The Agricultural Revolution

Introduction to the Agricultural Revolution

By Mary Bellis, About.com

The Agricultural Revolution

Introduction to the Agricultural Revolution

See More About:

farming2
industrial revolution3
agricultural revolution4
plow5
reaper6

Between the eighth century and the eighteenth, the tools of farming
basically stayed the same and few advancements in technology were
made.
The farmers of George Washington's day had no better tools than had the farmers of Julius
Caesar's day; in fact, early Roman plows were superior to those in general use in America
eighteen centuries later.
The decade of the Civil War serves as a landmark to mark the passing of one period in
American life and the beginning of another; especially in agriculture and technology.
The United States which fought the Civil War was vastly different from the United States which
fronted the world at the close of the Revolution. The scant four million people of 1790 had
grown to thirty-one and a half million. This growth had come chiefly by natural increase, but
also by immigration, conquest, and annexation. Settlement had reached the Pacific Ocean,
though there were great stretches of almost uninhabited territory between the settlements on
the Pacific and those just beyond the Mississippi.

What Was the Agricultural Revolution?

The agricultural revolution was a period of agricultural development between the 18th century
and the end of the 19th century, which saw a massive and rapid increase in agricultural
productivity and vast improvements in farm technology.
Listed below are many of the inventions that were created or greatly improved during the
agricultural revolution.

Plow & Moldboard

By definition a plow (also spelled plough) is a farm tool with one or more heavy blades that
breaks the soil and cut a furrow (small ditch) for sowing seeds. A moldboard is the wedge
formed by the curved part of a steel plow blade that turns the furrow.

History of Plows7

Seed Drills
Seed drills sow seeds, before drills were invented seeding was done by hand. The basic ideas
in drills for seeding small grains were successfully developed in Great Britain, and many British
drills were sold in the United States before one was manufactured in the States. American
manufacture of these drills began about 1840. Seed planters for corn came somewhat later, as
machines to plant wheat successfully were unsuited for corn planting. In 1701, Jethro Tull
invented his seed drill and is perhaps the best known inventor of a mechanical planter.

Jethro Tull8

Machines That Harvest - Sickles, Reapers, & Harvesters

By definition a sickle is a curved, hand-held agricultural tool used for harvesting grain crops.
Horse drawn mechanical reapers later replaced sickles for harvesting grains. Reapers
developed into and was replaced by the reaper-binder (cuts grain and binds it in sheaves),
which was in turn was replaced by the swather and then the combine harvester. The combine
harvester is a machine that heads, threshes and cleans grain while moving across the field.

History of Sickles & Reapers

History of Harvestors10
History of Haying Machines11

Early steamboat. LOC

The Agricultural Revolution

Influence of the Civil War on the Agricultural Revolution

See More About:

farming13
industrial revolution14
agricultural revolution15
textile16
cotton gin17

Textile Industry Flourishes in the North

The cotton gin19 had turned the whole South toward the cultivation of cotton. The South was
not manufacturing any considerable proportion of the cotton it grew, but the textile industry
was flourishing in North. A whole series of machines similar to those used in Great Britain, but
not identical, had been invented in America. American mills paid higher wages than British and
in quantity production were far ahead of the British mills, in proportion to hands employed,
which meant being ahead of the rest of the world.

Wages in America
Wages in America, measured by the world standard, were high. There was a good supply of
free land, or land that was practically free. The wages paid were high enough to attract

laborers who could save enough to buy their own land. Workers in textile mills often worked
only a few years to save money, buy a farm, or to enter some business or profession.

Advances in Transportation Lines

The steamboat20, and the railroad21, offered transportation to the West. Steamboats travelled
all the larger rivers and the lakes. The railroad was growing rapidly. Its lines had extended to
more than thirty thousand miles. Construction went on during the war, and the
transcontinental railway was in sight. The locomotive had approached standardization, and the
American railway was comfortable for passengers, with Pullman sleeping cars22, the dining
cars, and the automatic air brake of George Westinghouse23 being invented.
This About.com page has been optimized for print. To view this page in its original form, please visit:
http://inventors.about.com/od/indrevolution/a/AgriculturalRev.htm
2009 About.com, Inc., a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.

Links in this article:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.

http://inventors.about.com/mbiopage.htm
http://inventors.about.com/lr/farming/269069/1/
http://inventors.about.com/lr/industrial_revolution/269069/2/
http://inventors.about.com/lr/agricultural_revolution/269069/3/
http://inventors.about.com/lr/plow/269069/4/
http://inventors.about.com/lr/reaper/269069/5/
http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/plow.htm
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bljethrotull.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/rstartinventions/a/reaper.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/rstartinventions/a/reaper_2.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/rstartinventions/a/reaper_3.htm
http://inventors.about.com/mbiopage.htm
http://inventors.about.com/lr/farming/269070/1/
http://inventors.about.com/lr/industrial_revolution/269070/2/
http://inventors.about.com/lr/agricultural_revolution/269070/3/
http://inventors.about.com/lr/textile/269070/4/
http://inventors.about.com/lr/cotton_gin/269070/5/
http://inventors.about.com/od/indrevolution/a/AgriculturalRev.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/cotton_gin.htm
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsteamship.htm
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blrailroad.htm
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blrailroad.htm#Pullman
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blrailroad.htm#Westinghouse