What aspect of farming in the United States in the nineteenth century does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) How labor-saving machinery increased crop Production

(B) Why southern farms were not as successful as Successful as northern farms

(C) Farming practices before the Civil War

(D) The increase in the number of people farming

The word "crucial" in line 4 is closest in meaning to

(A) obvious

(B) unbelievable

(C) important

(D) desirable

The phrase "avail themselves" in line 11 is closest in meaning to

(A) take care

(B) make use

(C) get rid

(D) do more

According to the passage , why was the Civil War a stimulus for mechanization?

(A) The army needed more grain in order to feed the

(B) Technology developed for the war could also the used by

(C) It was hoped that harvesting more grain would lower the price of

(D) Machines were needed to replace a disappearing labor

The passage supports which of the following statements about machinery after the Civil War?

(A) Many farmers preferred not to use the new

(B) Returning laborers replaced the use of

(C) The use of farm machinery continued to

(D) Poor-quality machinery slowed the pace of crop

Combines and self-binding reapers were similar because each

(A) could perform more than one function

(B) required relatively little power to operate

(C) was utilized mainly in California

(D) required two people to operate

The word "they" in line 19 refers to

(A) grain stalks

(B) threshing machines

(C) steam engines

(D) horses

It can be inferred from the passage that most farmers did not own threshing machines because

(A) farmers did not know how to use the new machines

(B) farmers had no space to keep the machines

(C) thresher owner had chance to buy the machines before farmers did

(D) the machines were too expensive for every farmer to own

The word "ponderous" in line 21 is closest in meaning to

(A) advanced

(B) heavy

(C) complex

(D) rapid