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Article: Roads of farming history run through Lake County.(Neighbor)(Lake County Discovery Museum)
- Article from:
- Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL)
- Article date:
- September 14, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Paddock Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Diana Dretske
This morning my husband bemoaned the lack of rain, commenting that you can tell we're no longer an agricultural society when the TV weatherman is gleeful about the lack of rain in the forecast.
With 60,000 acres of cropland remaining in Lake County, and only 3 percent of Americans nationwide employed as farmers, it's no wonder we know so little about an occupation that was key in this nation's founding.
Farming remained relatively unchanged until the 19th century. Harvesting of wheat was still cut by hand with scythes and thrashed with flails. But inventors such as Cyrus McCormick (1809-1884) of Virginia introduced the ...