80 years ago this week. Economists at Ohio State University have decided, after investigations, that farms that do not use a tractor more than 250 hours a year are too small to use them economically. The average hour cost for less than 250 hours was $1.36, with some costs mounting to $2.24 per hour, while the farms using tractors more than 250 hours per year averaged $1.15 per hour.
In Tuscarawas County, Lillie Donahoo asked for divorce from her husband because he would not talk to her, and Albert Inchamp filed suit for divorce from his wife because he alleged she talked too much.
The Pippin Lake Fruit Farm, consisting of 28 acres of bearing fruit trees in Portage County’s Franklin Township, has been sold to the City of Akron for $25,000. Akron’s purpose in securing title to this real estate was to get control of the drainage into lakes Pippin and Rockwell, the source of the most of Akron’s water supply. The farm was owned for many years by the Heighton family, most recently by Herbert Heighton.
50 years ago this week. John Deere announces two new heavy-duty 8- and 3-plow tractors, which are successors to previous models A and B.
According to dealers, these new tractors feature a host of engineering advancements and major improvements, which make the greatest values ever offered by John Deere.
25 years ago this week. A fire started by an arsonist destroyed 35-40 tons of new hay on the Harold Brown farm on Route 224 west of Ellsworth, Ohio. Martig Brothers, who farm Brown’s property, had made hay and left it in the field, stacks close together. The stacks were along a large multiflora rose hedge and hardly visible from the highway.
In the late afternoon a neighborhood boy said he saw a car drive into the field and a man tossed something from the car. Very shortly smoke was seen and the fire department called. The burning hay smoldered and sent up smoke for four days.
