Unit 1 Context B: Scotland and Britain 1830-1930

How to do a General Knowledge and Understanding Question

Topic: Farming

Type of KU question: KU1 (describe)

Origin of Question: 2003 SQA Exam

Study the information in the sources. You must also use your own knowledge in your answers.

Source A is an eyewitness account of farming improvements in East Lothian in the nineteenth century

Source A

There was hardly any waste ground. It was all planted with crops. All the fields were straight and tidy looking. I had never seen anything like it. Red roofed steadings with smoke coming from their chimneys was evidence that threshing was taking place. Every farm had its steam engine and threshing machinery. 1. Describe the changes which had taken place in farming in the nineteenth century.

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Study the information in the sources. You must also use your own knowledge in your answers.

Source A is an eyewitness account of farming improvements in East Lothian in the nineteenth century

Source A

There was hardly any waste ground. It was all planted with crops. All the fields were straight and tidy looking. I had never seen anything like it. Red roofed steadings with smoke coming from their chimneys was evidence that threshing was taking place. Every farm had its steam engine and threshing machinery. 1. Describe the changes which had taken place in farming in the nineteenth century.

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Points to remember before starting:

• The question is worth four marks.

•That means you are expected to write four clear points.

•Mostly, this also means you should be writing at least four sentences.

Points to remember before starting:

•The question tell you to write about the nineteenth century – that means 1830-1899. Why? Because the unit you are studying is: Scotland and Britain 1830-1930 so the question is on only the part of that period which is in the 19th century i.e. 1830-1899!

Study the information in the sources. You must also use your own knowledge in your answers.

Source A is an eyewitness account of farming improvements in East Lothian in the nineteenth century

Source A

There was hardly any waste ground. It was all planted with crops. All the fields were straight and tidy looking. I had never seen anything like it. Red roofed steadings with smoke coming from their chimneys was evidence that threshing was taking place. Every farm had its steam engine and threshing machinery. 1. Describe the changes which had taken place in farming in the nineteenth century.

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Study the information in the sources. You must also use your own knowledge in your answers.

Source A is an eyewitness account of farming improvements in East Lothian in the nineteenth century

Source A

There was hardly any waste ground. It was all planted with crops. All the fields were straight and tidy looking. I had never seen anything like it. Red roofed steadings with smoke coming from their chimneys was evidence that threshing was taking place. Every farm had its steam engine and threshing machinery. 1. Describe the changes which had taken place in farming in the nineteenth century.

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Points to remember before starting:

•You will not get full marks at General for a KU question unless you add at least one point from recall.

•This can be either:

a) evidence to add to points made in the source or

b) new evidence not mentioned in the source.

Points to remember before starting:

•The explanation of the source tells us that it is an eyewitness account. Don’t be fooled into writing an Enquiry Skills 1 answer to the question.

•The description of the source tells us that it is an account of farm improvements. That does not mean to say that you should only mention improvements. The question asks you to describe changes – these can be both good and bad changes.

Source A is an eyewitness account of farming improvements in East Lothian in the nineteenth century

Source A

There was hardly any waste ground. It was all planted with crops. All the fields were straight and tidy looking. I had never seen anything like it. Red roofed steadings with smoke coming from their chimneys was evidence that threshing was taking place. Every farm had its steam engine and threshing machinery. 1. Describe the changes which had taken place in farming in the nineteenth century.

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Source A

There was hardly any waste ground. It was all planted with crops. All the fields were straight and tidy looking. I had never seen anything like it. Red roofed steadings with smoke coming from their chimneys was evidence that threshing was taking place. Every farm had its steam engine and threshing machinery. 1. Describe the changes which had taken place in farming in the nineteenth century. 4

•Some pupils have difficulties with KU source questions because they don’t read the source carefully enough.

•At General level, you will always find that the content of the source is fairly clear and straightforward.

•There will always be at least three or four points made in the source which you could write about.

•The way to be careful with the source is to take it sentence by sentence.

Source A

There was hardly any waste ground. It was all planted with crops. All the fields were straight and tidy looking. I had never seen anything like it. Red roofed steadings with smoke coming from their chimneys was evidence that threshing was taking place. Every farm had its steam engine and threshing machinery. 1. Describe the changes which had taken place in farming in the nineteenth century. 4

Let’s look at the source.

•There are six sentences.

•There are five points that you would get marks for in the source.

•So five sentences have good and relevant points in them.

•Therefore one of the sentences has nothing to do with changes in farming.

•Can you find the useless sentence?

I had never seen anything like it.

1.There was hardly any waste ground.

2.It was all planted with crops. 3.All the fields were straight and

tidy looking. 4.Red roofed steadings with

smoke coming from their chimneys was evidence that threshing was taking place.

5.Every farm had its steam engine and threshing machinery.

So we can now work on the remaining five sentences. We will take each sentence in turn and think about what it is saying and try to add some examples.

Source A tells us that very little ground was wasted. You could also refer to:

Source A There was hardly any waste ground.

•Stones and boulders were cleared from the ground so that crops could be grown.

•The fact that land was now drained and used to grow crops

•Whins and broom were uprooted to make way for crops

Source A

It was all planted with crops.

There was no need for fields to lie fallow as had happened in the past:

•Crops rotations meant that fields could be cropped every year.

•Artificial fertilisers were brought in.

J. Patrick and M. Packham – Years of Change

Source A All the fields were straight and tidy looking.

•Large, square or rectangular shaped fields were set out

•These were better for the new crop rotations and the new machinery to work in.

•Stone dykes and later wire fences separated the fields

Source A Red roofed steadings with smoke coming from their chimneys was evidence that threshing was taking place.

Source A Every farm had its steam engine and threshing machinery.

Steam Ploughing Exhibition – Illustrated London News 1857

New breeds of heavy horses were used to do much of the work on the farm. Clydesdale horses were especially important for ploughing.

Additional Recall

Philip Sauvain – British Economic and Social History 1850 to the present day

Additional Recall

•Another change in farming was the great economic depression from the 1870s – 1890s.

•Many farmers went out of business due to foreign competition.

Effects of coming of machinery on the farm:

Population of Britain

Number involved in Farming

1851 21 million

2 million

1871 26 million

1.8 million

Additional Recall

•Falling profits and the introduction of new machinery on farms led to unemployment in the countryside.

•Many left for better paid jobs in the cities.