OK WL, don't let reality get in the way of your abstractions. The 'tractor' in many cases actually made the small farm -- the mule and 40 acres -- last longer, as the tractor and 40 acres farm.
With ammonia-based fertlizer you have something that is just as destructive of older forms of farming as the tractor or self-propelled farm equipment to be more accurate because you free the farm up from having to make its own fertilizer, raise enough feed for the animals that make the fertilizer. Another big change is simply in the way farmers get their seeds to plant. They used to have to raise their own crops to feed themselves, to feed their animals, and to have enough seed to plant enough crops the next time around. And how you grow crops for seed is pretty much a lost art to today's farmers. As for the steam power, it moved so much work away from streams in terms of milling and the sacking of flour. Of course its locomotive power for trains transformed the country (as did telegraph, the lines for which often paralleled the tracks). You are right about 'tractors' in the sense self-propelled tractive equipment didn't really catch on with steam power--it took far too many mechanics dispersed all over farming areas to keep running, and it was too heavy and bogged down. But gasoline-powered tractors caught on with all sorts of farming, especially after WW II. CJ _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
