Farming 19th century/present
Agriculture has been the most important activity in America from the 1600's to the present but is rapidly declining in economic importance in the 21st century. The farm equipment has improved drastically, from hand labor to gas and diesel machinery (Fite 1). In the 1860's, farmers made up fifty-eight percent of the labor force (ARS). The agriculture business was the foundation of the west. The most common farm tools used in the 19th century were made from wood and metal strips. These tools were used by hand labor or pulled by a strong workhorse (Fite 1). Most of the farmers went to a near town and purchased a few slaves for a good price. Slaves were the main farm workers in the north until the end of the Civil War. They would do the farmers hard work for little, or no pay. Due to the end of slavery the blacks were able to become shareowners on several farms. They were granted their freedom, as well the right to own and harvest their own land (Duane 156). One hot invention in the 1800's was the harvesting machine and thresher. The harvesting machine was created by an American inventor searching for an easier way to cut down the grain stalks. This young inventor's name was C
This was created by two brothers in 1836, but wasn't used much until the early 1900's. In the early 1890's the first gas tractor came out in the market. This also helped prevent a lot of the plow damage produced by large rocks in the field, so fewer pieces had to be repeatedly replaced. Then by 1935 the equipment hydraulics were added to the tractor. During the 1850's almost all Americans lived on farms and each of these farmers feed an average of four people. there are currently 2,100,000 farms in business, and out of these farms there are approximately 465 million acres of cropland. Although, this tractor operated smoother than the steam powered it was still too weak to work with machinery. In 1862 the congress passed the Homestead Act. So this was the beginning of the mechanical age and the end of the animal age (Duane 159). This process allowed a farmer to receive water on a field when needed, rather than only when it rained. 4 million bales of cotton, 172 million bushels of wheat, and large quantities of other grain, tobacco, fruit, vegetables, and small amounts of other crops. This would stop the need for farmers in the United States. I believe that the United States will soon begin to import good, and foods from other countries. In the earlier years of farming people had subsistence farms.
Common topics in this essay:
John Deere,
Homestead Act,
CENTURY Agriculture,
Cyrus McCormick,
Civil War,
harvesting machine,
,
harvesting machine thresher,
machine thresher,
hand labor,
steam powered,
fite 3,
farmers grow,
fite 1,
fruit vegetables,
duane 159,
duane 31,
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Acceptance Essays
