H O W FA R M S H A V E C H A N G E D O V E R T H E L A S T 2 0 0 Y E A R S

THE MID-WEST

By Isabelle Kang

TOOLS

In the 1800s, many Americans lived on farms. Almost every farm had about 50 acres. Most of these farms were located in the Appalachians. The tools the farmers used were simple tools like axes, saws, and an iron blade was used to plow the fields.

1900

Farming in the Mid-West in the 1900s was a little different than farming in the 1800s. About 40 people out of 100 lived in farms. The size of the farms were three times larger than the farms in the 1800s. These farms raised pigs and cows and sheep. These farms raised money from animals, not plants. With ,cows they made milk, for example. They soon also invented the steel plow, which was very important to farmers then, since it plowed the lands easily, and they still needed to feed their livestock with grains they could grow.

THE FAMILY FARM

In the 1800s, the family farm usually lived in a dark, gloomy cabin. They raised their own food and often had orchards. They raised chickens, cows, and hogs. There were usually never any doctors or vets to treat the family and the livestock. In the 1900s, most families lived in a prairie tent. Everyone worked back then. Men plowed and planted, women cooked and cleaned. Children chopped wood for fires and weeded the garden. Their water source was usually their own hand pumped well.

TOOLS IN THE 1900

Almost all the tools in the 1900s were pulled by horse for they were pretty heavy. The most important was the steel plow. John Deere invented it. Another tool that was used for cutting grain was the reaper, invented by Cyrus McCormick. The horse drawn Combine would cut and thresh the field at the same time. This made things faster, since it took 300 hours in the 1800s to get 100 bushels of wheat, but with these tools it only took 50 hours to get a bushel of wheat.

FARMING TODAY

Today very few Americans live on a farm. The average farm is 450 acres. We call the farming business agribusiness. T he tools today are all machines, not pulled by horse or powered by humans. We use fertilizers to stop bugs invading our crops. They are called pesticides. We use a very modern way of farming.

MODERN TOOLS

The most important tool in the last 100 years is the tractor. A tractor can pull more than 100 horses. Farmers also use modern plows and drills to harvest their crops. Dairy farmers use the milking machine, which they rely on very much. These tools help everything go faster. In 1800, they needed 5 acres to produce 100 bushels of wheat. Now, they only need 3 acres to grow the same amount.

THE FARMING FAMILY TODAY

There have been some good times and bad times for the farm family. Farm families are very alike to regular Americans. They buy clothes were everyone does, and send the children to school. Many Americans get lonely of the farm life or they get tired of it, so they leave it. Others struggle to pay the bills. Now, almost all the farms are agribusiness.