A summary of agricultural interpretation at Old Sturbridge Village.

Agriculture was the foundation of early 19th century New England society. Most people lived on farms, and even those who did not likely grew up farming. Yankee farmers of the 1830s practiced diversified agriculture, raising a variety of crops and livestock for themselves and others. Their traditional goal was "to gain a competency," or a comfortable living for their families. The family, along with occasional hired help, provided the necessary labor, frequently divided along lines of gender and age. Work varied with the seasons. The spring saw fence repair followed by plowing and planting. Summers meant weeding and the harvest of hay and small grains. Fall brought more plowing and harvesting, and winter meant butchering, flailing grain, and work in the woodlot.

Farms varied in size, quality of land, and mix of crops and livestock. While a "typical" middling farm might be between 80 and 100 acres, some farms were much larger, and many considerably smaller. The size and nature of specific farms often changed as farmers bought, sold, and "improved" land (cleared or drained it for use); bought, kept, butchered or sold livestock; and planted several different crops in variable ratios, in increasing sensitivity to market demands. A typical farmer devoted perhaps a tenth of his acreage to tillage (land plowed for crops). Considerably larger portions were used to pasture livestock or to grow hay for winter use. Unimproveable land (perhaps between a quarter and a third of the total) served as a wood lot. Each farm also had a garden tended by women and children, and an orchard.

As the 19th century progressed, agriculture became increasingly responsive to distant markets While New England's farmers had long produced some surpluses for local and occasional long-distance exchange, urbanization, industrialization and improvements in transportation were changing New England agriculture. in the 1830s. More fertile western lands sent flour and other staples east; as a result, New England wheat production declined sharply. Growing cities and mill towns, however, increased demand for butter, cheese, meat, fruit, and vegetables from regional farms. A boom in textile factories led to more and better sheep as farmers sought to fill the demand for wool. More horses plying the roads resulted in a rise in the production of oats and hay. Some farmers sought better prices by hauling their own produce to market, while most relied on local store-keepers, drovers, and market-men to serve as middlemen.

At the Pliny Freeman farm we portray a traditional middling farmer pursuing agriculture much as his father and grandfather had done, although making a few concessions to changing times. On the Salem Towne farm we interpret a more prosperous progressive farmer who has the financial means to experiment with new crops, improved breeds of livestock, and innovative techniques in hopes of capitalizing on new market opportunities. Although our museum does not have the economic resources to fully portray a farm of several hundred acres with scores of animals, we illustrate progressive agriculture by an authentic sampling of crops, livestock, tools and techniques. For example, the Towne farm has improved Merino sheep and Shorthorn cattle; such then-new crops as mangle wurtzels and teasels; beehives of a new-in-the-1830s design; and such labor-saving devices as a cast-iron plow, fanning mill, corn sheller, large cider mill of improved design; and a spacious dairy room equipped with a lactometer and a self-activating cheese press, all reflecting progressive agricultural innovations of this early form of agricultural capitalism. Such farmer/businessmen were avid readers of a growing body of literature touting and explaining innovative practices. The labor on such large farms was provided by men and women hired by the day, week, a period of months, or even an entire year, supplemented by the family. (Again reflective of broadening markets, by the 1830s such laborers increasingly came from outside the town, and more frequently received cash wages.)

CROPS
At Old Sturbridge Village, we raise (and save the seeds of) specific varieties of crops that were grown in 1830s New England with the tools and techniques of the time. We grow representative samples of each item rather than as much as would have been typical in the early 19th century, however, due to our need to explain as well as to accomplish the work.

Grass and hay
Livestock were the most important component of New England agriculture, providing labor, meat, dairy products, hides, and horn. Therefore, the need for pasturage in the summer and hay to feed them in the winter made grass the primary crop on most farms. On Sturbridge farms in 1800, 1/3 of the acreage was devoted to pasture, and 1/5 to hayfields, compared to 1/15 for tillage, with grass occupying 8 to 10 times as much land as all field crops combined. Hay was the biggest crop for most farmers.

Native American grasses were poor fodder, providing little nutrition to livestock. Since the 17th century but especially from the late 1700s on, New England farmers sowed the so-called "English grasses" of Timothy (herds grass), red and white clover, orchard grass, and red top in their hayfields and sometimes even in their pastures.

There were three basic types of hay in early New England, reflecting three distinct types of environments. Coastal farmers made salt marsh hay from Black, Fox, Goose, and Branch grasses, as well as sedge, thatch, and other grasses. Inland farmers likewise cut native grasses and weeds from freshwater wetlands to make fresh meadow hay. Upland fields planted in Timothy, clover, and red top produced the best quality, most nutritious hay. Upland hay was about twice as valuable as salt marsh or fresh meadow hay. So many farmers had introduced English grasses into their hayfields that by the 1830s some considered these imported species to be native. Many progressive farmers ditched and drained their meadows and planted English grasses.

Some farmers bought grass seeds (Timothy sold for $2/bushel, and clover seed for 8¢/ lb.) but many just used whatever fell off their own or their neighbor's haymow, including chaff and weed seeds. A new hayfield was plowed, harrowed, the seed broadcast (frequently too sparsely), and then harrowed in. Often rye, oats, other small grains, flax or peas were sown in the same field. After they were harvested, the land was left in grass. After 3 to 5 years many might plow up the field and plant a crop of corn or potatoes.

The time of mowing varied, depending on location, weather, and tradition, but usually began in late June or early July. Hay making meant many long days of work and anxious hurry, least an unfortunate shower spoil the hay. Many hired help for haying, and in rural areas even tradesmen picked up scythes, as a good man could make a dollar or more a day, and mow about an acre. Traditionally the farm owner was expected to provide rum, cider, and a mixed beverage called switchel, but the growing temperance movement was curtailing this practice. The work began early, as the grass cut easier when it was still wet. The after dinner in the heat of midday, workers cured or "made hay" by spreading and turning the mown grass. Opinions differed as to the best methods to do this. When it was sufficiently dry the hay was cocked up for protection against rain until it was carted to barns for storage. If not sufficiently dry, however, the hay might heat, sweat, steam and be ruined by "mow burn." The heat might even cause a fire.

Pasture might be wild, rocky land unsuitable for other use, or worn-out tillage full of weeds, although some farmers did sow English grasses in their pastures. Most farmers did not pay much attention to the management of their pastures. Often pasturage was not rotated, and animals were left to overgraze large fields. By fall most pastures provide poor forage.


Grains
Grains, the starchy seeds of cereal grasses, were second to grass as the most important crops on most 19th century New England farms. Their cultivation might use 6 to 12 acres of each farm. To discourage birds from eating the seeds, farmers often coated them with brine and ashes before planting.


Corn
Maize, or Indian corn, (today often just called corn and then just called Indian) was the most common grain grown in 1830s New England. Native to the Americas, Squanto showed William Bradford and the Pilgrims how to cultivate it. There are seven types of corn, with many varieties of Flint corn being the most common in this area. Open pollination led to changes and almost endless varieties. Most corn was dried for storage. For human consumption it was milled into meal for such foods as "Rye'n'Injun" bread or hasty pudding.

Livestock were fed the plant as stover and the kernels, often coarsely ground, were used to fatten them. Eating boiled or roasted corn fresh was growing in popularity, although many thought this practice was extravagant. While some farmers grew sweet corn, others just picked different varieties green (in the "milk stage").

The biggest and soundest ears were reserved for next year's seed. To prevent genetic degeneration, some farmers exchanged seed with neighbors, sometimes those living a few miles away, every few years. More progressive farmers might buy seed form country stores or even dealers in Boston. Corn was adaptable, but did best in hot, sandy soil. Wise farmers rotated his crops and manured his cornfields in the spring. After cross plowing, harrowing, and furrowing the field, corn was planted in hills 2 ½ to 6 feet apart (usually 3 to 4 feet) between late April and early June. 4 or 5 kernels were planted in each hill. Many farmers followed traditional native practice and also planted pumpkins amongst the corn, their broad leaves suppressing weed growth. The corn was weeded and mounds gradually built up around the growing plants 2 or 3 times as it grew. This hilling was intended to make the crop resist wind and rain, but by the 1830s progressive farmers abandoned this technique and planted in drills (rows) instead. This new method of planting single seeds every 4 to 6 inches in 2 to 3 inch deep furrows 2 to 4 feet apart allowed for more efficient cultivation by horse-plow. Many traditional farmers still planted in hills, but no longer hoed up hills around each plant.

Another traditional technique that was disappearing by the 1830s was topping the corn, or cutting the tassels off the plant when the ears were fully formed and the kernels hard and glazed in hopes of hastening ripening. Harvesting took different forms. In the fall, some cut the ripe stalks close to the ground and brought them to the barn, where the ears were husked and the plants saved for winter cattle feed. Others husked the corn in the fields and let cattle browse among the stalks and husks before the field was burned or plowed under. The "new" method that was widely used by the 1830s was to cut the stalks when the kernels glazed, then bind them with straw or small stalks, and let these shocks cure in the field. The dried ears were then husked, often in communal "bees" or "frolics," although efficiency-minded progressive farmers often favored simply hiring men to do the work. The ears were then stored in a corncrib for further drying until they could be shelled and winnowed in the winter months. Some used a flail to remove the kernels from the cob, while others pounded then in a barrel with a maul, had horses tread them, scraped them against the edge of a shovel, or used a new shelling machine. The kernels, if kept dry, could be stored indefinitely. Yields varied wildly, although 40 bushels per acre was common.


Small grains
Oats
With the increased prevalence of horses, oats, "very little respected, but very extensively employed," had become New England's second most important grain crop by the 1830s. Primarily sold for horse feed, small amounts of oats were milled (often with wheat) for human consumption, usually as gruel. The straw was most often used for bedding, but could be used as fodder as well. Many varieties of oats were known, but branching white-hulled oats was the most widely planted in 1830s New England. Seeds were broadcast in the spring in fields that had been plowed and harrowed, and were then harrowed in. In late summer it was harvested with either a reaping hook or grain cradle, and bundled into shocks for transport to the barn for flailing and winnowing. Some mowed it green and used it for fodder. Twenty to forty bushels per acre as a typical yield.


Rye
Hearty rye was milled and mixed with corn meal to make brown bread, a staple of the early New England diet. Especially in the Connecticut River valley it was malted and used to make gin. After the Erie Canal began bringing cheap wheat flour from the west in 1825, however, and with the rise of the temperance movement, rye cultivation declined in New England. Spring varieties were the most common, although some farmers sowed winter rye in late August. Like other small grains, it was planted broadcast in plowed and harrowed fields in the spring, and harvested with either a reaping hook or more progressively with a grain cradle in the summer. It was then bound and shocked and left to stand until dry, and flailed and winnowed in the winter months. Yields ranged from 6 to 16 bushels per acre. Rye straw was used for bedding.


Wheat
Although the preferred grain for bread making, wheat did not grow well in southern New England. (Parts of northern New England had more success growing wheat.) Many pests and diseases afflicted the wheat crop, including "blast" or black stem rust, a fungus believed to be harbored by barberry bushes, beginning in the 1660s. In the 1770s the Hessian fly began to attack wheat, joined in the 1820s by the wheat midge, a kind of weevil. Some farmers continued to raise small crops of wheat until the Erie Canal began to bring in cheap western flour in the mid-1820s. (New England also imported flour from the Mid-Atlantic States.) Massachusetts paid farmers a premium to raise wheat from 1838-40, which for those years encouraged a modest but unsustained revival in wheat cultivation.

Many varieties of wheat were known in the 1830s, red bearded spring wheat was common. Like rye and oats it was sown in April after spring plowing, and harvested in late July or August after haying. Sickles were the most common tools used for reaping wheat, which was then bound into sheaves and shocked up before threshing and winnowing. Fifteen bushels per acre was a respectable wheat harvest.


Buckwheat
Technically a flowering herb and not a true grain, nonetheless buckwheat was for all intents and purposes grown and used as a grain. While not a major crop on most 1830s New England farms, it was yet seen by many as a highly beneficial alternative "grain." By fixing nitrogen the plant improved the soil, and was sometimes plowed under as a "green manure." It also tended to choke out and kill weeds. Its flowers could attract and feed honeybees. Since it was not sown until June and produced a yield in a couple of months, it could allow a farmer who had lost another crop due to a late frost or other reason still get something out of a field. Yields ranged from 15 to 50 bushels per acre.


Root Crops
The starchy tuber known as the "Irish potato" originated in South America. It was introduced to Europe in the 1500s and came to New England via Ireland in the early 1700s. It was extensively used to feed both people and livestock, and a small amount was used industrially to make alcohol and starch. Its cultivation was increasing on New England farms by the 1830s, with the average farmer raising an acre or more. Many varieties existed, but the Chenango was very common.

Some planted potato seeds to take advantage of genetic diversity, but planted sprouting tubers as "seed potatoes" to grow more of the same variety. In May or early June they were planted with manure in hills every 3 or 4 feet (at the intersection of the furrows that resulted from cross-plowing). Some planted a whole tuber, some just a cut part, and others planted a few cut pieces in each hill. Through the summer they were treated much like Indian corn, being weeded with a hoe and mounded up into low (3 to 4 inches) hills. When the vines died in the fall the potatoes were dug, and stored in cellars or banks below ground to prevent freezing. An acre might produce between 100 and 500 bushels of potatoes!

In the late 1700s and early 1800s English farmers began to raise large crops of turnips, rutabagas ("Swedish turnips"), mangle wurtzels, beets, and carrots as winter animal fodder. They had high yields, often over 400 bushels per acre. Some progressive American farmers followed their example, but most eventually found that the practice was better suited to the climate of old England than that of New England. They also found these foods gave objectionable flavor (and sometimes color) to the milk from cows fed on them. Therefore, these root vegetables were rather rare as field crops on American farms, although they were grown for human consumption in kitchen gardens.


Other crops
Broom Corn
Broom corn, sorghum vulgaris, is actually a member of the sugar cane family with no relation to Indian corn, except perhaps that the plant resembles a cornstalk without ears. This native of Africa will grow almost anywhere there are three months between frosts. In the late 1700s it came to New England, although its widespread cultivation was mostly confined to the Connecticut River valley, especially Hadley, Massachusetts. Several varieties were grown in the 19th century.

It was planted in late May after danger of frost, and grown much the same way as Indian corn, except that 15 to 20 seeds were planted in each hill, and then thinned to about ten plants per hill. If intended for seed it was allowed to ripen, but if the brush was intended for making brooms, it was harvested green. The tops were partially cut and bent parallel to the ground in a process known as "tabling." They were allowed to dry for 4 or more days, the brush scraped to remove the seeds (which could be used for animal fodder) and then the brush was spread out indoors to dry further. In the spring the stalks were often burned to clear and manure to field.


Flax
Flax, which produces the fibers used to make linen, was widely cultivated in 18th century New England. Besides using flax for home textile production, New England farmers sold the seed to Irish linen growers (the best fiber comes from immature plants) or had the seeds pressed for linseed oil, a key ingredient in paints. Flax cultivation quickly depleted the soil, however, and with the increased availability of cheap cotton cloth, linen cultivation waned in 19th century New England.

Flax seed was sown in April, and by late July or August the plants were ready for harvest. The stalks were pulled from the ground and spread to dry. Seeds were then removed either by beating or combing ("rippling"). The stalks were soaked in water ("retted") to rot the woody parts away from the fibers, and then dried. Over the winter months the fibers further cleaned by beating ("breaking" and "scutching") and combing ("hetchelling"). An acre of flax might produce about 200 pounds of fiber and 9 bushels of oil-rich seeds.


Hops
Hops were common in England by 1600, and had been brought to Massachusetts as early as 1629. While we grow some in the Freeman garden for home use, by the late 1700s some farmers primarily in Middlesex County, Massachusetts and Hillsborough County, New Hampshire grew hops as a cash crop for export. In second quarter of the 19th century commercial hops growing was shifting to Vermont and New York state.

There were up to five kinds of hops, with the long white variety being common. Hops will grow in many soil conditions as long as the soil is not too wet. Root cuttings (not seeds) are planted with manure in hills about 8 feet apart, sometimes interplanted with corn or potatoes. (Annual spring pruning of mature plants yield these cuttings.) After thinning to 2 vines per hill, the plants are tied with woolen twine to tall shaved cedar or hemlock poles and left to climb. By early September they are ready for picking. The vines are cut 2 or 3 feet from the ground, and carried to where women and children stripped off the aromatic flowers. Each hill might produce a pound or two of hops in a year. The hops were then carefully cured and dried in a kiln before shipping to market.

Onions
Most New England farms grew onions in their kitchen gardens, not as field crops. In some towns, however, most notably Wethersfield, Connecticut; Bristol, Rhode Island; and Newbury, Danvers, and Barnstable, Massachusetts, onions were a cash crop. Specific varieties grown in the 1830s are uncertain, but included red, yellow, and white. A biennial plant, those onions not allowed to go to seed were harvested after the first year. They were pulled and then allowed to dry in the sun before being braided or tied in ropes or bunches. Typical yields might be 300 - 400 bushels per acre.


Peas
Again, many grew peas only in their kitchen gardens while others raised them as a field crop. Peas were sometimes sewn with oats as an "insurance crop", in hopes that at least one of the two would produce well. The ratio varied but 1/4 peas to 3/4 oats was not uncommon. A weevil called the Pea Bug, or other pests might damage the plant.

When ripe, peas were either pulled up or mown and piled in a barn to dry before being threshed. The vines could be used as hay. People might eat the peas themselves, or a progressive farmer might use them to fatten livestock, especially swine. For this purpose they were ground at a mill, sometimes along with oats.


Pumpkins
As the Native peoples had done, most 19th century New England farmers planted pumpkins, when they grew them, among their corn (although some planted them alone). They planted 3 or 4 seeds in a hill between every 4th and 5th hill of corn, in every 4th row. The broad leaves and wandering vines of the pumpkins helped to inhibit weeds in the cornfields. Before the pumpkins spread, however, their presence made it difficult to cultivate the corn with a horse plow and weeding had to be done with a hoe. After the corn was harvested in the fall, pumpkins were removed from the vines and left to cure in the field before they were stored in cellars. New Englanders fed pumpkins to both their families and their cattle. Early varieties included the Large Cheese, Mammoth, Connecticut Field, and Finest Yellow Family Pumpkins.


Teasels
Fuller's Teasels, (dipsacus fullarinum) had been used for centuries to raise a nap on woolen cloth. Most were imported from their native Europe, but with the growth of textile manufacturing in the United States in the 1800s, some progressive farmers in scattered New England towns (e.g. Wethersfield and East Windsor, Connecticut and Northampton and Hadley, Massachusetts) began to raise them.

This biennial crop required careful cultivation. It was sown in April of May in rows 2 feet apart and ¾" deep, at a rate of 1 to 2 pecks of seed per acre. When they were several inches high they were thinned to about a foot apart; some just transplanted the thinnings to a new row. They were weeded then in the fall were covered for the winter with leaves or manure. In spring they were uncovered, weeded and then in August when the plants were 4 to 6 feet tall they were harvested. Using a knife and wearing gloves, the farmer cut the stalks 4" below the burr and put them in a basket. The heads were often spread on a scaffold to sun-dry for a few days, periodically stirring them with a rake. They were then sorted by size and sent to market. Each plant might produced 10 to 20 burrs, with 100,000 to 200,000 burrs per acre.


Tobacco
Most New England farmers did not grow tobacco, even though Native peoples had. Pipe smoking and snuff-taking were common in early America. Cigar-smoking and tobacco chewing grew in the early 19th century, and cigar factories established in Windsor and Suffield, Connecticut. Tobacco growing in New England was largely confined to the rich soil of the Connecticut River valley. Early on, a narrow-leafed "shoestring" tobacco was grown, but by the 1830s a broad-leafed variety from Maryland was being grown here for cigar binders and wrappers (tobacco from the Caribbean and the southern state providing the filler). Tobacco was a labor-intensive crop, requiring sowing in April, transplanting in June, and careful curing after harvest.


Fruit
New England farms grew a variety of fruits in the 1830s, including a great many varieties of apples, pears, cherries, plums, peaches, and quinces. (Except for crab-apples, none of these fruits was native to New England.) Raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and cranberries grew abundantly in the wild and thus were not extensively cultivated. Some farmers tried to cultivate gooseberries and grapes with only limited success, but as the 19th century progressed, currants, grapes, strawberries and other berries were gradually brought under cultivation. Peaches and cherries were also raised as ornamentals.

But by far the most common fruit in 19th century New England was the apple. Most farms had orchards of 100-300 trees or more. Some apples were stored in cellars for the winter, or were preserved by drying or in syrup. With improved transportation, some increasingly market-oriented farmers, particularly those living near population centers, sold fruit in the growing towns and cities. Many old apple varieties were not good "keepers," however, and in an age before chemical spraying, most apples of even the more hearty varieties were not suitable for sale or storage. The majority of apples were therefore made into cider, the year-round common table drink of early New England. A typical farm might produce about 10 barrels (well over 300 gallons) a year of this mildly alcoholic beverage.

Most apples were of no particular variety but were generically known as "cider apples. Yet there were literally thousands of varieties known in early 19th century New England. (Often named for their place of origin or characteristics, some of the more popular 1830s varieties include the Newton Pippin, Westfield Seek-No-Further, Roxbury Russet, Rhode Island Greening, Pound Sweet, Sops-of-Wine, Blue Pearmaine, Esopus Spitzenberg, and Baldwin. Varieties of pears included the Seckel, Bartlett, and after 1832, Bosc.) Since fruits reproduce sexually and do not grow true to seed, the only way to preserve a particular variety of fruit is by grafting. By the late 1700s progressive farmers were beginning to do this, joining a shoot from a desired variety onto a growing rootstock. With time the popularity of grafting spread. Some nurseries near the coast had 500 or more varieties of fruit trees, although nursery stock was expensive (e.g. 75 ¢ each).

As with so much else, cultivation practices varied and manuals for fruit-growing abounded. "Proper" spacing of orchard trees was debatable. Some farmers plowed and planted in their orchards, but most left them to grass. Grafting as well as pruning was done in the spring. Plowing, washing the growing fruit with soap or ashes, or coating the trees with tar combated pests such as caterpillars, canker worms, curulio, and apple borers.




LIVESTOCK
Most New England families in the 1830s, and certainly most farm families, kept animals for food, transportation, pest-control, or as pets. A middling farm of around 100 acres might typically have a horse, a team of oxen, 4 to 7 cows, 3 or 4 young cattle, a couple of pigs, between 6 and 20 sheep, a dozen or more chickens, and frequently a dog or cat. A more prosperous farmer might have 3 horses, 2 or 3 teams of oxen, 10 to 20 cows, 10 young cattle, 3 or 4 swine, 20 to 60 heads of sheep, and sundry pets and poultry.


Neat Cattle
Most New England farmers kept cattle, for milk, meat, and draft work. Middling farmers had “native cattle,” the descendants of various English cattle brought over since the 1600s. They were typically red or brindle, and small by modern standards. Progressive farmers began to “improve” their animals, introducing Red Devon, Milking Shorthorn, and Lineback breeds to increase milk production.

In order to produce milk, a cow must calf. Nine months after being bred to a bull (most farmers did not keep bulls themselves, but paid those who did for stud service) she gave birth to a single calf, which was soon weaned. Ideally the birth was timed to occur in April, so that cows could graze on spring pasture and maximize milk production. By the winter milk production was often down to only 1/3 of its spring peak, and most cows were "dried off." Cows were milked twice a day. In the heat of summer when milk might spoil before the cream could rise, most of it was made into cheese. More profitable butter was made in the spring and fall. An average cow might produce enough milk each year to yield 100 lbs. of butter and 150 lbs. of cheese. Much of this could be sold to urban markets, either directly or through a local storekeeper. Progressive farmers with larger herds might try to maximize profits by making butter in summer in cool diary rooms furnished with the latest equipment. The "dairy wash" (skim-, and butter-milk) was fed to pigs. Even a tradesman might keep a cow, selling excess milk to a neighboring farmer who combined it with that of his own herd.

With only a few farmers keeping bulls, most bull calves were butchered as veal, or castrated and raised as steers. This made them more docile and gain weight faster. Some steers were butchered for beef at two or three years of age. Others were trained with time, consistence and patience to work in a wooden yoke as draft animals. By the age of two years they could be used for light work. When they reached maturity at four years they were considered oxen.

Oxen were the dominant draft animals on early 19th century New England farms, and a typical town might have between 100 and 200 teams. They pulled plows, dung carts, hay wagons, harrows, and log sleds. Although slower than horses, they were heartier; calmer; cheaper, as the offspring of dairy cattle; required only grass and no special feed; used a simple wooden yoke instead of costly harness and tack; and when their working life was over at eight to ten years could still be butchered as beef. While a small farm might not have a team, larger farms often had two or three and rented them out to neighbors as needed.

Young calves were initially trained on a halter, but by six months they were expected to follow voice commands. These included whoa (stop), come up (go), haw (go left), gee (go right), upstep, backstep, put in, put out, and sundry combinations (e.g. back gee). These might be reinforced with a short whip. To give them traction on ice and snow, they were shod in the winter. A crescent shaped shoe was nailed on each half of their cloven hooves. Unable to balance on three feet, they were slung in an ox brake for shoeing, at a cost of about $2.24 per team.


Swine
Swine consumed household and dairy refuse and efficiently converted it into meat. They were prolific and easy to keep. As a result, pigs were the most widely-kept animals in rural 19th century New England, and pork was the primary meat. Most middling farmers had one or two grown animals and an number of young ones. A large farm might have as many as eight adult hogs. Even non-farmers frequently kept a pig. Besides household consumption, pork was sold locally and on the hoof to urban markets such as Brighton.

In the 18th century, raw-boned, lank-sided, and long-snouted pigs were allowed to forage freely in the forests and roadsides. By the late 1700s growing market demand led to the popularity of improved breeds. These included the Chinese, Leicestershire, Byfield, Russia, Bedford (a.k.a. Woburn, English White, English Broadback), Mackey, Moco, and Irish Grazier breeds. (Some farmers in Sturbridge favored a Grass-fed and Leicestershire cross called the Rose, a white pig with a blaze on the back.) The most popular new breed in the 1830s was the Berkshire (from Berkshire, England), a reddish-brown pig with black spots (or sometimes black with white points). The Berkshires were so fat that they could not be driven to market but were butchered and the pork shipped in barrels. By the 1820s towns passed fence laws, and these small-boned, short-legged hogs were confined in pens and no longer allowed to roam freely (and damage crops). Increased dairy production and the resulting surplus of skim and butter-milk further facilitated the penning of swine. Penning also allowed valuable manure to be saved. Often piggeries were built as part of a woodshed.

In the 1700s pigs were killed at between 18 and 24 months, and weighed 200 to 400 pounds. By the 1800s improved breeds and feeding practices allowed butchering at between 8 and 12 months at almost as many pounds. (Urban markets also encouraged the butchering of younger animals.) Many farmers did not breed their own swine but bought piglets from a breeder each spring. Sows were bred in December, bringing a litter in early April. (Some farmers then bred them again in May.)


Sheep
Before the 19th century, New Englanders raised "native sheep," a mixture of various English varieties, for both wool and meat. In the east a white-faced animal resembling Wiltshires and Romneys predominated, while in western New England, especially in the Connecticut river valley, an animal with a dark face and legs like the Southdown and Norfolks was more common. These sheep were hearty but slow to mature, dressed out to only 12-15 lbs. of meat per quarter, and produced two to four pounds of wool each year.

With the growth of the textile industry and a rise in wool prices, the number of sheep increased and progressive farmers at first, and eventually most farmers, began to favor breeds that yielded finer wool. Initially they bred Spanish Merinos, and later its refinement, the Saxony, with their native stock. The early 1800s saw "Merino fever" sweep the market, with a single animal selling for $50 or more. (By the late 1810s prices collapsed to less than 1/10th of what they had been. Protective tariffs in the 1820s led to more stable prices by the 1830s, although prices fell again by the lend of the decade.) By the 1830s most (but not all) sheep in New England had some Merino blood. Some wool was saved for home use, but most was sold to factories. The growing urban market for meat spurred some 19th century farmers to raise mutton breeds such as the New Leicester and Southdown.

A typical farm might have between 6 and 30 sheep in the early 19th century. Some had none, but a few raised 200 or more animals. Sheep were more plentiful in some areas than others, however. Sturbridge, for example, had more sheep than any other town in Worcester county, with a few more sheep than people. By the 1830s sheep-raising was especially popular in Vermont.

At OSV we raise animals resembling early Merinos on the Salem Towne farm. These were achieved by crossing Florida Gulf Coast Natives with modern Merinos. The more traditional Freeman an farm has more "native" sheep, based primarily on a horned Dorset and Wiltshire cross.


Poultry
Fowl were common around both center village and rural homes in the 1830s. Most families kept small flocks primarily for home consumption, although some farms sold eggs and birds locally. Chickens were the most common domestic fowl, although a few farmers raised geese, turkeys, and ducks. A flock of about a dozen birds was typical. The common chicken of early New England was called either barndoor, barnyard, or dunghill fowl. Like most "native" animals, it was a mix of stock initially brought from England in the 17th and 18th centuries. (We have achieved a period-correct appearance by crossing Sussex with Dominique and Dorking.)

Chickens and others fowl were left in the care of women and children. They ranged freely, eating what seeds and insects they found, although some corn was fed out in the winter months. Hens laid about 150 or fewer eggs a year in nests scattered throughout the barn.

A few progressive, larger-scale farmers (e.g. Thomas Ward of Shrewsbury) also raised birds for the Boston market. Following advice literature, they built henhouses and yards, and fed their chickens grain fortified with eggshells and lime. This increased egg production to 200-250 per year. They also introduced improved breeds such as the Malay, Poland, and Dorking. (By mid-century selective breeding produced distinctly America poultry breeds, such as the Rhode Island Red.)

After chickens, domestic gray geese were the most common barnyard fowl. They yielded meat (the typical age for slaughtering was six months) and feathers. Live geese were plucked two to five times a year for writing quills. (Experts admonished farmers to only pluck when birds were molting.) Domesticated ducks were rare, but when found they were black. Some farmers, especially in Northern New England, domesticated wild turkeys and raised them for market.


Horses
Horses in the 19th century were primarily used for the transportation of people and goods.

While New England farmers did indeed rely upon oxen for most draft work, horses were often also used on farms for lighter jobs such as cultivating corn and turning cider mills. There was about one horse for every ten people in 1830s New England, but ownership was not evenly distributed. Most farmers in Worcester County who held over 50 acres (including Pliny Freeman) had one horse, and a very few had two or even three (as did David Wight). Approximately half of all families did not own any horses, however, but rented a horse and wagon from a neighbor as needed. With an expanding transportation system in 1830s New England, many farmers raised hay and oats for sale to cities, stage and freight lines, and horse-owners in center villages.

Most of these 1830s horses were small by modern standards, not the large draft horses that pull the Village carryall today. Some have estimated early New England's "horse of all work" averaged 14 hands in height and weighed between 800 and 1,200 pounds. The English racehorse, Norman, and Narragansett were in the ancestry of the typical New England horse of the 1830s. In the late 1700s Justin Morgan's fast but strong stallion became a popular stud, beginning the renowned Morgan breed. At present Old Sturbridge Village does not own any horses.


A word on rare breeds
Twenty-first century agriculture tends to favor one or at most a few breeds of animals for a highly controlled environment, whereas in the past a variety of breeds were developed to thrive in various specific environmental and market conditions. Many old breeds of domestic animals, and their unique genetic material, have been irrevocably lost. Old Sturbridge Village not only preserves various rare breeds, but through selective "back-breeding" seeks to phenotypically recreate the appearance of farm animals common to 1830s New England.