Historical Agriculture
When humans fashioned metal implements at the end of the Neolithic period, agricultural innovation sort of stalled. The Neolithic Period had seen comunities grind stone tools; raise more domesticated plants & animals; establish permanent villages; & create pottery & weaving. Folks still did their reaping, binding, & winnowing by hand. Hand-seeding continued on individual farm plots & large estates alike. According to region, fishing & hunting supplemented the food grown on farms. Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus described the "Germans" as a tribal society of free peasant farmers & warriors, who cultivated their own lands. About 500 years later, European villagers built houses, surrounded by individually owned cultivated fields & meadows, woods, & wasteland used by the entire community. Shared oxen & plow passed from one field to another, & harvesting usually was a cooperative effort.
Rome appears to have started as a rural agricultural society of independent farmers. In the 1st millennium bc, after the city was established, however, agriculture started a capitalistic development that reached a peak in the Christian era. The large estates that supplied grain to the cities of the empire were owned by absentee landowners & were cultivated by slave labor under the supervision of hired overseers. As slaves, usually war captives, decreased in number, tenants replaced them. The late Roman villa of the Christian era echoed the medieval manor in organization; slaves & dependent tenants were forced to work on a fixed schedule, & tenants paid a predetermined share to the estate owner. By the 4C AD, serfdom was well established, & the former tenant was attached to the land.
The feudal period in Europe began soon after the fall of the Roman Empire, widespread from about AD 1100. In the Arab period in Egypt & Spain, farmers began extending irrigation to previously sterile or unproductive land. In Egypt, grain production was sufficient to allow the country to sell wheat in the international market. In Spain, vineyards were planted on sloping land, & irrigation water was brought from the mountains to the plains. In some Islamic areas, oranges, lemons, peaches, & apricots were cultivated. Rice, sugarcane, cotton, & such vegetables as spinach & artichokes, as well as the characteristic Spanish flavoring saffron, were produced. The silkworm was raised, & its food, the mulberry tree, was grown.
By the 12C agriculture in the Middle East was static, & Mesopotamia, for example, fell back to subsistence level when its irrigation systems were destroyed by the Mongols. The Crusades increased European contact with Islamic lands. In Scandinavia & eastern Germany, the small farms & villages of previous years remained. In mountainous areas & in the marshlands of Slavic Europe, the manorial system could not flourish.
A manor required roughly about 900 to 2000 acres of arable land & the same amount of other prescribed lands, such as wetlands, woodlots, & pasture. Typically, the manor was a self-contained community. A parish church was frequently included, & the manor might make up the entire parish. One or more villages might be located on the manor, & village peasants were the actual farmers. Under the direction of an overseer, they produced the crops, raised the meat & draft animals, & paid taxes in services, either forced labor on the lord's immediate lands & other properties or forced military service.
A large manor often had a grinding mill for grain, an oven for bread, fishponds, orchards, a winepress &/or oil press, & herb & vegetable gardens. Kept bees produced honey. Woolen garments were produced from sheep raised on the manor. Linen textiles were also produced from flax, which was grown for both its oil & fiber. Leather was produced from the manor's cattle. Horses & oxen were the beasts of burden; as heavier horses were bred. A blacksmith, wheelwright, & carpenter made & maintained crude agricultural tools.
The food served in a feudal castle or manor house depended on the season & the lord's hunting prowess. Hunting for meat was the major non-military work of the lord, his family, & his military retainers. Manor residents could also eat domestic ducks, pheasants, pigeons, geese, hens, & partridges; fish, pork, beef, & mutton; & cabbages, turnips, carrots, onions, beans, & peas. Bread, cheese & butter, ale & wine, & apples & pears also appeared on the table. In the south, olives & olive oil might be used, often instead of butter.
The cultivation process was rigidly prescribed. The arable land was divided into 3 fields: one sown in the autumn in wheat or rye; a 2nd sown in the spring in barley, rye, oats, beans, or peas; & the 3rd was left fallow. The fields were laid out in strips distributed over the 3 seasonal fields without hedges or fences to separate the strips. Each male peasant head of household was allotted to work about 30 strips. Helped by his family & a yoke of oxen, he worked under the direction of the lord's officials. When he worked on his own fields, if he had any, he usually followed the village custom. The annual plowing routine was in the autumn & spring, & some fallow acerage was plowed in June. At harvest time, all the peasants, including women & children, were expected to work in the fields. In all systems, the lord's fields & needs dominated, but a few days each week might be left for work on the family strips & garden plots. Wood & peat for fuel were gathered from common woodlots, & animals were pastured together on village meadows.
About 1300 AD a tendency to enclose the common lands & to raise sheep for their wool alone appeared. The rise of the textile industry made sheep raising profitable in England, Flanders, Champagne, Tuscany, Lombardy, & the region of Augsburg in Germany. Areas around the medieval towns began to specialize in garden produce & dairy products. The manorial system eas negatively affected by the wars of 14-15C Europe & by the plague outbreaks of the 14C. Villages were wiped out, & land was abandoned. The decline in the labor force meant that only the best land was cultivated. The emphasis on grain was replaced & items produced included wine, oil, cheese, butter, & vegetables, with much sold at market..
By the 16C, population was increasing in Europe, & agricultural production was expanding. More mouths to feed & greed for more trade. By this time Europe was cut off from Asia & the Middle East by an extension of Turkish power. New economic ventures included the products of agriculture. Wars between England & France, & throughout Germany consumed capital & workers. Exploration & colonization hopefully might circumvent Turkey's control of traditional Eastern trade; provide homes for religious refugees; & bring metals back to European nations to fill some empty coffers.
Colonial agriculture fed the colonists & also to produced cash crops & food for the home country. Crops included sugar, cotton, tobacco, tea, wool, & animal hides. From the 15C to the 19C African slavery provided needed laborers, for Europeans on colonial plantations requiring a larger labor force than the colony could provide. Indians were virtually enslaved as well. Indentured servants from Europe & England, provided both skilled & unskilled labor to many colonies.
