State Fair was at Janesville in 1851.


    ke the pickers in the West, who are described as
       Stransients obliged to provide their own shelter and
       e Sauk County pickers were given the best the farm
     *. Men and boys slept wrapped in blankets on the hay
     barn but that was like camping. Women and girls
       yen all the beds in the house, and big, plump ticks
       with straw that made nice, soft beds when spread on
       r of the sleeping quarters.
     eat preparations had to be made to house and feed
     Atwenty to forty or more people, the number depending
     size of the yard. Bedding and dishes were loaned by
     hbors to the housewife needing them at the time, then
     on as the crews moved from place to place. For many
     Ibefore the arrival of the pickers, the women folk were
     reparing edibles of all kinds, for the best was none too
     or hop pickers; for if meals were poor, there might be
     age of help on that particular farm the next year.
     it mealtime a bell was rung; the yards were emptied
     y. Before entering the farmhouse the workers washed
     lbasins in the yard or on the porch; this scrubbing up
     sometimes done thoroughly, sometimes not so well, but
   lient as a preliminary to the meal. The hungry crowd
   m1ore than ample justice to the loaded tables three times
   ,winning over the threshers who are supposed to head
   lIist in disposing of eatables and drinkables. The farmer
   a steady job getting supplies from town: the cost of it
   wvas enormous.
   !Evenings were spent telling stories around blazing bon-
   Sbuilt to smudge mosquitoes. Sometimes a fiddler, ac-
   lion player, a harmonica or a jew's-harp performer would
   rtain the group and if sufficient space could be found--
   rlly a granary or shed--a jolly crowd, augmented by visi-
   from other yards, would dance after supper till bedtime.
   me old couples today remember that their acquaintance be-
   in at a hop-picking dance.
   SAfter the hops at each yard had been baled, the hop buy-
 balweras werentsold and carrtiieawymanygeoing ection Eingand.,
    e were sopleniu asd politiie wymansybe ore ection  Finally,.
  huge profits made in hop-raising then are comparable to
tle fortunes made in gold and oil booms today. The owner of


Draft horse team.


a hopyard was rich, he was given unlimited credit, and in
many cases he took full advantage of this. New homes were
built and furnished; silk dresses, furs, paisley shawls, and
pianos were bought for the wife and daughters; fine horses
and carriages were kept in the stable and coach house; farm
machinery was purchased.
     Some early Wisconsin settlers from Virginia and
Ohio brought seeds for growing tobacco and, surpris-
ingly, a small tobacco industry began. First experi-
ments in tobacco growing were in Walworth County
in 1844, but the industry didn't really get started un-
til 1853 when two farmers from Ohio, Ralph Pomery
and J. J. Heistand, sowed two acres of broadleaf near
Edgerton in Rock County and, it is thought, some
more on what is now the McCoy farm in Dane Coun-
ty. Near Viroqua in Vernon County, easterners and
Norwegians began to grow an excllent leaf.


39