THE COMING OF MODERN

AGRICULTURE IN ENGLAND

16th century England

1. Before the 18th century in large parts of England, the countryside was open.
Peasants cultivated on strips of land around the village they lived in.
2. At the beginning of each year, strips of varying quality were allocated to each
villager.
This ensured that everyone had a mix of good & bad land.
These strips were located in different places, not next to each other.

16th century EnglandCommon Land

3. Beyond these strips of cultivation lay the common land.

All villagers had an access to the commons.
Here they pastured their cows and grazed their sheep.
4. They collected fuel wood for fire and berries and fruit for
food. They fished in the rivers and ponds, and hunted small
animals in common forests.
5. For the poor, the common land was essential for survival.
6. It supplemented merge income sustained their cattle and
helped them tide over bad times when crops failed.

TH CENTURY ENGLAND- COMMON LA

THE REASONS FOR THE ENCLOSURE IN

ENGLAND
1. Rising demand
for wool:
In the 16th century the price of wool went up in the
world market, to earn more profits, the rich wanted to
improve their sheep breed.
To improve their sheep breed, good pastures were
required.
So they started enclosing the common land to provide
proper pastures to the sheep.

THE REASONS FOR THE ENCLOSURE IN

ENGLAND
2. Various acts:
The early enclosures were usually created by individual
landlords.
They were not supported by the state or the church.
But between 1750-1850, 4,000 Acts were passed to
legalise the enclosures.
6 million acres of land was enclosed.

THE REASONS FOR THE ENCLOSURE IN

ENGLAND
3. Rapid growth
in population:
There was a rapid growth of population England
between the 18th and the 19th centuries.
It increased over 4 times between 1750-1900.
The increased population meant more demand
for food grains and other products so the
people had no other option except to enclose
open fields.

THE REASONS FOR THE ENCLOSURE IN

ENGLAND
4. Increase in demand
for food-grains:
There was shortage of food grains in England
due to increases in population, industralisation
and war with France.
Price of food grains in England sky rocketed,
encouraging landowners to enclose lands and
enlarge the area under grain cultivation.

THE REASONS FOR THE ENCLOSURE IN

ENGLAND
5. Use of machinery:
As the demand for food grains was increasing
at a very fast rate, the rich people started using
machines.
These machines needed large farms.
So the rich landlords started enclosing more
and open fields.

Open field system & labourers

1. An open field system held great attraction for the
labourer. He could meet almost all his needs from such
open fields.
2. At the initial stage, the open field system was good
for the labourers. They could get jobs in these fields.
3. When the demand for wool and food grains increased
in Europe, they started, getting regular work.
4. During the open field system, the labourers used to
live with land owners.

THE IMPACT OF ENCLOSURES ON THE

POOR
FARMERS
1. When fences came up, the enclosed land became the
exclusive property of one landowner.
The poor could no longer collect their firewood from the
forests, or graze their cattle on the commons.
2. They could no longer collect apples and barriers, or
hunt small animals for meat.
3. They could not gather the stalks that lay on the fields
after the crops were harvested.

THE IMPACT OF ENCLOSURES ON

THE POOR
FARMERS
4. In the places, where enclosures happened on an
extensive scale
( Midlands & counties around), the
poor were displaced from the land.They moved to the
Southern counties.
5. They found their customary rights were gradually
disappearing.
6. Deprived of their rights, and driven off the land, they
tramped in search of work. But nowhere could the poor
find secure jobs.
7. Labourers were being paid low wages and employed
only during harvest time.
8. Their work became insecure, employment uncertain
and income unstable.

 Open field system meant

to a peasant woman
1. Under the open field system, the
women were an important part of
the family. They were also playing
very important role in daily affairs.
2. Cow keeping, collection of wood,
gathering of barriers and fruits from
the open fields was earlier mostly
done by women and children.

 Open field system meant to a

peasant woman
3. With the disappearance of the open fields
system, they could no longer collect anything from
the open fields.
4. It became difficult for women to graze cattle and
fulfill the requirement of food for their family.
5. With the disappearance of the open field system,
the male members had to move, out of villages in
search of work. So the burden of family was on the
women.
6. Went to towns & became domestic workers.

Introduction of threshing
machines

Introduction of threshing machines

Population increased tremendously in mid 18th
cent.
The demand for food grains was increasing at a
very fast rate.
Shortage of wasteland.
The rich people started using machines.

 THE AGE OF ENCLOSURES

Grain production grew as quickly as population
In 1868 England was producing 80% of food it
consumed.
This was possible as more land was brought under
cultivation.
Pasturelands, openfields, forest, marshes were turned
into agricultural fields.
Simple innovations- planting of turnip & clover increasd
fertility of soil.
Invested on enclosures- to expand land under control &
produce more for market.

 Opposition of threshing machines by

the poor in
England
1. For the poor the threshing machines had
become a sign of bad times.
2. The rich landowners complained of the
insolence of labourers and the difficulty of
making them to work.
3. They thought, the machines would help them
to reduce their dependence on labourers.

 Opposition of threshing machines by

the poor in
England
4. Due to the threshing machines, rich farmers were
enclosing more and more open fields.
5. This was having an adverse impact on the poor class.
Now the area under open fields was decreasing.
6. Earlier it was common for labourers to live with the
landowners. They used to help their master throughout
the year but with the introduction of machines, work
became insecure, employment uncertain and income
unstable.

AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION

End of Napoleonic wars.

Thousands of soldiers became unemployed.
Flow of grains from Europe to England.
Price of food grains decreased.
Setback to landlords.
The landowners reduced the area under cultivation.
Cut wages & no. of workers employed on farms.
The unemployed poor workers had to migrate.
Blamed threshing machines for their miseries.

CAPTAIN SWING RIOTS(1830-31)

Captain Swing was no person but a mythic
name used by poor labourers, who were
deprived of their common land, of their
livelihood and even of their jobs.
They could not openly face the influential
landlords, so they adopted this new method of
threatening them.
At night they would attack the farmhouses of
the landowners, destroy the threshing
machines, burn their barn and haystacks and
sometimes, their entire farmhouses.

CAPTAIN SWING RIOTS

The landlords had taken their common land which was

essential for their survival, so the poor labourers
threatened them of dire consequences under the
symbolic name of Captain Swing.
This was their novice scheme to save themselves from
the operation of the law. This name became so common
in about 1830 that the riots started by the poor
laboureres begun to be called the Swing Riots

EAS AFFECTED DURING SWING MOVEME

 CAPTAIN SWING
RIOTS
Continued for 2 years.
Threatened landlords by
writing letters
About 387 machines were
broken
Fearing attacks, many
landlords destroyed their
own machines.
Govt. action 1976 prisoners were tried
9 men were hanged
505 were transported-over
450 to Australia
644 put behind bars

 How did the industrialization

encourage the enclosure
system/movement in England?
1. Industries needed more raw materials and were
paying high price to the farmers for their produce. This
encouraged the farmers to grow more and to increase
enclosures.
2. Men from rural areas migrated to towns in search of
jobs. To survive, they had to buy food grains from the
market. As the population grew demand for the food
grains expanded. This demand encouraged the farmers
for enclosures.

 How did the industrialization encourage

the enclosure system/movement in
England?
3. Due to increase in the demand for food grains, rich
farmers started using machinery. This machinery
enhanced farmers to work quickly and with a minimal
number of hands.
4. The rich people started using machines. These
machines needed large farms. So the rich landlords
started enclosing more open fields.
5. Innovations in agricultural technology encouraged
people to bring lowlands under cultivation, open field
were carved, pastureland was opened, common forests
were cut up and large areas were converted into
agricultural lands.

 What was the impact of agriculture

revolution or enclosures on England?
agriculture revolution
industrial revolution
Colonialism
use of science and technology in
agriculture.
increase in production
reduced Englands dependence on

MODERN AGRICULTURE IN USA

 MAJOR FEATURES OF USA AGRICULTURE &

THE LIFE OF THE RURAL PEOPLE AT THE
END OF THE 18TH CENTURY
1. At the time that common fields were being
enclosed in England at the end of the
eighteenth century, settled agriculture had not
developed on any extensive scale in the USA.
2. Forests covered over 800 million acres and
grasslands, 600 million acres.
3. Most of the landscape was not under the
control of the White Americans.

the Native Americans

were nomadic, some
were settled. Many of
them lived only by
hunting, gathering
and fishing; others
cultivated corn,
beans, tobacco and
pumpkin

 MAJOR FEATURES OF USA AGRICULTURE &

THE LIFE OF THE RURAL PEOPLE AT THE
END OF THE 18TH CENTURY
4. Till the 1780s, White Americans settlements
were confined to a small narrow strip of coastal
land in the east.
5. Several of the Native Americans were nomadic,
some were settled. Many of them lived only by
hunting, gathering and fishing; others cultivated
corn, beans, tobacco and pumpkin.
6. Some others were expert trappers through
whom European traders had secured their supplies
of beaver fur since the sixteenth century.

 THE WESTWARD EXPANSION OF

WHITE
SETTLERS OF USA
1. After the American war of independence from
1775 to 1783 and the formation of the United
States of America, the White Americans begun to
move westward.
By the time, Thomas Jefferson became, the
president of the USA in 1800, over 700,000 white
settlers had moved on the Appalachian plateau
through the passes.
USA-Land of promise -Its wilderness could be
turned into cultivated fields. Forest timber could be
cut for export, animals hunted for skin, mountains
mined for gold and minerals.

 THE WESTWARD EXPANSION OF

WHITE SETTLERS OF USA
2. After 1800, White settlers forced American Indians to
give up their lands and move westward. Indians were
massacred and many of their villages burnt.
The Indians resisted, won many victories in wars, but
were ultimately
forced to sign treaties, give up their land & move
westward.

 THE WESTWARD EXPANSION OF

WHITE SETTLERS OF USA

3. As the Indian retreated, the settlers poured in. They

came in successive waves.
They settled on the Appalachian plateau by the first
decade of the eighteenth century and then moved into
the Mississippi valley between 1820 and 1850.

THE WESTWARD EXPANSION OF WHITE

SETTLEMENT BETWEEN 1775 & 1920

1775

1850

1830

1920

 THE WESTWARD EXPANSION OF

WHITE SETTLERS OF USA
4. The settlers slashed and burnt forests, pulled out
stumps, cleared the land for cultivation, and built log
cabins in the forest clearings.
5. They cleared larger areas and erected fences around
the fields they ploughed the land and sowed corn and
wheat.

Thesod houseor"soddywasasuccessortothelogcabinduringfrontiersettlement
ofCanadaandtheUnitedStates.
Theprairielackedstandardbuildingmaterialssuchaswoodorstone;
however,sodfromthickly-rootedprairiegrasswasabundant.
Prairiegrasshadamuchthicker,tougherrootstructurethanmodernlandscapinggrass.
Constructionofasodhouseinvolvedcuttingpatchesofsodinrectangles,often
2'1'6"(600300150mm)long,andpilingthemintowalls.
Buildersemployedavarietyofroofingmethods.
Sodhousesaccommodatenormaldoorsandwindows.
Theresultingstructurewasawell-insulatedbutdampdwellingthatwasvery
inexpensive.
Sodhousesrequiredfrequentmaintenanceandwerevulnerabletoraindamage.
Stuccoorwoodpanelsoftenprotectedtheouterwalls.
Canvasorplasteroften lined the interior walls.

THE GREAT PLAINS-MAJOR WHEAT

PRODUCING AREA OF USA
In early years, soil was fertile-able to
produce good crops
Later, soil became impoverished &
exhausted
Migrants would move westward to
explore new lands to grow crops
After 1860s they swept the Great
Plains across Mississippi
Converted it into a major wheat
producing area of USA

MAJOR WHEAT PRODUCING AREA OF USA

DRAMATIC EXPANSION
OF WHEAT PRODUCTION
IN THE USA
From the late 19th century, there
was a dramatic expansion of
wheat production in the USA.
1. The urban population in the
USA was growing, and the export
market was becoming ever
bigger.
2. Increased demand and high
prices encouraged farmers to
produce wheat.

DRAMATIC EXPANSION OF
WHEAT PRODUCTION IN THE
USA
3. The introduction of railways made it
easy to transport the grains from the
wheat growing regions to the eastern
coast for export.
4. By the early 20th century, the demand
for wheat rose even higher and during the
First World War, the world market boomed.
5. During the World War I, there was no
supply from Russia. So the whole supply
for Europe was in the hands of USA.
Plant more wheat, wheat will win war.
-Wilson
6. The farmers respond vigorously to the
need of the time and they began
producing more wheat.

DRAMATIC EXPANSION OF
WHEAT PRODUCTION IN THE USA
5. Introduction of machines also helped in the
production. The use of machines allowed the
farmers to finish up the work within a short
span of time.
6. Production of wheat increased: from the
late 19th century, there was a dramatic
expansion of wheat production in USA.
In 1910, about 45 million acres of land in USA
was under the wheat cultivation which
increased to 74 million acres in 1929 (65%
increase).
7. The Great Plains- Most of the increase in
production was in this area.
new areas were being ploughed to increase
cultivation.
8. Wheat barons controlled around 2,0003,000 acres of land individually.

COMING OF NEW TECHNOLOGY

Had to clear mid-western praires
covered with thick mat of grass with
tough roots
Simple ploughs ineffective
Had to modify new implements
Invented new ploughs to break sod & turn
soil over
New ploughs as long as 12 feet longhitched by 6 yokes of oxen & horses

COMING OF NEW TECHNOLOGY IN 20TH CE

20th cent. farmers of Praires were
using tractors with disk ploughs
In 1831 Cyrus McCormick invented-1st
mechanical reaper
Farmers harvested crops using mechanical
reapers instead of sickle or cradle
Mechanical reaper =5 men using
cradle/16 men with sickle
Combine harvesters to cut
crops-could harvest 500 acre of

 ADVANTAGES OF THE USE OF MECHANICAL HARVESTING

MACHINE IN THE USA
For the big farmers of the Great Plains, these machines had many
attractions.
1. The price of wheat was high & demand was limitless.
2. The new machines allowed these big farmers to rapidly clear large tracts,
break up the soil, remove the grass and prepare the ground for cultivation.
3. The work could be done quickly and with a minimal number of hands.
4. It saved the time of the farmers.
5. It reduced the dependency on workers.
6. It increased the production of crops.

7. Now, it was easy to plough the prairies with the help of modern ploughs.
8. With power driven machinery, 4 men could plough, seed & harvest 20004000 acres of wheat in a season.

 DISADVANTAGES OF THE USE OF MECHANICAL

HARVESTING MACHINE IN THE USA
Disadvantages: for the poorer farmer, machines
brought misery.
1. Poor workers lost their jobs as a single machine
could do the work of many labourers at the same
time.
2. Most of the poor farmers found it difficult to
pay back their debts. So most of them were
forced to sell their land.
3. Mechanization has reduced the need of
labourer. They lost their jobs.
Large surplus-unsold stocks piled up, storehouses
overflowed with grains
Corn & wheat was turned into animal feed.
Wheat prlces fell & export market collapsed.
4. It led to the Dust Bowl Tragedy as Prairies were
being extensively ploughed.
5. The over-utilization of machines was also
responsible for the Great Agrarian Depression of
1930s.

DUST BOWL TRAGEDY

DUST BOWL TRAGEDY

1. The expansion of wheat agriculture and overgrazing
of the prairies were responsible for the Dust Bowl
tragedy.
2. In 1930s, terrifying dust storms began to blow over
the southern plains.
3. Black Blizzards( 7000-8000 feet high) rolled in.
4. These dust storms had a great impact on the
economic and social life of the people.

DUST BOWL TRAGEDY

5. The black blizzards were responsible for natural
disaster in which people were blinded, cattle were
suffocated to death, buried the fields, killing fish in
rivers and machinery was damaged beyond repair.
6. It was a natural as well as man-made disaster
because farmers themselves were responsible for the
tragedy.
7. The farmers had recklessly uprooted all vegetation
and tractors had turned the soil over, breathing the sod
into dust.

 REASONS THAT LED TO DUST BOWL

TRAGEDY PERSISTENT DROUGHTS

RAINS FAILED
TEMP. SOARED
THE EXTENSIVE USE OF PRAIRIES
ENTIRE LANDSCAPE WAS PLOUGHED OVER.
STRIPPED OF ALL GRASS THAT HELD IT
TOGATHER
THE SETTLERS REALIZED THAT THEY HAD TO
RESPECT THE ECOLOGICAL CONDITION OF
EACH REGION.

CONCLUSION
The white settlers converted the USA into a bread basket
but at very high price.
1. The locals were deprived off their resources and most
of them became very poor.
2. For the poor farmers the use of machines brought
misery. They found it difficult to pay back their debt, and
were forced to sell their land.
3. The overproductions of wheat lead to the Great
Agrarian Depression of the 1930s.
4. Over-ploughing of Prairies also lead to Dust Bowl
Tragedy. Because of this, the land of plenty became a
Dust Bowl.
5. After 1930s, the government and the settlers realized
that they had to respect the ecological condition of each
region.
MODERN AGRICULTURE IN USA

IMPACT OF THE WESTWARD

EXPANSION OF THE
SETTLERS IN THE USA
1. Impact on native people: After the American war of
independence, the White Americans began to move
westward. They started clearing the native from their
land.
2. Impact on the natural resources: the white settlers
started exploiting the natural resources. They slashed
and burnt forests, pulled up the stumps, cleared the
land for cultivation and built log cabins in the forest
clearings.
3. Production of wheat increased: from the late 19th
century, there was a dramatic expansion of wheat
production in USA. In 1910, about 45 million acres of
land in USA was under the wheat cultivation which
increased to 74 million acres in 1929.

IMPACT OF THE WESTWARD

EXPANSION OF THE SETTLERS IN THE
USA
4. New technology: the dramatic expansion was
possible only because of the new technology. Farmers
were using modern machines to turn the soil. The use
of machines allowed the farmers to finish up the work
within a short span of time.
5. Impact on the poor: for the poor farmers, machines
brought misery. Mechanization had reduced the need
for labour and most of the farmers, lost their jobs.
6. Dust bowl tragedy: the extensive use of Prairies was
responsible for the Dust Bowl Tragedy. The cultivation of
wheat had exposed the soil to wind, resulting in the
Dust Bowl.

 WHY DID THE EAST INDIA COMPANY

PERSUADE THE INDIAN FARMERS TO
GROW OPIUM?
1. In the late 18th century, the English east India
Company was buying tea and silk from China for sale in
England.
2. As tea was gaining popularity in England, its demand
rose from 15 million pounds to 30 million pounds.
3. England at that time produced nothing that could be
easily sold in China.
4. This means an outflow of treasure from England to
China.

In such a situation, how could they balance their

trade?
They searched for a commodity they could sell in
china, opium was such a commodity.
It was used in china for medicinal purposes.
English traders began an illegal trade in opium.
While the English cultivated a taste for Chinese
tea, The Chinese became addicted to opium.
To feed this booming export trade, East India
Company persuaded the Indian farmers to grow
opium.

 THE WAYS BY WHICH INDIAN CULTIVATORS WERE

RESUADED TO PRODUCE OPIUM
The unwilling cultivators were made to produce opium
through a system of advances.
Peasants never had enough to survive.
Their village headman gave them advances to produce
opium.
The loan tied the peasants to the headman and through him
to the government.
Government agents were appointed to advance to the village
headman who used to forward these to the farmers.
By taking the loan, the cultivator was forced to grow opium
on a specified area of land and hand over the produce to the
agents once the crops had been harvested.
He had no option of planting the field with a crop of his
choice or of selling his produce to anyone but the government
agent.

 The Confucian rulers of China, the Manchus, were suspicious of

all foreign merchants.They feared that the merchants would
meddle in the local politics and disrupt their authority. So the
Manchus were unwilling to allow the entry of foreign goods.
THE IMPACT OF OPIUM TRADE IN CHINA
1. The traders start meddling in local politics.
2. Illegal trade started outflow of treasure from China.
3. The Chinese became addicted to opium.
4. People of all classes started talking drugs.
5. People of all classes took to the drug-shopkeepers and
peddlers.

METHODS USED BY THE BRITISHERS TO INCREASE THE

LAND REVENUE.

1. A regular system of land revenue was established.

2. Revenue rates were increased.
3. Area under cultivation was increased.

 the major features of the Indian countryside in the late 18th and 19th
centuries.
1. Introduction of regular land revenue system: the British saw land revenue
as a major source of government income. So to build the resources of the
state, efforts were made to impose a regular system of land revenue
increase revenue rates and expand the area under cultivation.

2. Increase in area under cultivation and its impact: as cultivation and its
impact: as cultivation expanded, the area under forests and pastures
declined. All this created many problems for peasants and pastoralists.
They found their access to forests and grazing lands increasingly restricted
by rules and regulations. And they struggled to meet the pressures of the
government revenue demand.

3. Variety of crops: in the colonial period, rural India also came to produce a
range of crops for the world market. In the early eighteenth century, indigo
and opium were two of the major commercial crops. By the end of the
century, peasants were introducing sugarcane, cotton, jute, wheat and
several other crops for export to feed the population of urban Europe and to
supply the mills of Lancashire and Manchester in England.

 the major factors responsible for the conflict between

the British government, peasants and local traders.
1. The agents of the government were offering very
low prices to the farmers.
2. The government was forcing the farmers to grow
opium only.
3. Many cultivators began selling their crops to
travelling traders who offered higher prices.
4. The British government had established monopoly
in the opium trade.
5. The government had instructed its agents posted
in the princely states (areas under Indian rulers) to
confiscate all opium and destroy the crops as there
were giving tough competition to the British traders.

 Indian farmers reluctant to grow opium

1. The crop had to be grown in the best land, on fields
that lay near villages and were well manured.
On this land peasants usually produced pulses.
If they planted opium on this land, then the pulses
could not be planted there.
2. Many cultivators owned no land.
To cultivate, they had to pay rent and lease land from
landlords.
And the rent charged on good lands near villages was
very high.

 Indian farmers reluctant to grow opium

3. The cultivation of opium was a difficult process.
The plant was delicate and cultivators had to spend
long hours nurturing it.
This meant that they did not have enough time to care
for other crops.
4. The price the government paid to the cultivators for
the opium they produced was very low.
It was unprofitable for cultivators to grow opium at the
price.
5. The government was forcing the farmers to grow
opium only.