15 TH CENTURY FARMING 18 TH CENTURY FARMING THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

PRIOR TO THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION OPEN FIELD SYSTEM Cooperative plowing Conserved the quality of land Balanced distribution of good land Farmers were part of a “team” Gleaning What are the positives and negatives to this system?

 ENCLOSURE  Each landowner received a single piece of property  No common lands  Open Field System How was Enclosure better than the Open Field System?

ENCLOSURE Large Land Owners  Had the political strength to pass The Enclosure Law  Owned large unified farms under this system  Farming was more efficient  Didn’t need consent of the village to experiment with new crop methods

ENCLOSURE Small Landowners  FORCED OFF THEIR LAND  Could not afford the:  Required fencing  A team of oxen  Could no longer glean or gather wood  Sold plots to large landowners:  Forced to Rent or  Work for someone else  Increasing the # of men looking for work

NEW TECHNOLOGY Minus the restrictions of the Open Field System – new technology and new farming techniques were implemented.

The Seed Drill – Jethro Tull  Planted seed in neat rows  Improved germination  Reduced amount of seed used in planting

Additional Machines  Horse-drawn cultivator – Jethro Tull  Cast-iron plow (1797) – American Charles Newbold  Reaper – Englishman Joseph Boyce (1799) and American Cyrus McCormic (1834)  Self-cleaning steel plow – John Deere(1837)  Thresher – separated grain from stalk  Harvester – cut and bind grain  Combine - cut, thresh, and sack grain  Tractor – pulled equipment through the field  Corn planter  Potato digger  Electric milker  Cotton picker

Scientific Agriculture Crop Rotation  Viscount Charles “Turnip” Townsend  Alternating grain crops: wheat and barley, with soil enriching crops: turnips and clovers.  No longer had to leave land fallow Scientific Breeding   Selective breeding of animals  Produced more and better animals  Produced more milk and meat

The Effects of the Agricultural Revolution 1. Agricultural production increased 2. Cost of foodstuffs dropped 3. Increased production of food resulted in part, in a rapid growth of population 4. Large farms, using machines and scientific methods, began to dominate agriculture 5. Number of small farms began to decline 6. The number of farmers, in proportion to total population, decreased sharply 7. Many farmers moved to the cities 8. The population of cities increased rapidly 9. Farmers found their work less difficult because machines performed the back breaking labor 10. Farming changed from a self-sufficient way of life to big business