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Agriculture was one of the most vibrant fields for technological change in early 19th-century America. The U.S. Patent office was created in 1790 and agriculture was seen as such an essential component of its work. From 1839 until 1862 it was responsible for collecting information about agriculture for Congress. Nearly every item for sale in this Supplement has been patented or "improved." The market for agricultural tools and implements was huge, and new sales could be made for an object that promised huge improvements in productivity. And although some of these items may have been useless, overall the steady improvement of agricultural tools was an essential component in the remarkable increases in productivity of American agriculture during the 1800s.

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