4 BULLETIN 694, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
DESCRIPTION OF AREA SURVEYED. 
The area selected for this study is typical of a comparatively wide 
section of south central Michigan, a part of northwestern Ohio, and | 
northeastern Indiana. It presents conditions which exist generally 
in that region situated on the northern edge of what is commonly 
known as the corn belt proper. The region in general is well devel- 
oped in growing general farm crops, dairying, and the production of 
live stock. (Fig. 1.) 
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. 
Lenawee County was one of the first counties in Michigan in which 
agricultural development started. The tide of immigration into this 
part of the State began on a large scale in 1836. From 1836 to 1860 
the agricultural development of Lenawee County was rapid, and 
since that time it has been very satisfactory. Statistics show that 
there were 3,251 farms in Lenawee County in 1880, and that in 1910 
Fig. 2.—Typical farm scene, Lenawee County, Mich. 
this number has increased to 5,334. The county in general now has 
every evidence of a prosperous agricultural section. (See fig. 2.) 
During the early period of development oxen were quite generally 
used for practically all kinds of farm work. In 1860 there were 2,247 
work oxen in the county, but by 1900 oxen had been entirely dis- 
placed by horses. During this time large numbers of sheep were 
pastured on the cheap, partially developed land, which greatly 
increased the farm income and materially assisted in the process of 
land clearing. The sheep industry in Lenawee County appears to 
have reached the high-water mark in 1880, at which time there were 
116,508 head of sheep on the farms of the county. The following 
figures taken from the United States census show the rise and decline 
of this industry in the county from 1860 to 1910: 
