4.4.10.B--+Influences+of+agricultural+science+in+the+farming+practices

Agricultural Science and Farming Practices
Between 1820 and 1920, agricultural science led to the revolution of farming equipment. Early in the nineteenth century Joseph and Robert Smith of Bucks County invented a practical cast iron plow that was a huge success with many farmers. A thresher that cleaned and threshed grain in one single operation, making the threshing process much easier, faster, and more efficient, was developed by Robert McClure in Washington County. By 1850 farming equipment like mechanical mowers, McCormick's reaper, and steam tractors were completely normal in everyday farming life.

Produce transportation to the market was a huge challenge for most farmers in Pennsylvania, because of the geographical diversity. Wagons, canal boats, and railroads were all kinds of transportation for farm products in the nineteenth century. Many of the goods from Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania (west side of the mountains) were transported by boat and barge down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to markets in Cincinnati, St. Louis, and New Orleans, while farm produce from central and eastern Pennsylvania traveled to Philadelphia and Baltimore.

In 1862, the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, now Pennsylvania State University, was founded with Evan Pugh as the first president. With Pugh's leadership, Penn State led the movement toward public education in the scientific methodology in agriculture. A Board of Agriculture was formed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1876 to oversee the use of the scientific method in farming. The state legislature quickly did the same, passing the Commercial Fertilizer Law in 1879, the Butter and Cheese Act in 1883, and the Animal Disease Control Law in 1887. These laws/acts all created more for the board to control, making a Board of Agriculture much more effective and efficient. Then in 1895 legislation created the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and gave it the three basic functions the board had been given in 1876: law enforcement, education, and prevention of plant and animal disease. ("Agriculture in Pennsylvania")