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Agriculture Struggles
Many farms in the 1800's were almost self-sufficient. Only basic supplies such as flour, salt, cloth, ammunition, and tools were purchased or bartered with surplus grain or livestock raised on the farm. -
Ag Committee
The House of Representatives creates an agriculture committee. The Senate follows suit in 1825. -
Locamotives
Steamboats became important in western trade -
Competition
Competition with western farm areas began to force New England farmers out of wheat and meat production and into dairying, trucking, and, later, tobacco production -
Cotton
Cotton became the most important cash crop in the Old South -
Ag and Gov
The first Census of Agriculture is completed -
Wheat States
New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio were the chief wheat States -
Gold Rush
With the California gold rush, the frontier bypassed the Great Plains and the Rockies and moved to the Pacific coast -
Transportation
Major railroad trunk lines from eastern cities crossed the Appalachian Mountains and steam and clipper ships improved overseas transportation -
Civil war
Crops such as cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar cane and indigo were grown in great quantities. These crops were known as cash crops, ones that were raised to be sold or exported for a profit due to the exponential war funds. -
Post War
The widespread destruction of the war plunged many small farmers into debt and poverty, and led many to turn to cotton growing. The increased availability of commercial fertilizer and the spread of railroads into upcountry white areas, hastened the spread of commercial farming. -
Silos
The most important advance of the 1870s was the use of both silos, and the wide use of deep-well drilling, two advances that enabled larger farms and higher production of marketable surpluses.
