were developed in Rhode Island, but they disappeared as a distinct breed by the year 1800.
The middle colonies contained a mixed population of European peoples, with several systems of agriculture. The land tenure was similar to New England, except in New York where the Dutch feudal "Patron System" prevailed. The holdings of these patrons ran up as high as 100,000 acres and form the basis of many of the great New York estates of today. The patrons acted as local governors, securing immigrants to rent their lands at low rentals, collecting taxes and supporting the schools and churches.
Wage labor on the farms did not exist to any extent in these colonies. Slaves and bond servants only worked for a master. Every one else had a small free hold of his own or else was a craftsman and kept his own shop in the little town.
The farming implements were practically the same as those used in New England and the South. Among the crops, wheat held the leading place and the Pennsylvania millers had a great reputation for the excellence of their flour. Cabbage, turnips, potatoes, apples, peaches, watermelons, buckwheat and corn are mentioned largely in their agricultural reports, and the Swedish traveler Kalm reports the irrigation of meadows in Pennslyvania in 1748, and the following of land to grasses, as was the practice in New England. Cattle, horses, hogs, sheep and poultry were plentiful in all these colonies, though there does not seem to have been any effort to standardize a breed or get a better stock.
Many intelligent writers have condemned the wasteful methods of colonial agriculture, but they
