Farming for pro¿ t meant competing with other producers, and that meant
increasing ef¿ ciency. British farmers raised productivity by introducing
techniques that had been known for many centuries. What was new was not
the techniques but the increasing incentives to apply them on a large scale.
Farmers raised soil fertility by planting legumes; they improved irrigation,
bred better-quality animals, and used improved methods of planting and
preparing their land.
Between 1700 and 1850, British agricultural output increased 3.5 times,
while the numbers employed in agriculture fell from 61% to 29% of the
population. For the ¿ rst time in human history, a minority of the population
was feeding a majority. Expanding internal and
foreign markets, a supportive government, and a
stable ¿ nancial system that could provide cheap
capital (the Bank of England had been incorporated
in 1694) encouraged investment in manufacturing as
well as in agriculture.
In most Agrarian societies, textile production was
the largest sector after agriculture. Innovations in
cotton spinning reduced the time taken to spin 100
pounds of cotton from 50,000 hours to 300 hours in the late 18th century and
stimulated the mechanization of weaving. A shortage of wood encouraged
greater use of coal. That meant improving the technologies used to pump
water out of coal mines. In the 1760s, James Watt (1736–1819) improved the
ef¿ ciency of the steam engines traditionally used to pump out mines. More
ef¿ cient steam engines made it economical for the ¿ rst time to use coal to
drive machines even well away from the coal ¿ elds. This encouraged the
creation of large factories driven by steam power.
Putting steam engines on wheels early in the 19th century revolutionized
land transportation and slashed transportation costs. The ¿ rst steam engine
designed for passengers as well as for freight was the “Rocket,” designed by
George Stephenson. We have a wonderful description from the actress Fanny
Kemble (1809–1893), who traveled on one of Stephenson’s trains in 1830.
In most Agrarian
societies, textile
production was
the largest sector
after agriculture.