<P> Plantation agriculture, using slaves, developed in Virginia and Maryland (where tobacco was grown), and South Carolina (where indigo and rice were grown). Cotton became a major plantation crop after 1800 in the "Black Belt," that is the region from North Carolina in an arc through Texas where the climate allowed for cotton cultivation . The "Black Belt" was originally named after the black soil; but came to refer to the high percentage of African - Americans working as slaves in the area . </P> <P> Apart from the tobacco and rice plantations, the great majority of farms were subsistence, producing food for the family and some for trade and taxes . Throughout the colonial period, subsistence farming was pervasive . Farmers supplemented their income with sales of surplus crops or animals in the local market, or by exports to the slave colonies in the West Indies . Logging, hunting and fishing supplemented the family economy . </P> <P> Ethnicity made a difference in agricultural practice . German Americans brought with them practices and traditions that were quite different from those of the English and Scots . They adapted Old World techniques to a much more abundant land supply . Furthermore, the Germans showed a long - term tendency to keep the farm in the family and to avoid having their children move to towns . For example, they generally preferred oxen to horses for plowing . The Scots Irish built their livelihoods on some farming but more herding (of hogs and cattle). In the American colonies, the Scots - Irish focused on mixed farming . Using this technique, they grew corn for human consumption and for livestock feed, especially for hogs . Many improvement - minded farmers of different backgrounds began using new agricultural practices to increase their output . During the 1750s, these agricultural innovators replaced the hand sickles and scythes used to harvest hay, wheat, and barley with the cradle scythe, a tool with wooden fingers that arranged the stalks of grain for easy collection . This tool was able to triple the amount of work done by a farmer in one day . A few scientifically informed farmers (mostly wealthy planters like George Washington) began fertilizing their fields with dung and lime and rotating their crops to keep the soil fertile . </P> <P> Before 1720, most colonists in the mid-Atlantic region worked in small - scale farming and paid for imported manufactures by supplying the West Indies with corn and flour . In New York, a fur - pelt export trade to Europe flourished and added additional wealth to the region . After 1720, mid-Atlantic farming was stimulated by the international demand for wheat . A massive population explosion in Europe drove wheat prices up . By 1770, a bushel of wheat cost twice as much as it did in 1720 . Farmers also expanded their production of flaxseed and corn since flax was in high demand in the Irish linen industry and a demand for corn existed in the West Indies . </P>

Number of farmers in the us in the 1800s