Agriculture in the Nineteenth Century

Materials for a study of Connecticut agriculture in the nineteenth century are rich indeed. Both Russell and Jenkins cover the period especially well, and Gates and Shannon concentrate on it. Starting in 1866, the Board of Agriculture published the Annual Report of its Secretary, for thirty-four years, Theodore Sedgwick Gold. These reports are a gold mine of information, but a lot of digging is required, and they are really in the nature of primary sources. Gold also edited a Handbook of Connecticut Agriculture, published by the Board (Hartford, 1901). This small work of eighty-seven pages on agriculture in Connecticut as it was at the turn of the century includes many photographs and ten pages on state parks and monuments. Gold also published his memoirs, "The Age of Agricultural Science: Memories...from the Days of Homespun," in Connecticut Magazine 9 (1905) 2:232-35.

Additional works focusing on nineteenth-century agriculture in Connecticut:

Bidwell, Percy. "Rural Economy in New England at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century." Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 20 (April, 1916).

Brewer, William H. A Century of Connecticut Agriculture. Report of the Secretary to the State Board of Agriculture, Hartford, 1894.

Clark, Christopher. "Household Economy, Market Exchange, and the Rise of Capitalism in the Connecticut River Valley, 1800-1860."Journal of Social History 13 (Fall, 1977).

Dwight, Timothy. Travels in New England and New York. Edited by Barbara Miller Solomon. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969. A very rich source. Four volumes; use the index.

Humphreys, David. A Discourse on the Agriculture of the State of Connecticut. New Haven: T.G. Woodward, 1816. By a pioneering scientific farmer.

Perkins, Mary E. Chronicles of a Connecticut Farm, 1769-1905. Boston: Priv. printed, 1905. The farm is in Salem.

Phelps, Charles Shepherd. Rural Life in Litchfield County. Norfolk: Litchfield County University Club, 1917. Some slight efforts at early history, but mostly about the nineteenth century. An excellent description of Litchfield county as its agricultural base was collapsing. See also the author's "Is There a Decline of New England Agriculture?" New England Magazine. New series 25 (November, 1901) 3:374-83, where he analyzes the reasons for decline and suggests regeneration in Connecticut through specialization and intensive farming.

Mitchell, Donald G. My Farm at Edgewood: A Country Book. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1863.

___________.  Rural Studies with Hints for Country Places. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1867.

Edgewood is the Westville section of New Haven.  Both of these works were reprinted in "The Works of Donald G. Mitchell," Scribner's 1907. There is an 1868 edition of My Farm with photographic illustrations.  Both of these books reflect Mitchell's thrifty romanticism. They are directed to city folks who think they would like to own -- and possibly operate -- a working farm in Connecticut. Mitchell was a practical, semi-scientific farmer, but he is more interested in the agrarian spirit and a pastoral aesthetic than in profits. Nevertheless, he is full of good advice for the unenlightened backcountry ploughjogger. Edgewood is in New Haven.