19th Century Tales of Agricultural Oddities

Fact or fiction, tales of agriculture oddities make great newspaper copy. “Old stories of mammoth squashes and cucumbers should now be dug about and heavily mulched, in readiness for transplanting in the newspapers in the fall,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel quipped on April 11, 1879.

Following are 19th century tales of agricultural oddities collected from Northern New York historic newspapers:

• It was a supposedly true story reminiscent of a fairy tale. “It is stated on good authority, that of a well-known gentleman in town, that one day the beans he planted in his garden grew two inches in eight hours,” the Salem correspondent reported in The Granville Sentinel on June 22, 1894. “This story, which is nevertheless true, reminds one somewhat of the legend of Jack and the bean stalk, and it can only be added that it is verily wished this gentleman might have riches added to him by the manner in which Jack and his mother gained a fortune.”
• “Stephen V. Morton has a squash in his garden that promises to beat the record. It measures seventy-two inches and is still growing,” the Luzerne correspondent reported in The Morning Star of Glens Falls on September 22, 1894.
• “Six pears whose aggregate weight was four pounds were picked from a tree on the premises of T.H. Orcutt, Queensbury,” The Morning Star reported on September 5, 1894.
• “James W. Vaughn of Harrisena yesterday brought to The Star office a stalk of buckwheat seven feet and one-half inches in height. At its base the stalk is as large as an ordinary fishing rod, and the clusters if grain extend to the extreme top,” The Morning Star reported on September 15, 1894. “A stalk grown on the James K. Bentley farm, Ridge Road, which is exactly six feet high was also brought in.”
• “R.S. Bailey’s experience promises to refute the assertion that sweet potatoes and peanuts cannot be successfully cultivated in this section,” the South Glens Falls correspondent reported in The Morning Star on September 21, 1894. “He has fourteen hills of sweet potatoes in his garden. He dug a potato yesterday that weighed one and a quarter pounds, and its flavor is almost equal to that of the southern article. He is also raising a quantity of peanuts that are developing rapidly.”
• “Mrs. Orlin Phelps has a corn stalk in her garden which measures twelve feet in height,” the Brayton correspondent reported in The Morning Star on September 22, 1894.
• “A pumpkin is on exhibition in the front window at Black’s restaurant that measures sixty-four inches around. It was raised by John Ingalls of Hebron,” the Fort Edward correspondent reported in The Morning Star on October 9, 1894.
• “We saw a potato grown on A. S. Viall’s farm that weighed more than three lbs. Beat it, if you can,” the Crown Point correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on October 20, 1876.
• “In Day & Van Veich’s window on Glen Street [in Glens Falls] is a big red apple of the variety known as King of Tompkins County,” The Morning Star reported on November 7, 1894. “It measures 13 ½ inches in circumference. It was grown on a farm just outside town.”
• “J.M. Fish, Sanford Street, has broken the record in the tall corn line,” The Morning Star reported on August 25, 1893. “He left a stalk at this office yesterday that measures fourteen-feet-four-and-one-quarter inches.”
• “Frank Hall has on exhibition at Ward’s store a stalk of corn measuring twelve feet, which he grew in his garden,” the Hartford correspondent reported in The Morning Star on August 28, 1893
• “Beat that if you can,” The Fort Edward Ledger challenged readers on September 14, 1860. “Mr. Daniel Sweet of this village [Sandy Hill, later Hudson Falls] has harvested one hundred and eighty bushels of oats from two acres of ground. If this has ever been equaled in the state of New York, we would like to be informed of this feat.”
• “N.K. Varney, while selecting some vegetables for the table last Sabbath, pulled a turnip-beet of the white variety that measured 18 inches and weighed three pounds. Can any of our Kingsbury friends beat this?” the Dunham’s Basin correspondent reported in The Commercial Advertiser of Sandy Hill, now Hudson Falls, on August 10, 1881.

Photo: A New York Times pressman checking a newspaper for defects in 1942