Livestock Populations in Bridgewater from 1860 to 1880.

Bridgewater	Working Oxen	Milch cow	Other Cattle	Sheep	Swine	Horses	Mules and Asses
1860	93	171	348	51	630	100	0
1870	68	282	394	860	540	293	13
1880	38	475	581	313	533	460	29

**The units for the above table are in numbers of animals

Based on the above graph and table from the census data, we are able to see steady increases in the cattle, horse, and mule and asses population. These increases mark the beginning of farm diversification and shows that farmers were utilizing the advantage of the horse.   Swine and working oxen populations decrease throughout the thirty years while sheep populations spike in 1870 and drop drastically in 1880.  The working oxen population drop is probably best explained by the increase in horse populations as many farmers made the switch from one animal to another.  The rise and fall in sheep populations correlate with the increase in wool demand for Civil War Uniforms.  The jump in sheep populations could also be partly due to the opening of the Woolen Mills  in Fairbault in 1865 (Swanberg, 1976).

Crop Yields in Bridgewater Township from 1860 to 1880.

Bridgewater	Barley	Buckwheat	Indian Corn	Oats	Rye	Wheat	Peas and Beans	Irish Potatoes	Tobacco	Orchard Products
1860	1237	166	20235	16971	414	15698	65	8746	630	0
1870	1630	1081	19565	14256	3533	39370	481	6471	0	0
1880	3723	154	30637	27707	40	75375		13046	0	199

**The units of the above table are in bushels

As seen above, Wheat is the only crop to increase in yields from 1860 to 1880.  Other crop yields stay the same from 1860 to 1870 but rise in yields from 1870 to 1880.  Oats, indian corn, and irish potatoes demonstrate this pattern.

The data in the above graph shows an unusual pattern of improved land going down in acreage in 1870.  The rise in improved land could possibly be explained by more land needing to be cleared as population and farming increased.  The unimproved land also shows an unusual pattern of gaining acreage in 1880 but this could be due to more farms being settled between 1870 and 1880.  Woodland acreage shows a typical decreasing pattern. The interesting trends in this data could also be due to the inaccuracy of the census data.