Read it Again: Week of Oct. 4, 2001.

80 years ago this week. Farms advertised for sale included: 36-acre farm in Wayne County’s Sugar Creek Township “right on the Lincoln Highway,” with seven-room house, $9,500; 155 acres also in Sugar Creek Township, “one of the best farms in eastern Wayne County,” $165 per acre.

Since July, 58,832 Ohio farm people have learned a new method of culling all hens that will not lay in winter, according to the Ohio State University. The university coordinated 2,438 meetings in 70 Ohio counties. It is estimated that a saving of more than $50,000 was made for the owners of the 2,348 flocks who held demonstrations, as a loafing hen carried from fall to Christmas loses 80 cents for its owner.

50 years ago this week. Nick Martinovich, a dairy farmer of near Lake Milton, Ohio, has patented a gutter cleaner incorporating new principles of gutter and chain construction that is one of the most efficient, inexpensive cleaners in use today. Although any length would be equally efficient, this one measures 36 feet, providing room for 12 cows. At normal speeds the gutter can be completely emptied in three minutes. Martinovich never tires of explaining the merits and advantages of his cleaner. He cannot say enough about the practicality of his invention. But his true feelings can be expressed in just six words – “no shovels, no fork, no nothing.” And to a manure-hating farmer, this is dairying at its best.

< b> 25 years ago this week. The Tuscarawas County and Ohio Farm Bureaus asked the state Board of Tax Appeals to adopt changes in the assessment of property taxes on oil and gas wells. The reassessment would compensate landowners for production losses from the wellsite, roadway, and land where tanks are located.

The changes would set oil and gas well valuations at the same level for landowners and oil companies. Previously, landowners’ values exceeded oil companies’ values by over 150 percent. According to County Auditor Don Kinsey, the total tax value of wells in the county is the highest in the state.