A reprint of Publication no. 358 of the Carnegie Institute of Washington (no. 5 of Contributions to American economic history).

Originally published: 1925.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 454-492) and index.

PART I: AGRICULTURE IN THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS: Field husbandry -- Livestock -- Farm labor, equipment and land -- Trade in agricultural products -- Land tenure -- PART II: RURAL ECONOMY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: Pioneering in the Eighteenth Century -- Farming in the older settlements: crops and tillage -- Grazing and livestock -- Farm management and household economy -- Agricultural trade -- PART III: EXPANSION AND PROGRESS: 1800-1840: Pioneering west of the Alleghanies -- Pioneer farming in the West: economic conditions -- Development of internal trade and the beginnings of commercial agriculture in the West -- Organization and education of farmers -- Foreign trade and the home market -- Farm labor and labor-saving machinery -- Livestock: improvement and specialization -- Crops and tillage -- Transition from self-sufficient economy to commercial agriculture: its difficulties, its significance -- PART IV: PERIOD OF TRANSFORMATION, 1840-1860: Northern agriculture in 1840 -- Influence of the prairies on the progress of agriculture -- Agricultural labor and population -- Agricultural machinery -- Transportation and markets --Diffusion of information -- Wheat -- Corn -- The minor cereals -- Flax and hemp -- Hay -- Potatoes and roots -- Fruits and minor crops -- Beef production -- Sheep -- Dairying -- Swine -- Poultry -- Horses and mules -- Northern agriculture in 1860: a summary.