It is hard to imagine today, that in 1928 Delaware County had some 667 farms thru out the county.. The farms ran from a few acres to 50 plus and they grew everything. The above picture from the area of Crum Creek and Baltimore Pike near the Blue Route today gives some idea of what Delco was like some 100 plus years ago, The postcard dates from about 1912.
NOTE: No one today thinks of Delaware County as a farmland community but some 96 years ago it certainly was. The third smallest county in Pennsylvania it hard to imagine that many farms less then 100 hundred years ago. There are still farms today in the west-end.
CHESTER TIMES
September 15, 1928
LIST 667 FARMS IN THIS COUNTY
Total Farm Population Is 3269, and Acreage Is computed at 42,125
The second triennial farm census recently
completed in Delaware County, shows 667 farms, 565 of which are operated by
owners, eighty-six by tenants, and sixteen by managers, according to L. H.
Wible, director, Bureau of Statistics, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
The county has a total farm population of
3269, according to the census, and a total acreage in farms of 42,125, of which
14,249 is used for the principal field crops.
The acreage devoted to these crops is as follows: Corn for grain, 3282; for silage and fodder,
963; wheat, 1661; Oats, 1144; rye, 62; potatoes, 601; alfalfa hay, 1612; all
other tame hay, 4924.
The extent of fruit growing is indicated
by 23,729 apple trees of bearing age and 13,954 of non-bearing age, 21,416
peach trees of all ages, and 6532 pear trees of all ages.
The livestock industry is represented by
1409 horses including colts, 100 mules including mule colts, 3760 milk cows and
heifers, two years old and over, 551 heifers, one to two years old, 723 other
cattle and calves, 580 sows and gilts for breeding, 2681 other swine, and 917
sheep and lambs.
The count shows 43,041 hens and pullets of
laying age, 19277 other chickens, and 178 hives of bees.
Modern equipment and conveniences on farms
are as follows: 396 farm homes have
running water in kitchen and 346 have furnace heating systems. The farms have 11 milking machines in use,
671 automobiles, 321 trucks, 127 tractors, 254 gas engines, 342 telephones, 320
radios, and 119 silos, 27 of the farms have their own electric plants, and 301
receive electricity from a power station.
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