Farming at Hopewell Furnace

Hopewell's Hay Set Iron in Motion

Hopewell Furnace was a rural industry; agriculture was integral to its operation and the community. Most Hopewell families did some farming on the "iron plantation."

Probably no crop grown at Hopewell Furnace was as important as hay. Hay fueled the dozen of horses which hauled the charcoal, limestone and iron ore that went into the furnace and transported to market all of the products the furnace produced.

Hay is made up of grasses and legumes (like clover). They were carefully preserved by drying to be used as feed in the winter or when the horses were too busy to graze.

Scythes, Rakes and Dry Weather

Besides people to cut it, the only things needed to make hay, are a rake and a fork. A scythe has a long blade and handle. It was swung by the haymaker to mow the plants down. Rakes were either manual--like today's garden rakes-- or horse drawn mechanical models. Forks were used for turning the hay to help it dry or for loading hay onto carts for storage in the barn or for forming haystacks.

Rain disrupted the drying process and leached nutrients away from curing hay. In the 1830s hay making was a time consuming chore, and it was hard to predict when a long dry stretch would occur. Furnace records are as likely to note when it was dry during hay cutting season as when it rained-- both were noteworthy.

Hay Stacks and Hay Facts

Hay production in Pennsylvania rose dramatically in the nineteenth century due to the improvement of the state's roads. Better roads meant more horses, and more horses ate more hay.

Modern farmers use machines to gather their hay into tightly packed bales. Nineteenth-century Hopewell farmers probably put most of their hay up loose in the barn's mow where it could be pitched to the animals below. Company records show that some of the hay was gathered into stacks in the fields.

Timothy and clover were two popular varieties of hay. They remain two of the area's popular hays today.

In 1826 the furnace harvested enough hay to sell a surplus. A "load" went for forty cents, and five dollars bought either a ton or half of a stack.

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