Colonial Plantation Network

Crops – The first settlers of this area were faced with the problem of determining what crops were suitable for the soil and climate of this area. Wheat, corn, oats and grass were the most important crops. The only New World field crops grown extensively were corn and potatoes.

Wheat – Wheat, not corn was the premier crop. Much of the wheat that was grown in early Colonial days was spring or summer wheat. Ultimately winter wheat proved superior and spring seeding was discontinued. Winter wheat is sown in the fall; summer wheat is sown in the spring. Wheat was sown in standing corn or around the “hills”. When the corn reached maturity, the strongest blades were cut off for fodder. Then they would plow between the rows of corn, sow wheat and harrow it in.  The next year they would have a full crop. This practice was possible because of the wide space between corn rows, then commonly five or six feet.

Farm implements after 1750 had the benefit of casting steel. Farmers made implements themselves. They were often made on the farm by local blacksmiths. Colonial farmers were , of necessity, jacks of all trades. Until about 1790 plows used by Pennsylvania farmers were little better than those used by their ancestors in Europe thousands of years before. The early colonial plow had a wooden beam, wooden moldboard and landside and one or more wooden coulters. One or two crooked sticks served as handles. The iron toothed harrow was widely used for tillage. This is the tool we use the most often at the Plantation. It is called an A-harrow because of its shape. Broadcasting of grain and grass seed was used until after 1840. Corn was also hand planted. The sickle was the most common means of harvesting. The “broad hoe” was used  by the first settlers. This tool was made lighter and more effective by the 1770s.

Farm labor was comprised mostly of the family.  Hired help never lasted long because it was so easy to become a land owner further west.  Large and extended families prevailed.  Indentured servants were common in southeastern Pennsylvania. Apprenticeship was a system of labor: it was also a system of education. Negro slaves were comparatively few in Pennsylvania agriculture. There are records that show that the Plantation did have some at various times.

XIII. Field Crop Systems

Agriculture is an integral part of our interpretive strategy. We must continually strive for authenticity in our selection of crops and farming techniques.

Land – Pennsylvania was the foremost in the production of food, among the colonies.  This was due to the rich and fertile soil.  The first farmers were greeted with soil so rich they could grow high yield crops without any fertilizer. Most farms had a lot of land and rather than maintain a field they would abandon it, clear a new field and plant on virgin soil.  So at first farmers used the method of leaving fields fallow as a means of regaining fertility to their fields. The use of manure and crop rotation in the 1770s did much for the “state of the art”. We use manure from our animals on our fields.

Farmers – Because of the location of the Plantation (southeastern Pennsylvania) we apply the practices of the English farmers.  By the 1760s, which is the beginning of our focal period, there was a lot of acquired knowledge. Techniques of Germans, Irish, English, and Indians were common knowledge and were applied accordingly.