The mechanization of agriculture and the establishment of Chicago as a center of production, came just in time to service the movement of the center of grain production to the Trans-Mississippi Country. His profits from sales made him a millionaire by 1860.īetween 1868-1878, annual sales doubled what they had been during war, despite an agriculture depression decade. A significant portion of these machines came from the production line of McCormick’s factory. The reaper could handle from 12-15 acres per day and fewer stackers following behind.īy the 1860s about 70% of the wheat harvested was by machinery. A man with a cradle could cut about two acres a day. Prior to its invention, the harvest had been accomplished with sickles and cradles with a team of rakers and binders following behind. The McCormick establishment contributed to making Chicago a center of manufacturing agricultural equipment in the United States. Chicago offered several advantages: transportation was good and getting better with the construction of the railroads, the mid-west had become the major grain-producing states by 1860, and the larger and more level fields of the mid-west could utilize the machine better. In 1848, McCormick moved to Chicago and built a factory to manufacture reapers and other agriculture implements. During this initial period, most of the reapers in use were confined to the Eastern states. He constructed his first prototype reaper in the summer of 1831 and spent the next decade perfecting the machine.ĭuring the same time, other inventors were also at work, especially Obed Hussey who invented similar equipment and was McCormick’s first serious competition. 15, 1809, in Virginia.Īs a youth, he collaborated with his father in the construction of a hemp-break and a plow designed for the plowing of hills. McCormick is generally credited with the invention of the first reaper containing those essential elements which are still apparent in today’s combine. The reaper went far toward overcoming this bottleneck in production. But, with the harvest period short and farm labor scarce, farmers were unable to produce as much as they wished.

The two factors which contributed most to the growing importance of wheat and commercial agriculture, in general, were the development of a nationwide transportation system and the growth of urban cities.Īs the domestic economy grew, stimulated by the immigration of a large number of foreigners after the 1840s, the demand for wheat and other grains increased proportionately. Its importance was due largely to the growth of the domestic economy rather than to the entrance of American grain and flour into European markets. Wheat during the antebellum period was the most important cash crop in the Northern agricultural economy, and by 1860 it was the most important cash crop in the United States. In 1839, the old northwest produced 31% of the nation’s crop in 1849, 37% and in 1859, 46%. In the 1830s, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia were major wheat producing states, but the center of the wheat-growing area moved steadily westward. Within nine years this figure had doubled and by the Civil War (1861-1865), it exceeded 170 million bushels.

In the 1830s, the total wheat crop in the United States amounted to approximately 40 million bushels. Among these skilled creators was Cyrus H.

The patents they obtained in Washington soared in numbers, averaging 646 per annum in the 1840s. These American inventors were more productive than inventors in Europe. 1945: Forty-two labor-hours were required to produce 100 pounds (2/5 acre) of lint cotton with two mules, a one-row plow, a one-row cultivator, a hand how, and a hand pick.Many Americans, who look back from the 20th and 21st centuries to praise the gifted poets and distinguished novelists of the fourth and fifth decades of the 19th century, have failed to see the mechanical geniuses of those 20 years.1945: Ten to 14 labor-hours were required to produce 100 bushels (2 acres) of corn with a tractor, 3-bottom plow, 10-foot tandem disk, 4-section harrow, 4-row planters and cultivators, and 2-row picker.1942: The spindle cotton picker was used commercially.1941–1945: Frozen foods were popularized.Additional agricultural developments included: One farmer could supply enough food for almost 11 people in the United States and abroad by 1940, and throughout the decade, the average annual consumption of commercial fertilizer was 13,590,466 tons. During this decade and through 1970, farms experienced a sea change from horses to tractors, including the adoption of a group of technological practices, which broadly characterized the second American agriculture agricultural revolution.

Machine history mccormick reaper