Many poor German immigrants and Scots-Irish settlers began their careers as agricultural wage laborers. Farmers also expanded their production of flaxseed and corn since flax was in high demand in the Irish linen industry and a demand for corn existed in the West Indies. By 1770, a bushel of wheat cost twice as much as it did in 1720. A massive population explosion in Europe drove wheat prices up. After 1720, mid-Atlantic farming was stimulated by the international demand for wheat. In New York, a fur-pelt export trade to Europe flourished and added additional wealth to the region.
A few scientifically informed farmers (mostly wealthy planters like George Washington) began fertilizing their fields with dung and lime and rotating their crops to keep the soil fertile.īefore 1720, most colonists in the mid-Atlantic region worked in small-scale farming and paid for imported manufactures by supplying the West Indies with corn and flour. This tool was able to triple the amount of work done by a farmer in one day. During the 1750s, these agricultural innovators replaced the hand sickles and scythes used to harvest hay, wheat, and barley with the cradle scythe, a tool with wooden fingers that arranged the stalks of grain for easy collection.
Many improvement-minded farmers of different backgrounds began using new agricultural practices to increase their output. Using this technique, they grew corn for human consumption and for livestock feed, especially for hogs. In the American colonies, the Scots-Irish focused on mixed farming. The Scots Irish built their livelihoods on some farming but more herding (of hogs and cattle). For example, they generally preferred oxen to horses for plowing. They adapted Old World techniques to a much more abundant land supply.įurthermore, the Germans showed a long-term tendency to keep the farm in the family and to avoid having their children move to towns. German Americans brought with them practices and traditions that were quite different from those of the English and Scots. Ethnic farming styles Įthnicity made a difference in agricultural practice. Logging, hunting and fishing supplemented the family economy. Farmers supplemented their income with sales of surplus crops or animals in the local market, or by exports to the slave colonies in the West Indies. Throughout the colonial period, subsistence farming was pervasive. Cotton became a major plantation crop after 1800 in the " Black Belt," that is the region from North Carolina in an arc through Texas where the climate allowed for cotton cultivation.Īpart from the tobacco and rice plantations, the great majority of farms were subsistence, producing food for the family and some for trade and taxes. Plantation agriculture, using slaves, developed in Virginia and Maryland (where tobacco was grown), and South Carolina (where indigo and rice was grown). To fertilize this crop, they used small fish which they called herrings or shads. The first settlers in Plymouth Colony planted barley and peas from England but their most important crop was Indian corn ( maize) which they were shown how to cultivate by the native Squanto. Native Americans farmed domesticated crops in the Eastern Woodlands, the Great Plains, and the American Southwest. While some populations were primarily hunter-gatherers, other populations relied on agriculture. Prior to the arrival of Europeans in North America, the continent supported a diverse range of indigenous cultures. See video below for the proper way to test your batteries.Further information: Eastern Agricultural Complex, Agriculture in the prehistoric Southwest, and Agriculture on the prehistoric Great Plains
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