Kevin,

You had suggested a couple of years ago that BREAKING THE LAND	was a good place to start with my nascent interest in the mechanization of agriculture and the results that brought. I immediately got a copy and have spent two trans-atlantic trips post-it notating passages and from there gone on to acquire a relatively decent database of baseline data on economic factor so that when I put together a contextual statement on the effects of the post-Civil War (1865-1965) era on the agricultural worker, at least I can relate with some assurance that when I read that Joe Blogs made $237 dollars for the entire year, that I can place him economically in the correct "slot".

Having grown up in the agrarian and mechanized South, I had erroneously thought that there was a longer timespan for the mechanization, but it is clear now that I lived through the tail end of that process.

The problem I now face is how to get to the transition to mechanized ag in the South. Looking at the industrial census tabulations, I can get the number of manufacturing plants by state and their aggregate values. But what I can't yet find is where those products went. It appears that no-one has pulled those pieces of info out of the manufacturer's archives. The personal property tax lists require only aggregate value of farm equipment and have been that way for at least 40 years so unless I can find out how many John Deere or Farmall tractors got shipped to VA for sale (and I don't know if they did direct sales or consignment or what arrangements were made with the dealers) then I'm dead in the water. Likewise with farm implements such as disks, plows, cultivators, pickers of all stripes and combines when they became available. What I am seeing is that the mid and upper Mid-West states lead in the invention and production of farm equipment of all types. If I had those figures, then a little GIS work and the spread of equipment would be graphically evident.

Lyle


On May 7, 2012, at 9:20 PM, Hardwick, Kevin - hardwikr wrote:

> Lyle--
> 
> My apologies--I thought the issue on which I posted was sufficiently important as to merit the comment, but you are quite right that it was off topic.  So in the spirit of making amends, I will try to address your actual question, if only modestly.
> 
> I am hardly an expert on the post-Civil War agricultural South--so do take the following with an appropriate grain of salt.  Many years ago now (yikes!), when I was in graduate school, I had the pleasure to read a fine book by Pete Daniel, a curator and agricultural historian at the Smithsonian.  His book is titled BREAKING THE LAND:  THE TRANSFORMATION OF COTTON, TOBACCO, AND RICE CULTURES SINCE 1880 (University of Illinois Press, 1986).  It contains what I recollect to be a terrific discussion of the timing of the mechanization of agriculture in the the South--in comparison, if I recall correctly anyway, with agricultural mechanization in California.  I am sure there has been more recent work than this book, and I am sure that there are others here on this list who know this subject much better than I do.  But if all else fails, Daniel's book might be a good place to start.
> 
> I am a bit leary of making counter-factual arguments.  But it does strike me that the place to begin is by looking at the actual timing of the transition to capital intensive, mechanized agriculture in the South.  And barring a better suggestion, Daniel is perhaps as good a place as any to go for that.
> 
> All best wishes,
> Kevin
> ___________________________
> Kevin R. Hardwick
> Associate Professor
> Department of History, MSC 8001
> James Madison University
> Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
> ________________________________________
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Lyle E. Browning [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, May 07, 2012 3:41 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: The Peculiar Institution's End Without The Intervention Of The Civil War
> 
> ALRIGHT YOU LOT,
> 
> Stop hijacking my original post's intent;) I'm not concerned with why people fought. That they did is evident.
> 
> What I am concerned with is whether the mechanization of farming would have resulted in the destruction of slavery. If you look at the census figs, some 70-90% of the population at any given time were on farms until the 20th century. Now it's about 3%. If that trajectory had followed WITHOUT the intervention of the Civil War, slavery would, in my view, have become superfluous. Slaveowners bought and used people because until the second agricultural revolution that brought animal power and towed equipment into the picture, they were all that they had. And due to the peculiarities of some of the southern crops, intensive hand labor was needed. But if you progressively add equipment that paid for itself quickly, did more per day and did it more efficiently and with less cost than slaves could do it, it seems to me that even the dimmest person would at some point see that keeping all those folks housed, fed and supervised, not to mention the social issues raised by bondage, would make no economic sense.
> 
> So can you please respond to that thesis and turn your considerable guns upon it rather than the usual arguments;)
> 
> Lyle Browning
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On May 7, 2012, at 2:32 PM, Alexander Colvin wrote:
> 
>> James McPherson, of Princeton U, author of "For Cause and Comrades,"
>> examined this question as well in his seminal work. We were required to
>> read it (and four other books,) in Dr. Steven Deley's Civil War and
>> Reconstruction  course at University of Houston (upper class) which I just
>> finished. McPherson examined thousands of letters from CSA and Union
>> soldiers in hopes of finding the truest sentiments of why these men fought;
>> the ultimate answer it seems is rather varied and changed as the war
>> progressed. IOW, there was no single reason but there were overall themes:
>> to end slavery, and its counter-point; to protect the union and its
>> counter-point;  to protect home and hearth, and for love of comradeship are
>> some of the reoccurring and developing themes.  In Dr. Deley's course, were
>> were tested on these issues, and they are multi-layered. I would encourage
>> you to read McPherson's short but very readable work. which suggests the
>> rational changed over time as the war dragged on.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 11:29 AM, Jeff Southmayd <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>>> "We often ask why so many southern white men, who did not own slaves and
>>> whose economic picture was negatively impacted by the competition from
>>> slavery, fought in 1861 to uphold an institution that did not evidently
>>> benefit them..."Pretty obvious they fought largely because their homes were
>>> being invaded by an enemy army.  Or as one Southern soldier in Virginia
>>> reportedly responded to a Northern soldier's question "Reb, why are you
>>> fighting" with "I reckon because your here."
>>> SOUTHMAYD & MILLER4 OCEAN RIDGE BOULEVARD SOUTH
>>> PALM COAST, FLORIDA 32137
>>> 386.445.9156
>>> 888.557.3686 FAX
>>> 
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