Baby-farming was a term used in the Victorian era, meaning generally the taking in of (usually illegitimate) infants to nurse for small payment, but usually with an implication of improper treatment.
It was more profitable for the infant to die, since the small payment could not cover the care of the child. Some women who had children die in the said care had been caught during the act, and some of those women got hung. Margaret Waters and Mary Hall were two infamous baby farmers that were caught.
More recently, the term has been used to describe the sale of eggs for use in in vitro fertilization.
