The Agriculture Revolution was a time when people worked the land by using simple hand tools. By the 1800’s, most people in Western Europe and the United States lived on farms. The nation’s economy was based on farming and the making of goods by hand and trading. They lived in rural areas in little cottages lit with firelight and candles. They made their own clothes and grew their own food. The system of making your own clothes was called the putting out system. The putting out system was the production of goods in homes under the supervision of a merchant who "put out" the raw materials, and paid for the finished product, which they then sold to a distant market. People also sold and traded their self-made goods within short distances from their location. People did not know much about villages that were beyond them because they were confined within 25 miles of their birthplace. This was because traveling by dirt roads was slow. During this time period, there was a rapid growth in the population called population explosion. Britain’s population went from 5 million in 1700 to almost 9 million in 1800. The population boom was due more to the decline in deaths than the increase in childbirth. The Agricultural Revolution also reduced the risk of famine because there was plenty of food to go around. Also, since the women ate better, they had healthier and stronger babies. New farming technologies also developed. A new invention by Jethro Tull called the seed drill planted seeds in a row. This made planting easier and more efficient. Using new technology and the system of crop rotation, the rich forced the poor off the village commons that now became enclosed as private property. This caused the poor to be unemployed and they ended up as proletariats in the upcoming Industrial Revolution.
Before people worked in factories, they worked in their own homes. This was called the Cottage Industry. During the winter months when