sartesian wrote:
However (again!), the record of plantation production in the US-- "capital" investment, percent of acreage sequestered vs.cultivated, etc-- shows "improvement" had not achieved the status of compulsory practicce. The Southern economy as a whole exhibits this same lassitude. Compare the expansion, volumes, and technical sophistication of Southern railroads vs. Northern railroads in the period up to and including the US Civil War.
But Jefferson's plantation employed the same amount of technology as did Great Britain. The article about British farming productivity rates that I posted a couple of weeks ago makes clear that improvements in the 18th century were a function of farm size not machinery. There is basically no difference between Jefferson's plantation and a large British farm in this period other than the fact that one used wage labor and the other used slaves.
