4.]

The Use of Farm Machinery in America

The part of America that was destined to become the United States
started its history at the very time when the parent European
civilization began to make major breakthroughs in science and
technology. Thus, Americans became the automatic beneficiaries of the
achievements of others. Because of peculiar opportunities and needs,
Americans could and did push on to unique achievements. Nowhere,
however, did this building on the past appear as early, or as
impressively, as in the agricultural sector of the economy. American
inventors of farm implements made important strides earlier than those
in any other field. In turn, American farmers made more and better use
of discoveries and inventions.

From the 1650s onward Europeans expanded their activities in all fields
and in all directions. By that time Europeans had already discovered the
New World, and had seized or bullied most of the Old. European trade and
industry increased, and as these grew so also did population and
urbanization. People multiplied, and an increasingly greater proportion
of them began to live in towns and cities. Simultaneously, the Europeans
increased in wealth; indeed, most of their activities created more
wealth. The ever-increasing number of people called for more food, and
for changes in European farming. The Europeans' growing wealth also
allowed them to buy luxury items from around the world: silk and spice
and everything nice. The goods came not only from the Far East and
Africa but also from the New World. When Europeans began to settle
America, they almost at once had the advantages of a large and growing
metropolitan market in western Europe. This market provided
opportunities for wealth, but only if the American farmers developed
appropriate commodities and produced them at reasonable prices.

The English, Dutch, Swedes, French, and Spanish settled in North America
at trading and exploring stations. So located, they could direct the
flow of products to Europe. The English chiefly sought rare products
such as gold and spices, and they sent back furs. The Dutch concentrated
on furs. All European pioneers, however, had to feed themselves. This
took a bit of doing, which at first involved a merging of European
technology with Indian crops and methods. Later, the settlers adapted
European crops and animals. In spite of starving times in almost every
colony from Virginia to New England, the new Amer