Puritan New England

Earth, Wind and Fire

The New England Landscape

Glacial landscape

Thin soils except along rivers and streams

Sand and rocks

Forests still evolving

Many marshes & ponds

Very cold winters

Rich fisheries

Salmon, shad, etc.

Puritan Communities

Community above self

Land granted to groups as townships, not individuals

Each got some land

Parcels of different sorts of land

Democratic communal regulation of land use

Preserve resources for future generations

“Improvement” (Gen. 2:15; Christ’s parable of the talents)

Sustainable Agriculture

Meadow for hay

Cattle for manure

Manure for fields

Woodlots

Fences essential

The Puritan Landscape

Challenges to community

Declining Congregational authority, increasing individualism

Outlying farms as population increases

Opening of new lands in the West draw young men

Arrival of the railroad makes farming unprofitable

Truck farming near cities

Clearing of forests for dairy farming

Agricultural “Improvement”

Rev. Jared Eliot, Essays upon Field Husbandry, 1748-1763

Agricultural journals grow popular, many by New Englanders

1862: Secession allows creation of Department of Agriculture, the Morrill Act for land-grant colleges, and the Homestead Act

Hatch Act of 1887 establishes agricultural experiment stations

Search for new hybrids and varieties

Search for pesticides and fertilizers