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• 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

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

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

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

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

BLACKLAND PRARIE

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

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