The previous post (here) examined the top section of data recorded in the agricultural schedule for the 1885 Nebraska census; this post will turn to the second and third sections, so that we can compare further how Peter D and Sarah’s situation changed during the first five years of their life in Nebraska. The first section of the scheduled revealed that they had doubled their acreage, that the per-acre value of their land had more than tripled, and that they were producing goods whose value was nearly 50 percent higher than when the family first arrived. Will the rest of the agricultural schedule continue this positive trend? Let us turn to the final two sections, on livestock and crops, to find out. (For a scan of the full schedule page, see here.)
We noted earlier that the Buller farm had two horses in 1880 and four in 1885. We see, in most cases, a similar increase with the other farm animals.
Cattle: In 1880 Peter D had a single dairy cow; in 1885 he had three dairy cows and three “other” cows, presumably for sale or slaughter. Curiously, the three dairy cows of 1885 produced the same amount of butter as the one cow in 1880: 150 pounds. The 1885 schedule also reports that one calf dropped (i.e., was born) during the prior year.
Pigs: In 1880 Peter D owned six pigs; in 1885 he had thirty-six, a sixfold increase. By way of context, four of Peter D’s eight immediate neighbors had larger herds, ranging all the way from forty-seven up to eighty. Thus although one can reasonably conclude that raising swine assumed greater importance for Peter D and family, it was, comparatively speaking, not as significant as with other farmers in the area.
Chickens: The Buller farm actually reduced its number of chickens over this five-year period, from twenty-five in 1880 to seventeen in 1885. The egg production experienced an even greater decline, from fifty dozen eggs in 1880 to twenty-five dozen in 1885 (note that the 1885 record is smudged, and I am not positive of my reading).
In general, then, the five-year period from 1880 to 1885 saw significant increases in the livestock owned by Peter D and Sarah: they had twice as many horses, six times as many cows, and six times as many pigs. Only their chicken holdings had decreased, a reduction that probably had little financial effect on the family.
The family’s crops show a similar expansive trend.
Corn: In 1880, Peter D had 1.5 acres of corn that produced 60 bushels; in 1885 he reported planting 27 acres that produced 900 bushels of corn. The average yield for 1885 was slightly below that for 1880: 33.3 bushels an acre in 1885 compared to 40 in 1880. Most notably, whereas corn accounted for only 2.6 percent of the entire acreage planted in 1880, in 1885 it represented 25.7 of the total acreage.
Oats: In 1880, Peter D harvested 160 bushels of oats from a 5-acre field; in 1885, his 8-acre plot yielded 200 bushels. Once again we see a decrease in the average yield, from 32 bushels an acre in 1880 to 25 bushels an acre in 1885.
Rye: No rye had been planted by the former owner of the Buller farm (recall that Peter D and Sarah bought the farm with crops in the ground), so none was harvested in 1880. By 1885, Peter D planted 7 acres to rye, which produced 115 bushels, for a yield of 16.4 bushels an acre.
Wheat: The dominant field crop in both years was wheat. However, it is quite possible that the two wheat varieties planted were different; in fact, the 1880 and 1885 crops may even have been planted at different times of the year. At this time, non-Mennonites favored a spring planting of the softer types of wheat, while Mennonites usually planted Turkey Red, a hard winter wheat that they had brought with them from Russia. Since the 1880 wheat field was planted by a non-Mennonite and the 1885 one by a Mennonite (Peter D), it is highly likely that the the two plantings were significantly different.
Although we cannot be certain about the types and times of the wheat planted, we do know that Peter D increased his acreage from 51 acres in 1880 to 63 acres in 1885. His yield also increased, from 10.2 bushels an acre (518 bushels total) in 1880 to 12.4 bushels an acre (783 bushels total) in 1885.
One last crop, to use the term loosely appears on both agricultural schedules: Irish potatoes. The family reported half an acre devoted to potatoes in each schedule. In 1880, that half-acre produced 20 bushels of potatoes; in 1885, 30 bushels.
On nearly every front, Peter D and Sarah’s farm operations showed significant growth during the first five years of their new life in Nebraska. Their land holdings had doubled, and the value of their land had tripled. By 1885, they owned double the number of horses, six times as many cows, and six times as many pigs as five years earlier; of all the animals raised on the farm, only their chicken flock was smaller than it had been at the beginning. Likewise, the family devoted more acreage to each of the three crops they had harvested in 1880 and added a fourth crop (rye) to the mix. Certainly the first five years of our family’s U.S. existence were a time of establishing a good life in their new Nebraska home.
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