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TEXAS FARMING

TEXAS FARMING. FARMING. After Civil War: Bad economy - Confederate bonds worthless (borrowed $) Many jobless; grow own food for survival – small family farms common Hard to find supplies for farms Subsistence farming – meet family’s needs Bartered extras. Tenant Farming.

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TEXAS FARMING

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  1. TEXAS FARMING

  2. FARMING • After Civil War: • Bad economy - Confederate bonds worthless (borrowed $) • Many jobless; grow own food for survival – small family farms common • Hard to find supplies for farms • Subsistence farming – meet family’s needs • Bartered extras

  3. Tenant Farming • Plantation owners – divided land and sold or rented • Tenant farming – renting the land • Renter - Seldom able to purchase land; rent never ends • Between 1880-1900 – large growth

  4. SHARECROPPING • Renters paying in crops – short of cash • Two types: • Owned farming equipment, bought supplies • Owed landlord for used of land • Landlord provided everything – tenants brought labor and skill • Owed up to half of crops to landlord • Freedmen turned to sharecropping • Necessities bought on credit – renter’s share of crops could be taken; established a cycle of debt

  5. TRANSPORTATION • Needed for commercial agriculture • Goods inland; ox and cart too slow • Panic of 1873 – collapse of stock market; closing of banks – businesses closed • 1876 – 1885; rapid expansion of railroads • 1890 – more than 8,000 miles of track

  6. TECHNOLOGY/WATER • Settlers – cheap land in W. TX; little rainfall • Underground water; windmills symbol of West • Railroads (miracles of modern technology) – cheaper and faster to ship goods • Steel plow – strong, lasts • Robert Munger – processing cottonseed faster and cheaper; separated the seed from the cotton

  7. COTTON • Cotton production – ruled industry late 1800s • Farmers spent most time in fields – buying items they once made • Led to new industries; growth of cities (Houston, Dallas, Galveston – cotton towns) • Lumber; 1900 – 637 sawmills • Created jobs – closely tied to farming

  8. BLACKLAND PRARIE

  9. COTTON CULTURE • 1880s – Cotton was King!! • Life revolved around cotton – events were scheduled around farm work • Bad years were felt by everyone • Droughts; boll weevil http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YffLGzIlHwY

  10. CASH CROPS • Necessities – in a bad year, buy items on credit • Debt that is difficult to pay off • Debt supported the growth of cash crops

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