1650 – 1750 AD

The Agricultural Revolution

From: To:
• Lots of farmers • Very few farmers
• Most people farm • Many work in factories
• Poorly used land • Better used land
• Hand tools • Machines
• Not much food • Plenty of food
Farming in the Middle Ages
• Manual labour (basic tools)
• Shared labour
• Common land / Open fields
• Three field system
• Gleaning by the poor
1. Bigger Farms
a. Enclosures
b. Land Reclamation
1. Better Equipment
a. Machines
2. Better Techniques
a. Crop Rotation
b. Selective Breeding
 1. BIGGER FARMS
a. ENCLOSURES
• Enclosing land
meant put
hedges, fences,
or stone walls
around farms to
claim the land
and keep people
and animals
out.
1a. ENCLOSURES
• Small, individually
owned farms
were bought or
taken away from
poorer farmers
and turned into
large enclosed
farms owned by a
richer farmer.
 1a. ENCLOSURES
Befor
e
•Each person got some
good and some bad
land.
•There was common
AFTER
land.
•Each landowner
received a single piece
of property
•No common lands
 Small Farmers
Were Forced off Their Land
• Had to pay for :
 Fences/Walls to surround their farms
 A team of oxen
• Could no longer glean or gather wood
• Often had to sell plots to large
landowners:
 Forced to Rent or
 Work for someone else
 Map of
Land
Enclosed by
Parliament
 Example: the Highland Clearances
in Scotland
• Sometimes land
was just taken
from people
because they
could not prove
ownership.
• This increased
the number of
people
looking for
work.
 Enclosures Benefited
Large Land Owners
• They had the political strength to pass the
enclosure law
• They owned large unified farms under this
system which meant:
 Farming was more efficient
 Didn’t need consent of the village to
experiment with new crop methods
 Could obtain cheap labour
 1b. LAND RECLAMATION
• In addition to enclosures, farms also
increased in size because of land
reclamation:
– Marshlands were drained
– Forests were cleared
– Poor soil was enriched and used more
 2. BETTER EQUIPMENT:
MACHINES OF THE
AGRICULTURAL
REVOLUTION
• Labour on farms had always been done by
hand. This was harder to do now with
bigger farms.
• Farmers with large farms were earning
more money, and now they were more
interested in investing in machines
• Invented by Jethro Tull
• Planted seed in neat
rows
• Improved germination
by making furrows,
dropping seed into
them, and covering
them
• Reduced amount of
seed used in planting
Examples of Additional Machines

Horse-drawn cultivator – Jethro Tull

 SEED
⦿
DRILL
⦿ JETHRO TULL
(1674- 1740)
⦿ SYSTEM OF
VISCOUNT
CROP ⦿
CHARLES
ROTATION TOWNSEND (1674-
1738)
 SCIENTIFIC
⦿
BREEDING OF
⦿ ROBERT
ANIMALS BAKEWELL
(1725- 95)
⦿ PRODUCED ⦿ LUTHER
BURBANK
VARITIES OF (1849- 1924)

PLANTS BY
INBREEDING
Examples of Additional Machines

Cast-iron plow (1797)

– American Charles Newbold
 COTTON
⦿
GIN
⦿ ELI
WHITNEY
(1793)
 Examples of Additional Machines

Reaper – Englishman Joseph Boyce (1799) and

American Cyrus McCormick (1834)
⦿REAPING
MACHINE
⦿ CYRUS H.
MCCORMICK
(1834)
⦿ ARTIFICIAL
FERTILIZATI
⦿ JUSTUS VON
ON LEIBIG (1840)
⦿ UTILIZATION OF
⦿ GEORGE
PRODUCTS WASHINGTON
FORMING A NEW
PRODUCT/88 CARVER(1864-
1943)
 3. BETTER TECHNIQUES:
a. CROP ROTATION
• People Wheat
learned that
crops could be
rotated to
improve the Turnip Clover
nitrogen in the s
soil instead of
just leaving
land fallow. Barley
CROP ROTATION
 CROP ROTATION

• Use of Clover and Turnips fixed nitrogen in

the soil while also providing food for animals
• Yields of Wheat and Barley proved to be
better than Rye, especially with the
improved nitrogen levels in the soil
 3. BETTER TECHNIQUES:
b. SELECTIVE BREEDING
• Farmers began the selective
breeding of animals such as
sheep and cattle
• Produced better animals
with better offspring
• Produced more milk, meat,
and wool
 Summary: Agricultural
Revolutions Need
Bigger Farms
• Enclosures
• Land Reclamation

Better Equipment
• Machines

Better Techniques
• Crop Rotation
• Selective Breeding
 THE SPREAD OF THE
AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

• The Agricultural Revolution began in Britain,

in the early 1700s.
• It soon spread to other countries. In Northern
Europe, it took place in the mid- 1700s.
• In America, the A.R. took place in the second
half of the 1700s.
 Of the Agricultural
Revolution
1. Agricultural production increased.
2. Cost of food dropped.
3. Increased production of food helped
create a rapid growth of population.
4. Large farms, using machines and scientific
methods, began to dominate agriculture.
Farming became big business.
 Of the Agricultural
Revolution
5. The number of small farms began
to decline.
6. The number of farmers decreased
sharply.
7. Many farmers moved to the cities.
8. The population of cities increased
rapidly.