the new Americans pursued a subsistence agriculture which supported some other major economic activity. Pennsylvania developed possibly the most flourishing subsistence farming. The commercial production of tobacco, an American crop with American methods and uses, began early in Virginia and Maryland. This specialty developed commercially almost exclusively in the upper South. Farmers and planters of the lower South had hesitantly begun rice culture, but as the 17th century ended men in the Carolinas still found hides and furs the most rewarding commodities. Meanwhile, rapid changes took place in the European metropolitan centers, and in the West Indian islands. The growth of population in both places created consumers for more and cheaper food. Markets for American foods definitely began to increase as the 18th century got under way.

Europeans, of course, primarily wanted European foods rather than exotic Indian crops. The foods also had to be comparatively nonperishable and easily transported. Grains, particularly wheat, and processed meat (hams, salt pork, and such) especially met European preferences. Commercial production of these commodities compelled American farmers to embrace the best European technology insofar as that technology fit the American scene. The plants, animals, methods, and tools all derived from Europe. Contrary to a common European view at the time, the immigrants did not bring the worst available methods to the New World. Nor did the Americans allow any deterioration of stock or plants without good economic reasons.

Most European criticism about American farming centered on things of no consequence to American farmers, who were selling in a world market. True, Americans tended toward slovenly cultivation, but niceness of method mattered little if the land yielded an abundant exportable surplus. Americans paid less attention than Europeans to fertilizer, but Americans at first had less need for it. Livestock, in spite of nearly continual importations from Europe, tended to decline from a European standpoint. Still, the animals yielded meat of a quality suitable for export. The hardy American animals could survive in spite of casual care. Americans had few barns and sheds, but the world market for meat did not demand barns, stalls, and fancy feeding. American dairy cows yielded ridiculously low volumes of milk, butter, and cheese, but dairy products, after all, served only the resident Americans. The corn- and mast-fed hogs of America provided ham that was equal to any in Europe. If the European consumer bought American food, the American farmer thought it pointless to consider the comfort and emotional well-being of his animals.

New Englanders tended to concentrate on animals, the middle Atlantic on grains, the upper South on tobacco, and the lower South on rice and indigo. The Revolutionary War disrupted the marketing from the farmer's view, but the major commercial commodities remained largely unchanged in the years immediately after the war. Indigo declined and then disappeared as a major export commodity, but cotton almost at once replaced it.

In the 19th century men everywhere made great technological advances. In America, the advances took place in a sort of reciprocal action with three major historical series and events dominating the story: the westward movement, urbanization, and industrialization.

The greatest westward expansion in American history took place during the 19th century. American farmers and stockmen conquered, and almost entirely settled, a continent. They did this in a single century, 1801-1900. Nothing quite like it had ever happened before. Starting from a thin line of people on the eastern seaboard (with a few incursions across the mountains as of 1800), farmers and herders pushed into a nearly empty land, dispossessed the Indians, and exploited the country. And in course of time the American pioneers wanted and received political organization. California entered the Union in 1850, the Plains states mostly in the 1880s, and more states, such as Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, came into the Union in the 20th century.

At the same time, a nation that was weak and underdeveloped in 1801, had, by 1900, become the world's leading industrial nation. From virtually no industry in 1801, America rose to leading industrial power in 1900, with more railroads and more manufactured goods per capita than any other nation. Involved in the industrialization, and importantly so, was the farm implement and machinery industry. Factories everywhere supplied farmers with the sophisticated tools and machines of the new agriculture.

In these years urbanization also went forward rapidly. Cities of the east grew fantastically, and even in the interior cities rose from wilderness outposts to gigantic metropolises. Within one man's lifetime Chicago increased from 350 people in 1830 to 1,099,000 in 1890. Simultaneously, tremendous developments in transportation kept the nation and its economy tied together. All of these developments had a profound influence on farming and farmers. The rich cities provided ever greater markets for the farmers' produce. The transportation system, rapidly moving farm commodities, made farming profitable in remote regions far distant from the coast. Farmers also felt the advantages of the return flow of goods and services: the mail order catalog, the industrially made reapers and threshers, and countless other items. City people made a countless range of devices for farmers—from steel plows to steam engines.

Meanwhile, as these events altered the life of the farmer, a burst of activity took place in invention and discovery. These activities had a delayed but considerable impact on farm methods and technology. The list of inventions and discoveries could hardly fit in this narrative, but this catalog of items reflects fairly well what men accomplished in the 19th century. The changes included such diverse elements as the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793, the introduction of Mexican Upland cotton in 1805, the discovery of the cause of Texas fever in cattle in 1889, and the invention of the internal combustion tractor in 1892. These and many other achievements substantially changed the farm enterprise in two major directions: first, advances in technology allowed farmers to do more in less time; second, discoveries in science allowed farmers to increase the yield from the land. Farmers got more from each acre, plant, and animal.

Farmers could use the savings in time brought by better implements and new machines to increase the amount of land farmed and the number of animals cared for. Presumably, the farmer could also use the saved time for greater leisure. In fact, however, they usually used the extra time for more work. In the 20th century they often used the saved time for outside employment. Farmers did this in the 19th century, but not so commonly as later. Greater man-hour efficiency gave the farmer more time to devote to managing his enterprise, to keeping records, and to studying his business.

Technological efficiency also allowed farmers to use more land and more animals. The average size of farms steadily increased across the century. Furthermore, the new machines and the pure-bred livestock cost money which could be most profitable only if the farmer specialized in one, or at most two, types of enterprise. So the greater efficiency created by technology impelled farmers to greater specialization, and with specialization came even greater efficiency. Anyone who specializes will likely be more efficient because of the mastering of skills. He will also have a minimum of other cares to distract him. Of course, for the consumers, foreign or domestic, greater farming efficiencies resulted in abundant food at comparatively low cost.

Plant and animal importation, improvement of breeds, and discoveries in genetics, soil chemistry, the use of fertilizers, and in controlling