The rural landscape, at the end of the Nineteenth Century, was ragged and often unsightly. Fields quickly grew up in sprouts if left fallow. Entire family groups, or family groups hired by a farmer, would clear the overgrown woods.

The modern tractor and rotary mower allowed rural residents to easily mow roadsides and fallow fields. Combined with the aesthetic of the countryside promoted by Andrew Jackson Downing in the Nineteenth Century, a softer and more orderly landscape began to appear.
Women and children clearing brush (ca 1910), Union County.Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Collected by Jane Adams, 1991.
Go back to previous page
PAGE |<< | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
D. Gorton's Home Page
Jane Adams' Home Page
Memory and Judgment: Mississippi
The White South
Contact Us
This page was last modified on: