Marple in the 1850s: Part Three — Farming
By Sam Pickard
This is Part Three of an ongoing series on Marple Township in the 1850s.
Part Two focuses on the People of Marple in the 1850s.
Part Four focuses on the businesses of Marple during the 1850s.
The previous post in the 1850s series discussed how farming formed the backbone of Marple Township’s economy during the 1850s, much as it had for generations. What were farms growing though, and how do we know? The agricultural schedules of the 1850 and 1860 censuses provide in-depth information about the townships’ farms, providing the ability to accurately describe them and compare them to each other and wider trends across Delaware County and Pennsylvania.
An Average Marple Farm in the 1850s
Between 1850 and 1860, the number of farms in Marple decreased from 97 to 85, while the average number of improved acres per farm (cleared land used for fields) increased from 53 acres to 61.5 acres—seemingly indicating that some smaller farms might have been purchased and consolidated over the decade.[1] Even with the consolidation of farms, Marple still had more farms than average for a Delaware County township, which was 66. Despite this, the average number of improved (and unimproved) acres for Delaware County farms—67 and 79 acres, respectively, indicates that on the whole, Marple’s farms were smaller than average for the county.[2]
As a whole, farms in the southeastern Pennsylvania area were highly mechanized, taking advantage of the newest farming technology to increase yields and decrease labor expenses.[3] Labor was primarily provided by family members and supplemented by teenage farming “apprentices,” though hired hands were often employed during harvest times.[4] Advertisements placed in local newspapers by Marple farmers for runaway apprentices show that not only did a number of teenage apprentices run away, but the insultingly low rewards (one to six cents) indicate that their return may not have been particularly desired.[5]
By the 1850s, southeastern Pennsylvania (including Delaware County) had largely shifted from a more traditional wheat-based diversified crop farming to a system that focused on raising livestock, dairy products, and produce truck farming for residents of nearby cities and towns. Because of the feed needed for the animals, hay and feed grains such as corn and oats were a centerpiece of this system, with farms in the area producing substantially more of these grains than the state average. Butter was also an increasingly popular product.[6]
For as central as farming was to Marple, its farms were often below average in their mechanization, number of livestock, and crop yields compared to the whole of Delaware County or Pennsylvania.[7] The average Marple Township farm in the 1850s would have had two horses, seven pigs, seven or eight milk cows, as well as a bull and an ox. Most farms did not have sheep, but those that did kept them in large numbers, like Samuel Johnson’s herd of 50 or David Paxson’s herd of 200, recorded in 1850. Over the decade, most farmers who kept sheep sold or slaughtered their herds, with a total of only 46 left in the township by 1860.[8]
Crop-wise, the average Marple farm would have grown wheat, corn, and oats, with the latter two grains outpacing the amount of wheat due to their versatility. Some farms grew rye, but it was not nearly as common as the other grains. While not a grain, almost every farm grew hay (an average of 17 tons a farm in 1850 and 19 tons in 1860) for their animals. While Marple’s hay tonnage was slightly below average for Delaware County in 1850, it was above the state’s average of 13 tons per farm.[9]
In addition to raising animals and the grains and hay needed to feed them, farms in Marple (and Delaware County as a whole) produced a significant amount of butter when compared to state averages. The average Marple Township farm produced 971 lbs. of butter in 1850 and 1,167 lbs. in 1860—far above the state average of 312 lbs. in 1850. While vegetable gardens were primarily supplementing farm family diets, the area increasingly saw small truck farms, which would primarily grow vegetables to sell at market in cities and towns.[10] When Richard Poole put his 7.5-acre farm at Sproul and Paxon Hollow roads up for sale in 1856, he described it as “quality land… having been used as a truck or vegetable garden for the last three years.”[11]
Other Farm Products
In the 1850s, the Delaware County Agricultural and Horticultural Exhibition was organized in Media to showcase the produce of the county’s farms. The second annual show was held in early September 1855 and the entries and prizes were extensively reported on in the Delaware County American & Media Advertiser newspaper Compared to some other townships, Marple was not particularly well represented, but those who did enter the exhibition shed further light on what was being grown locally during this time.[12]
Few animals or field crops were entered for exhibit by Marple farmers, though William Stinson entered a cow of Yorkshire stock and Walter W. Green won a $3 second place prize for his seven piglets.[13] Where Marple shined was in vegetables, with the above-mentioned Richard Poole entering everything from tomatoes to beets. One of his displays, featuring celery, parsnips, potatoes, and peppers won third prize (and a copy of the Family Kitchen Gardner). Mordecai W. Steel and David Paxon also took home prizes for their onions and blue Mercer potatoes respectively. Baked goods were also on display, with Marple’s Abigail Velott and Abby Ann Worrall receiving “diplomas” for their bread and ginger bread.[14]
As demonstrated above, while the census information provides a detailed picture, sometimes it lacks nuance, or items are simply missed. No farms were reported producing beeswax or honey in 1850, but three were in 1860. One of these farmers, Walter W. Green (who won a prize at the exhibition for his piglets), reportedly produced 300 pounds of honey or beeswax in the preceding year.[15] Beekeeping was not a new undertaking for Green. Between 1852 and 1854, he and his brother Lewis Green repeatedly advertised hundreds of beehives (and “A few swarms of Bees”) for sale at their farm bordering Newtown Township, as well as at locations in West Chester, Chester, and Philadelphia.[16] The Greens’ advertisements, which extolled the superior nature of their hives, may not have been total hyperbole—in 1853 the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society awarded them a prize for the best 10 pounds of honey and wrote in their journal “The hive of bees exhibited by Messrs. Green, is the most perfect of any which has fallen under our observation.”[17]
While farming may have been the focus of Marple’s economy during the 1850s, people still needed places to shop, get their horses shoed, and even enjoy an ice cream. Next time, we’re going to explore Businesses in Marple during the 1850s.
[1] 1850 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 1-6; 1860 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 9-14.
[2] Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), “Delaware County – 1850 Census Data,” Pennsylvania Agricultural History Project, 2012, http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/agriculture/files/1850/data/delaware_county_1850_census_data.pdf.
[3] Sally McMurray, et al., “Southeastern Pennsylvania Historic Agricultural Region, c. 1750-1960,” in Agricultural
Resources of Pennsylvania, 1700-1960, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2012, p. 34, http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/agriculture/files/context/southeastern_pennsylvania.pdf.
[4] McMurray et al., 2012, pp. 33-34.
[5] “Six Cents Reward,” Delaware County Republican [Chester, Pennsylvania], 30 April 1852; “Six Cents Reward,” Delaware County Republican, 17 June 1853; “Six Cents Reward,” Delaware County Republican, 11 May 1855; “One Cent Reward,” Delaware County Republican, 20 March 1857.
[6] McMurray et al., 2012, pp. 26, 29.
[7] 1850 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 1-6; 1860 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 9-14; PHMC 2012.
[8] 1850 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 1-6; 1860 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 9-14.
[9] 1850 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 1-6; 1860 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 9-14; PHMC 2012.
[10] 1850 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 1-6; 1860 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 9-14; PHMC 2012; McMurray et al., 2012, pp. 26, 32.
[11] “Private Sale,” Delaware County Republican [Chester, Pennsylvania], 29 August 1856.
[12] “The Agricultural and Horticultural Exhibition,” Delaware County American & Media Advertiser [Media, Pennsylvania], 12 September 1855, 3.
[13] “Second Annual Exhibition,” Delaware County American & Media Advertiser, 26 September 1855, 2.
[14] “Second Annual Exhibition,” Delaware County American & Media Advertiser, 3 October 1855, 2.
[15] 1850 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, pages 1-6; 1860 U.S. Census, Schedule 4.—Productions of Agriculture, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Marple Township, page 10, lines 38 and 40, page 12, line 19.
[16] “200 Bee Hives for Sale,” Delaware County Republican [Chester, Pennsylvania], 14 May 1852; “Bee Hives! Bee Hives!!,” Delaware County Republican, 22 April 1853; “Bees in the Hives,” Delaware County Republican, 16 December 1853; “Green’s Bee Hives,” Delaware County Republican, 23 June 1854.
[17] Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, First Annual Report of the Transactions of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: A. Boyd Hamilton, printer, 1855), 85.