Lancaster County: Rolling in Clover in 1829
(John Baer's Cows-in-Clover Sale Bill)
(Click Image for Enlargement)
1829 Public Auction Announcement: Milk Cows, a Young Bull ...Clover Seed by the Bushel...
To my eye, the plain but dramatic design of John Baer's sale bills represents some of Lancaster's best typography.
John seems to have known that this broadside is exceptionally well-crafted. He printed his name here in unusually-large letters...to assure us that he deserves all the acclaim he receives.
And about that clover:
eginning in the 1700s, Lancaster County's Plain farmers transformed our county into an American Cornucopia, thanks to the help of a miraculous, new crop: red clover.
Red clover revolutionized American agriculture, and our Plain (but Progressive) farmers were among the first Americans to grow this important legume. They knew good hay when they saw it.
Nitrogen-rich clover restores your soil fertility. It fattens your cows, fattens your wallet, and fattens your family. Everyone gets fat and happy.
Red clover became a symbol of the excellence of Pennsylvania German agriculture.
"'In agriculture the old order really means the new order.' The Plain people 'epitomize the good farming practices for which the Pennsylvania Germans have long been famous' having been the first farmers to adopt diversified farming, crop rotation, manuring, lime, and the cultivation of red clover." (David J. Walbert quoting Walter Kollmorgen's 1940 USDA report.)
Clover seed was an important Lancaster County export. By the 1780s, newspapers were advertising "Lancaster County red clover seed" for sale.
By 1810, the census shows that Lancaster County had 12 clover mills to hull the clover seeds from the clover flowers. That same year, our clover mills produced 4,900 bushels of clover seed.
But...alfalfa was introduced into the U.S. in the 1860s as the next Wonder Crop, and replaced clover as our most important hay crop.
For me, though, red clover is always the first edition. Alfalfa is just a later reprint.
