From Family Farms To Commercial Farming

1. From Family Farms To Commercial Farming Chapter 14 Section 3 By Trindon Crouch & Amir Meshki

2. Vocabulary • Credit- Tenant farmers sell all their crops and give the money to the person they owe. • Tenant Farmers- A person who rents a plot of land from its owner and pays for its use with a share of the crop. • Interest- Additional money paid by a borrower to a lender for the use of the money borrowed. • Irrigation- Supplies water to land by artificial means. • Depression- A period during which business activity and prices drop and many people lose jobs.

3. Farming & Growth Life wasn’t that different in 1870 than in the Civil War. 1,000s of small farms remained in eastern & central Texas. Corn was planted for food for people and cows. Cotton was sold for not that much. In the fall farmers slaughtered cattle for hides & preserved the meat. Plowed with mules, oxen, or hands. Wives produced household products like soap or candles.

4. Population Galveston was the largest city in the state in 1870 The population was growing because of immigration. In 1872 about 100,000 people came to Texas. By 1890, 2.2 million people lived in Texas. Most newcomers are from Georgia and Tennessee.

5. Farming Cotton was an ideal crop because its sold worldwide. Tenant farmers provided there own mules, tools, and others. They paid for there living. They owned nothing. The sharecroppers worked like slaves. They thought it was just temporary. Most tenant farmers were deeply in debt. Tenant farmers couldn’t produce food for their families because they planted cotton. Had to buy food. If the family had no money, merchants or landowners used credit. If they couldn’t pay they had high interest. Once bills where paid farmers had little money.

6. Farming & Railroads Tenant farmers sold cotton for high prices. Railroad officials wanted to increase settlement in the west. Wanted to sell their land to settlers because they wanted to get the money back for laying tracks. Railroads offered land from grants. A few cents an acre. Lands were unsuitable for farming. Many immigrants moved to wet plains when it rained a lot not knowing that drought followed.

9. Economic Troubles • 3 depressions from 1870 to 1890. • Price for crops fell and people borrowed money. • Sold lands to wealthy men. • People headed east. • In 1867 farmers in Minnesota formed National Grange to help farmers and their families. • 6 years later Texas formed a branch. • Grange shared knowledge, set up stores with low prices, and created Texas A & M. • Stores closed in 1880’s • Memberships declined.