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Chapter 7
What About
Farm Life?
Y
ou have read that life in
Pennsylvania
developed
and
changed very slowly before the
1800s. One reason for this was a poorly
developed transportation system. Another
reason for the slow development in
Pennsylvaniawas thatmost workhad tobe
done by hand. There were very few
machines that people could use to help
them make things and produce farm
products.
In the 1800s, industries began to grow
steadily. This was the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution
. Remember that
revolution means a big change, only this
was in the way goods were produced and
moved. However, this revolution did not
occur so rapidly in farming. People did
things in the ways that their parents and
grandparents had done them. Even though
the iron plow had been invented by 1800,
it still took 20 years before it became
common to use the iron plow in the fields!
At this time, about 600,000 people lived
in Pennsylvania. Every nine out of 10
people lived and worked on small farms.
Farmers planted crops for their animals and
crops for their families. They used the
animals for milk, meat, hides, andmanure
to make their soil rich. Farmers made
money by selling crops such as wheat and
corn. When better transport systems
developed, farmers sold their crops and
products directly to people in cities at
farmersmarkets.
Most farmers could supply their families’
needs with products made or grown at the
farm home. Until 1840, the simple tools
withwhich the farmer hadworked the soil
were still in common use. However, many
farm tools and machines were improved
The textile industry
was one of the first
to change to large-
scale production.
