Argiculture

Agriculture was the most important economic activity in America from the founding of Virginia in 1607 to about 1890. Although farming declined rapidly in relative economic importance in the twentieth century, U.S. agriculture continued to be the most efficient and productive in the world. Its success rested on abundant fertile soil, a moderate climate, the ease of private land ownership, growing markets for farm produce at home and abroad, and the application of science and technology to farm operations.

The first settlers, finding that European agriculture could not easily be transferred to the new environment, adopted the Indian practices of raising corn, squash, tobacco, and other crops. From the beginning corn, grown in all the colonies, was the leading food crop. Tobacco, which was exported to earn foreign exchange, was raised mostly in Virginia and Maryland.

In New England, farmers on small acreages raised corn, oats, and rye, vegetables and fruits, and livestock, especially cattle and sheep. In the central colonies of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey wheat was the major crop. Farmers there were also heavy producers of livestock and animal products, as well as fruit and vegetables. Most farmers in early America were largely self-sufficient, producing enough for their family needs, but also some surplus for sale.

Agriculture from Maryland, and southward, was more specialized and commercialized than in the North. Corn was the main grain and food crop, but tobacco, rice, and indigo were the principal export crops. The plantation system was developed in connection with the production of tobacco and rice, with black slaves providing much of the labor by the late seventeenth century. Cotton was grown for home use in the late eighteenth century, but because it was difficult to extract the seeds it did not become an important commercial crop until after the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793. Farmers then used crude hand tools made of wood, sometimes with iron parts. Plows too might have an iron facing on the cutting edge. Planting, weeding, and harvesting were done by hand labor.

Significant changes in farming began to occur at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Between the American Revolution and the Civil War, tens of thousands of farmers surged westward to settle on the rich lands of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. [1]There a grain-livestock empire gradually took shape that was unequaled anywhere in the world. In the South farmers and planters pushed into Alabama and Mississippi and as far west as Texas, establishing a vast cotton kingdom and backcountry of mainly self-sufficient farmers. Agricultural expansion was encouraged by removal of Indians from choice farmlands, liberal public land policies, development of canal and rail transportation, demand for food and fiber in the growing towns and cities, increasing exports, and especially improved farm machinery. One of the greatest advances made in agriculture before the Civil War was the shift from human to animal power and the use of new labor-saving machines. Besides the cotton gin, innovations such as iron and steel plows, reapers, threshing machines, grain drills, corn and cotton planters, and iron harrows and cultivators became common. These implements were drawn by oxen and horses. In 1800, it took fifty-six man-hours to grow (Fite 27).

Meanwhile, agricultural reformers advised farmers to rotate their crops, conserve the soil, use fertilizers, adopt new crops, improve livestock breeds, and use the latest machinery. Although a few farmers practiced soil conservation by rotating crops or growing legumes, they just simply plowed up new lands when the fertility of their fields declined. Of the three main components of productionÐ'--land, labor, and capitalÐ'--land was the cheapest, so it made economic sense in the short run to exploit the soil to the fullest (Fite 28).

Farmers continued to supply many of their own needs, but increasingly they were selling their produce, much of it abroad, and buying manufactured goods. Cotton was highly important because they earned foreign exchange for investment in American manufacturing and transportation. Moreover, agriculture supplied the raw materials for some of the nation's leading manufactures such as textiles and food products. In brief, agriculture was a powerful engine behind American economic development in the first half of the nineteenth century (Schelbecker 194).

Elise Boulding argued that women initiated the Agricultural Revolution. According to Boulding, [2]the Agricultural Revolution occurred in two stages, horticulture and agricultural proper. Boulding defines horticulture as farming carried out by hand tools that produce enough food for subsistence only. She defines agricultural proper as farming that produces surpluses of food by using plows and other machinery. The result of what women did throughout these two stages of the Agricultural Revolution was crucial because it led to the establishment of settlements and changed the roles of people and their relationships with each other. Boulding indicates that everything women did throughout this time period had an impact on the future. Through cause and effect, Boulding shows how women discovered the value of a simple grain of einkorn and how that triggered a series of events that changed the world forever. According to the article, women had discovered the value of einkorn as long ago as the year 20,000 B.C. The women of the nomadic herds of this time would gather these grains of einkorn while at their various campsites. Due to the construction of the einkorn seed, it was easily able to plant itself. When the women would gather and bring in the plant, grains would drop and the following year when the nomadic herds would return to their campsite, there would be a stand of grain waiting for them. The women caught on to this and began making a point to scatter extra grain so that there would be einkorn waiting for them when they returned to camp. This was the beginning of planting. Eventually the amount of einkorn that grew would last the nomadic herds for the year, and there would be no need for them to leave. This was the establishment of settlements.

Boulding explains that the earliest settlements used horticulture farming; a style she argues was completely dominated by women. Boulding explains that the women knew where the best places to grow grain were and how to mark the fields (31). With the help of their children, the women would gather fruit and nuts and bring in the grain at harvest time. In these horticultural settlements, the roles of children changed in that they now had family responsibilities in the fields. The family relationship strengthened