Question

What role did the new technology play in the expansion of wheat cultivation in USA?

Answer 1

(i) The expansion of wheat cultivation in the USA was made possible by new technology. Through the $19th$ century, as the white settlers moved into new habitats and new lands, they modified their implements to meet their requirements.

(ii) When they entered the mid-Western prairie, the simple ploughs the farmers had used in the eastern coastal areas of the USA proved ineffective. The prairies were covered with a thick mat of grass with tough roots. To break the sod and turn and soil over, a variety of new ploughs were devised locally.

(iii) By the early $20th$ century, farmers in the great plains were breaking the ground with tractors and disk ploughs, clearing vast stretches for wheat cultivation.

(iv) Before the $1830s$, the grain used to be harvested with a cradle or sickle. At harvest time, hundreds of men and women could be seen cutting the crop. In $1831$$,CyrusMcCormickinventedthefirstmechanicalreaperwhichcouldcutitonedayasmuchasfivemencouldcutwithcradlesand$16$ men with sickles.

(v) By the early $20th$ century, most farmers were using combined harvester to cut grain. With one of these machines, $500$ acres of wheat could be harvested in two weeks.

(vi) Thus, the new machines enabled the farmers to rapidly clear large tracts, break up the soil, remove the grass and prepare the ground for cultivation. With power-driven machinery, four men could plough, seed and harvest $2000$ to $4000$ acres of wheat in a season.