USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The mechanization of farming in the late 1800’s allowed farmers to increase production. Fewer people were needed to farm because of new machines that could harvest crops more efficiently.

Detailed explanation-2: -During the 1800s farmers took everything from a simple hoe to a thresher “snorting black smoke” into Iowa fields in pursuit of better harvests. Machines were run by hand, by oxen or horses, and finally by steam engines.

Detailed explanation-3: -New machinery increased the speed of planting and harvesting crops. Invented in the late nineteenth century, the twine-binder, “combine” (combined reaper-thresher), and gasoline tractor increased harvest yields and decreased the amount of labor needed to produce them.

Detailed explanation-4: -At the end of the 19th century, about a third of Americans worked in agriculture, compared to only about four percent today. After the Civil War, drought, plagues of grasshoppers, boll weevils, rising costs, falling prices, and high interest rates made it increasingly difficult to make a living as a farmer.