Happiness = Food (And Trains... I Guess)

USDA-NRCS. Crops in straight rows. Digital image. EQUINE LAND
CONSERVATION RESOURCE. Equine Land Conservation Resource, 4 June 2013. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

During history class we have been learning about industrialization. After dividing into groups, we were each given one of the four ‘ingredients’ of industrialization and had to gather some information about it. We did this in order to answer the question, “What was ‘revolutionary’ about industrialization?” One ingredient of industrialization is technology. New technology made industrialization ‘revolutionary’. New technology helped make methods of transportation much easier. The steam engine was invented and used to power vehicles such as trains and boats. This invention made it possible for people to travel almost anywhere across land without the restriction of needing a body of water close by. Before steam engines were built, trains were pulled along their tracks by horses. The steam engine made traveling by train much quicker. Ships were also powered by steam engines and this led to resources being shipped faster. With the steam engine, boats were also able to travel in any weather. It no longer mattered what the weather was, the steam engine powered the boat anytime. Technology is not the only ‘ingredient’ of industrialization. The effect of new farming techniques made industrialization ‘revolutionary.’

Gache, Gabriel. How Steam Engines Work. Digital image. Softpedia. N.p., 14 Apr. 2008. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

Farmers came up with new farming techniques to better improve the quality and quantity of farm products. One of these techniques included the building of dikes, or giant barriers, to shelter the land from the ocean.  Farmers did this so that the salt water from the oceans wouldn't hurt their plants. To keep the soil full of nutrients, farmers used fertilizer and rotated crops. Farmers used animal manure to renew nutrients to the soil. They also rotated crops so that the nutrients in the soil wouldn't be exhausted. By keeping the soil full of nutrients, plants became healthier and more prosperous. To further increase the production of crops, farmers used the seed drill to plant plants in straight lines. This technique allowed farmers to maximize their land space. Before the seed drill, farmers would randomly scatter seeds across the land, which wasted space. Land was also enclosed with fences to maximize land space. Pastures were fenced for sheep, which led to an increase in wool production. As a result of these new techniques, farmers were able to farm more land with less workers. They were also able to produce more crops. There was now enough food so that famine wasn't a constant fear. More food also led to an increase in population. Not only were less people dying, but women were healthier because they had more food and so were their babies. But because farmers weren't in need of so many workers, peasants who formerly worked the land were forced to go to the cities to find new work. In the cities, these people made up the labor force of the industrial revolution. New farming techniques made industrialization ‘revolutionary’ because of the impact they had on the people at that time and the population.