 Economic Cycles
|
1879-93
Business expansion
1893-94
Widespread bankruptcies and depression
1895-06
Return of prosperity |
Farmers & the Land
|
1880
Total population: 50,155,783;
farm population: 22,981,000 (est.); farmers 49% of labor force; Number
of farms: 4,009,000; average acres: 134; Most humid land already
settled; heavy agricultural settlement on the Great Plains begins
1880-1914
Most immigrants are from southern and eastern Europe
1887-97
Drought reduces settlement on the Great Plains
1890s
Increases in land under cultivation and number of immigrants becoming
farmers boost agricultural output
1890
Total
population: 62,941,714; farm population: 29,414,000 (est.); farmers
43% of labor force; Number of farms: 4,565,000; average acres: 136; Census shows that the frontier settlement is over
1891
President authorized to set aside public lands as forest reserves |
Farm Machinery & Technology
|
1880
William Deering puts 3,000 twine binders on the market
1881
Hybridized corn produced
1884-90
Horse-drawn combine used in Pacific coast wheat areas
1888
The first long haul shipment of a refrigerated freight car was made
from California to New York
1890-95
Cream separators come into wide use
1890-99
Average
annual consumption of commercial fertilizer; 1,845,900 tons
1890s
Agriculture becomes increasingly mechanized and commercialized
1890
40-50 labor-hours required to
produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat with gang plow, seeder,
harrow, binder, thresher, wagons, and horses; 35-40
labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2 1/2 acres) of corn with 2-bottom gang plow, disk and peg-tooth harrow, and 2-row planter
1892
The first gasoline tractor was built by John Froelich |
Crops & Livestock
|
1880s
Cattle industry moves into the western and southwestern Great Plains
1882
Bordeau mixture (fungicide) discovered in France and soon used in
U.S.; Robert Koch discovers tubercle bacillus
Mid-1880s
Texas the chief cotton State
1886-87
Blizzards, following drought and overgrazing, disastrous to northern
Great Plains cattle industry
1889
Bureau of Animal Industry discovers carrier of tick fever
1890
Minnesota, California, and Illinois chief wheat States; Babcock butterfat
test devised
1892
Boll weevil crosses the Rio Grande and begins to spread north and
east; eradication of pleuropneumonia
1899
Improved method of anthrax inoculation |
Transportation
|
1880
160,500 miles of railroad |
Agricultural Trade & Development
|
1880-89
Agricultural exports: $574
million/year or 76% of total exports
1890-99
Agricultural exports: $703 million/year or 71%
of total exports
1890
McKinley Tariff includes many agricultural commodities |
Life on the Farm
|
1895
George B. Seldon is granted U.S. patent for automobile
1896
Rural Free Delivery (RFD) started |
Farm Organizations & Movements
|
1880-96
Agricultural pressure groups gather strength
1882
Agricultural Wheel formed
1891
Populist Party launched on national scale
1896
Height of Populist movement |
Agricultural Education & Extension
|
1887
15 States have formally organized experiment stations; Hatch Experiment
Station Act
1890s
Development of secondary agricultural education in local areas and
by State
1890
Second Morrill Act broadens land-grant program and sets up funding
for Black land-grant schools
1893
49 experiment stations exist under the Hatch Act |
Government Programs & Policy
|
1889
Department of Agriculture raised to Cabinet status
1890, 1891
Meat Inspection Acts
1897
Greater emphasis given to plant exploration and to the increase of
agricultural production
1889
Farmers’ Alliance develops subtreasury plan |
|
