I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.
Ethnicity made a big difference in early American agriculture. German Americans, for example, brought with them practices and traditions that were quite different from those English and Scottish farmers.
Germans adapted old -world techniques here, where land was more abundant in supply. They generally preferred oxen to horses for plowing, for example, and furthermore showed a long -term tendency to keep the farm in the family and avoid having their children moved to nearby towns, even back then.
Scottish and Irish farmers built their livelihoods on some farm rings, but more were herding hogs and cattle.
That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.