. The story of agriculture in the United States. anters and farmersare in general the greatest slovens in Christendom; plentyof land ruins their husbandry in every respect of generalconduct — neatness, good management, spirited attempts,etc. So shiftless were their methods that it was not atall unusual for the farmer to move his barn away fromthe manure pile, when the latter became too large. Such are the most general facts concerning colonialagriculture. Of course, there were many have seen how, in Puritan towns, sheep and cattlewere used to fertilize the fields. As time went on
. The story of agriculture in the United States. anters and farmersare in general the greatest slovens in Christendom; plentyof land ruins their husbandry in every respect of generalconduct — neatness, good management, spirited attempts,etc. So shiftless were their methods that it was not atall unusual for the farmer to move his barn away fromthe manure pile, when the latter became too large. Such are the most general facts concerning colonialagriculture. Of course, there were many have seen how, in Puritan towns, sheep and cattlewere used to fertilize the fields. As time went on, manyfarmers in all the colonies were driven to more carefulcultivation of their fields. This was especially true inNew England. Here Jared Eliot, who had travelled inEurope, taught and wrote about the necessity of clovercrops and other improved methods. He brought fromEngland a horse-hoe and urged farmers to plow deeperthan was the custom. Everywhere in the earliest times, and always on thefrontier, the live-stock ran wild in the woods. The. 52 AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES animals were generally branded. Often the farmer calledhis cattle and pigs to the barnyard at night, where theywere given a little feed; and they usually stayed nearduring the winter. But they were given httle or noshelter. It was a belief of some in early Virginia thatit would kill a cow to keep her housed and to milk her during the winter. As aresult of their poor treatment,horses and cattle became smaller,and more lean and ragged,through succeeding became thin and Southern Pine ^j^^ average fleece of a sheep Woods Hog .1,1 ^ weighed only two or three pounds, and a horse that was thirteen or fourteen handshigh was considered of good size. Agricultural implements were few and very were generally used for plowing. They werestronger and steadier than horses and were less injuredby the exposure and hard work of the colonial were no iron plows in the co
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
