Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/175

 Rh the necessities of the Board and of agriculture in the State demanded. The same day that the act was passed creating the State Board, an act was also passed providing for the erection of county and district societies, under which law, with subsequent amendments, the present county and district agricultural societies are managed. During the years from 1846 down to the present time, great improvements have been made in the manner of conducting these societies, resulting in exhibitions unsurpassed in any other State.

Pomology and horticulture are branches of industry so closely allied with agriculture that a brief resume of their operations in Ohio will be eminently adapted to these pages. The early planting and care of fruit in Ohio has already been noticed. Among the earliest pioneers were men of fine tastes, who not only desired to benefit themselves and their country, but who were possessed with a laudable ambition to produce the best fruits and vegetables the State could raise. For this end they studied carefully the topography of the country, its soil, climate, and various influences upon such culture, and by careful experiments with fruit and vegetables, produced the excellent varieties now in use. Mention has been made of Mr. Longworth and Mr. Ernst, of Cincinnati; and Israel and Aaron W. Putnam, on the Muskingum River; Mr. Dille, Judges Fuller and Whittlesey, Dr. Jared Kirtland and his sons, and others—all practical enthusiasts in these departments. At first, individual efforts alone, owing to the condition of the country, could be made. As the State filled with settlers, and means of communication became better, a desire for an interchange of views became apparent, resulting in the establishment of periodicals devoted to these subjects, and societies where different ones could meet and discuss these things.

A Horticultural and Pomological Society was organized in Ohio in 1866. Before the organization of State societies, however, several distinct or independent societies existed; in fact, out of these grew the State Society, which in turn produced good by stimulating the creation of county societies. All these societies, aids to agriculture, have progressed as the State developed, and have done much in advancing fine fruit, and a taste for aesthetic culture. In all parts of the West, their influence is seen in better and improved fruit; its culture and its demand.

To-day, Ohio stands in the van of the Western States in agriculture and all its kindred associations. It only needs the active energy of her citizens to keep her in this place, advancing as time advances, until the goal of her ambition is reached.

HE climate of Ohio varies about four degrees. Though originally liable to malaria in many districts when first settled, in consequence of a dense vegetation induced by summer heats and rains, it has became very healthful, owing to clearing away this vegetation, and proper drainage. The State has became as favorable in its sanitary characteristics as any other in its locality. Ohio is remarkable for its high productive capacity, almost every thing grown in the temperate climates being within its range. Its extremes of heat and cold are less than almost any other State in or near the same latitude, hence Ohio suffers less from the extreme dry or wet seasons which affect all adjoining States. These modifications are mainly due to the influence of the Lake Erie waters. These not only modify the heat of summer and the cold of winter, but apparently reduce the profusion of rainfall in summer, and favor moisture in dry periods. No finer climate exists, all conditions considered, for delicate vegetable growths, than that portion of Ohio bordering on Lake Erie. This is abundantly attested by the recent extensive development there of grape culture.

Mr. Lorin Blodget, author of "American Climatology," in the agricultural report of 1853, says; "A district bordering on the Southern and Western portions of Lake Erie is more favorable in this respect (grape cultivation) than any other on the Atlantic side of the Rocky Mountains, and it will ultimately prove capable of a very liberal extension of vine culture."