Jamie Kassiotis: Farmer Post #1 (I Don't Know Why It Says Ntaku)

Hello, my name is Caleb Leigh, I am 47 years old, and I am a farmer in Waddington, Lancashire County England. I have been farming in Waddington since I was a child. My father originally won this land in a bet at a pub before I was even born. He told me that a man named Marcus Wenham bet him one of his farms if he could name out all the towns and cities in Lancashire county. To his surprise, and mine he could. Ever since then he, my mum and I had been living and farming various crops there. Then a few years ago a wealthy entrepreneur wanted to buy my land and make it part of his enclosure, but I said no. He offered me a large sum of money, but what would I do without my farm? When my father died he said that I shouldn't let anyone take away what is rightfully ours, no matter what. He said that our farm was everything, and without it we were just another face on the street. The entrepreneur was very forceful. He would visit my farm every week and chat, always asking about selling it. I always say no though. I fear that one day the large enclosures and growing foreign trade will one day force me to move to the city or elsewhere. But, that day has not come yet, so until then I will continue on my father's legacy of farming.

Times are changing very much I have noticed, new technologies and many other things are making life much easier. One new invention that has really helped me a lot is the steam engine. My grandmother lives in Sheffield. The poor soul can barely support herself, and has no money. So, every week I travel to Sheffield by carriage to deliver her some crops, a bit of money, and some company for several hours. Normally, the trip to Sheffield would take almost all day. The distance from Waddington to Sheffield is about 100 kilometers. This was a pain, because I could get no work done that day, I would get up early, take the carriage, stay for an hour or so and then get back very early the next morning. Once I heard about James Watt's steam engine I was thrilled. If they used this technology for the public consumption my Saturdays would be so much easier! And sure enough they did, in 1821 a man named George Stephenson began work on the world's first railroad line. It didn't go through Waddington or Sheffield, but later on one was built that did. This made it so the trip to see my grandmother only took up half the day. I would take the train (Which would take about three to four hours), see my grandmother, and then go back. If I left in the early morning I could be back by supper time! The invention of the steam engine also benefitted me in other ways, it made delivering goods to far-away towns much easier and also made travel much easier. Everyone in England benefitted from it! And it wasn't that expensive either. The steam engine was a invention that truly impacted my life and made it much easier.

The changes in agriculture also affected my life. With foreign trade increasing and more and more factories opening it's hard to compete! Many of my friends who are also farmers have sold their land to entrepreneurs and have become part of enclosures, which are large pieces of farm land owned by entrepreneurs. They were usually kicked out following their sale, and had to move to the city. In the city, living conditions were tough and they had to work in factories day and night for little pay. It was terrible seeing my friends in such despair, with nothing to live for except a few shillings a week. Meanwhile, in the enclosures landowners were trying new agricultural methods to boost up output. One scientific farmer named Jethro Tull thought that the standard way of sowing seeds by scattering it across the ground was just plain stupid. Many seeds failed to take root, which caused farmers to lose hundreds of shillings a year! He solved this little problem by inventing the seed drill in 1701. It allowed farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths. A larger share of the seeds took root, which boosted crop yields. Another change in agriculture was crop rotation. It was probably one of the best things to come out of the agricultural revolution. You could argue that the ideas of crop rotation were used by the Mayans and during the middle ages as the three-field system, but the way it was done during the agricultural revolution was the most effective. The process was fairly simple, for example a farmer might plant a field with wheat one year, exhausting soil nutrients and then the next year he would plant a root crop, like turnips to restore the nutrients. This could be followed by barley and then maybe clover. My friend Gregory is a livestock breeder, and he is saying that many new methods and ideas are improving his output too. He told me that a man named Robert Bakewell increased his mutton output by allowing only his best sheep to breed. He also told me that the average weight for lambs went from 18 to 50 pounds in a 86 year span. Overall, an increasing population boosted the demand for food and goods such as cloth, and farmers like some of my friends had to move to the city and become factory workers because of this.

I have also noticed an emergence of many new modes of travel. I have already talked about the steam engine, and how it has benefitted many individuals in their daily routine and work. But other forms of travel and improvements in road transportation have also been very present. James Watt's steam engine was not only used in locomotives, but also as boat propellers. The first steamboat named Clermont had it's first journey in 1807. That was in America though, steamboats didn't come about in England until the mid-1800's. Large waterways were made and it allowed for the cost of transporting both raw materials and finished goods to be slashed. It made it much easier to deliver my crops to my customers, and travel throughout the U.K. Roads also improved a lot too. The British people can thank John McAdam for that, he equipped road beds with a layer of larger stones for drainage. On the top, he placed a carefully smoothed layer of crushed rock. This made so anytime in any weather carriages could travel. Turnpikes were also created, which made people pay to get through certain gates owned by private investors. The improvement of the roads was great, it made it much easier to travel and provoked it too, but turnpikes were a bit of a pain. Once I had to go through one and had no money! I had to barter with the person working there and eventually gave him a small portrait of Queen Victoria that I had in my pocket and my belt. The emergence of new technologies and more efficient travel ways were very present during the 1800's, and helped many people rich and poor have a easier daily routine and life.