1860, the Midwest was becoming the nation's livestock and feedgrain producer, complementing the agricultural and industrial specializations occurring in other regions. A considerable quantity of wheat was grown, because it brought a much higher price per bushel than corn, which made it more attractive export crop, but yields were lower and much less certain than corn. Horses and mules were used for draft power, and a good portion of the oats that farmersgrew went to feed the horses, although a considerable amount of it was sold for humanconsumption as well. Land that was too wet to cultivate was initially used for livestock grazing. Through the 1870s, there was apparently a considerable quantity of communal grazing land such that there were occasional newspaper stories and editorials about settlers attempting to lay private claims to such land (Bogue, 1963:200). |