Agriculture in Boone County, Kentucky
Boone County Recorder 16 Jan 1883, page 2 col. 1
Great improvement has been made in farming in Boone County.
Twenty-five or thirty years ago our farmers had a routine through which
they went year after year, making but little advancement in their occupation.
Clearing land and raising hogs and corn was about the extent of their
industry at that time, and as land was very plentiful little attention was given
it, and many acres of fine soil were allowed to disappear, when it should
have been retained.
The farmers of the present day manage very differently, and regard
farming as a science which they are rapidly developing. They have many
advantages which were not enjoyed by their predecessors, and are being
daily instructed by observation, and contact with the theories of others.
Agricultural literature finds its way, and is a welcome visitor, in every house
in the county, a blessing which earlier tillers of the soil did not enjoy. They
depended on their own resources for all the knowledge of farming which
they possessed.
Again, the original homesteads have been divided and subdivided till
the present owners realized to sustain themselves on what land they own
and lay up anything for rainy days, they must give the soil attention, and the
result is that our farmers have learned to cultivate their lands without
wearing them out by the production of three or four crops, while the
condition of the farms in Boone County are improving year by year. The
farmers have learned that their land must be fed, and different kinds of
fertilizers are being used and are becoming more popular, in return for
which the farm yields largely increased crops. In a few years nearly all the
farmers will fertilize extensively as the experience of those now engaged in
it is entirely satisfactory.
Much more attention is being given a variety of crops and stocks,
which has greatly increased the farmers' source of revenue, and assisted
them in keeping their lands in a productive state, which is impossible where
one crop is produced year after year. No farmer can now be reconciled to
the cultivation of a single crop, or supporting on his farm a single kind of
stock. The man who pursues this course is not considered authority on
agriculture.
Our farmers of the present day are a reading class, which, together
with the frequent interchanges of views with neighbors, enables them to
take advantage of the experience of many others, advancing them to a point
in their business which is not delayed by tedious and perplexing
experiments. Taking it all in all, Boone has a very thrifty and intelligent lot
of farmers, who are annually increasing their wealth and advancing the
prosperity of their property.
Bulletin of the Boone County High School
1 Mar 1911 Burlington, Ky.
AGRICULTURE
"Boone County is an agricultural community, and it is to be supposed and
desired that most of the students will, in later years, be farmers and farmers’
wives. Preparatory for this occupation a course is given, treating of soil, fertilizer,
crops, farms economics. Attention is given to grafting, budding, spraying, planting
and seed testing. Much of this will be actual experimental work, thus combining
practice with theory."
BCR 9 Mar 1911, p. 7, col. 1.
Typed by James Duvall, M. A., 31 Dec 2011.