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diff --git a/16594-8.txt b/16594-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6ae4c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/16594-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16920 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short History of English Agriculture +by W. H. R. Curtler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Short History of English Agriculture + +Author: W. H. R. Curtler + +Release Date: August 25, 2005 [EBook #16594] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH AGRICULTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Million Book Project, Juliet Sutherland, Tricia +Gilbert and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH AGRICULTURE + +BY + +W.H.R. CURTLER + + + OXFORD + AT THE CLARENDON PRESS + 1909 + + + HENRY FROWDE, M.A. + PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD + LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK + TORONTO AND MELBOURNE + + + + +PREFACE + + +'A husbandman', said Markham, 'is the master of the earth, turning +barrenness into fruitfulness, whereby all commonwealths are +maintained and upheld. His labour giveth liberty to all vocations, +arts, and trades to follow their several functions with peace and +industrie. What can we say in this world is profitable where +husbandry is wanting, it being the great nerve and sinew which +holdeth together all the joints of a monarchy?' And he is confirmed +by Young: 'Agriculture is, beyond all doubt, the foundation of every +other art, business, and profession, and it has therefore been the +ideal policy of every wise and prudent people to encourage it to the +utmost.' Yet of this important industry, still the greatest in +England, there is no history covering the whole period. + +It is to remedy this defect that this book is offered, with much +diffidence, and with many thanks to Mr. C.R.L. Fletcher of Magdalen +College, Oxford, for his valuable assistance in revising the proof +sheets, and to the Rev. A.H. Johnson of All Souls for some very +useful information. + +As the agriculture of the Middle Ages has often been ably described, +I have devoted the greater part of this work to the agricultural +history of the subsequent period, especially the seventeenth, +eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. + +W.H.R. CURTLER. + +_May 22, 1909._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +Communistic Farming.--Growth of the Manor.--Early Prices.--The +Organization and Agriculture of the Manor + + +CHAPTER II + +The Thirteenth Century.--The Manor at its Zenith, with Seeds of Decay +already visible.--Walter of Henley + + +CHAPTER III + +The Fourteenth Century.--Decline of Agriculture.--The Black Death.-- +Statute of Labourers + + +CHAPTER IV + +How the Classes connected with the Land lived in the Middle Ages + + +CHAPTER V + +The Break-up of the Manor.--Spread of Leases.--The Peasants' +Revolt.--Further Attempts to regulate Wages.--A Harvest +Home.--Beginning of the Corn Laws.--Some Surrey Manors + + +CHAPTER VI + +1400-1540. The so-called 'Golden Age of the Labourer' in a Period of +General Distress + + +CHAPTER VII + +Enclosure + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Fitzherbert.--The Regulation of Hours and Wages + + +CHAPTER IX + +1540-1600. Progress at last--Hop-growing.--Progress of Enclosure.-- +Harrison's _Description_ + + +CHAPTER X + +1540-1600. Live Stock.--Flax.--Saffron.--The Potato.--The Assessment +of Wages + + +CHAPTER XI + +1600-1700. Clover and Turnips.--Great Rise in Prices.--More +Enclosure.--A Farming Calendar + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Great Agricultural Writers of the Seventeenth Century.--Fruit-growing. +--A Seventeenth-century Orchard + + +CHAPTER XIII + +The Evils of Common Fields.--Hops.--Implements.--Manures.--Gregory +King.--Corn Laws + + +CHAPTER XIV + +1700-65. General Characteristics of the Eighteenth Century.--Crops. +--Cattle.--Dairying.--Poultry.--Tull and the New Husbandry.--Bad +Times.--Fruit-growing + + +CHAPTER XV + +1700-65. Townshend.--Sheep-rot.--Cattle Plague.--Fruit-growing + + +CHAPTER XVI + +1765-93. Arthur Young.--Crops and their Cost.--The Labourers' +Wages and Diet.--The Prosperity of Farmers.--The Country +Squire.--Elkington.--Bakewell.--The Roads.--Coke of Holkham + + +CHAPTER XVII + +1793-1815. The Great French War.--The Board of Agriculture.--High +Prices, and Heavy Taxation + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Enclosure.--The Small Owner + + +CHAPTER XIX + +1816-37. Depression + + +CHAPTER XX + +1837-75. Revival of Agriculture.--The Royal Agricultural +Society.--Corn Law Repeal.--A Temporary Set-back.--The Halcyon Days + + +CHAPTER XXI + +1875-1908. Agricultural Distress again.--Foreign Competition.-- +Agricultural Holdings Act.--New Implements.--Agricultural +Commissions.--The Situation in 1908 + + +CHAPTER XXII + +Imports and Exports.--Live Stock + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Modern Farm Live Stock + + +APPENDICES + +I. Average Prices from 1259 to 1700 + +II. Exports and Imports of Wheat and Flour from and into England, +unimportant years omitted + +III. Average Prices per Imperial Quarter of British Corn in England +and Wales, in each year from 1771 to 1907 inclusive + +IV. Miscellaneous Information + + + + +LANDMARKS IN ENGLISH AGRICULTURE + + +1086. Domesday inquest, most cultivated land in tillage. Annual value +of land about 2d. an acre. + +1216-72. Henry III. Assize of Bread and Ale. + +1272-1307. Edward I. General progress. Walter of Henley. + +1307. Edward II. Decline. + +1315. Great famine. + +1337. Export of wool prohibited. + +1348-9. Black Death. Heavy blow to manorial system. Many demesne +lands let, and much land laid down to grass. + +1351. Statute of Labourers. + +1360. Export of corn forbidden. + +1381. Villeins' revolt. + +1393. Richard II allows export of corn under certain conditions. + +1463. Import of wheat under 6s. 8d. prohibited. + +End of fifteenth century. Increase of enclosure. + +1523. Fitzherbert's _Surveying and Husbandry_. + +1540. General rise in prices and rents begins. + +1549. Kett's rebellion. The last attempt of the English peasant to +obtain redress by force. + +1586. Potatoes introduced. + +1601. Poor Law Act of Elizabeth. + +1645. Turnips and clover introduced as field crops. + +1662. Statute of Parochial Settlement. + +1664. Importation of cattle, sheep, and swine forbidden. + +1688. Bounty of 5s. per quarter on export of wheat, and high duty on +import. + +1733. Tull publishes his _Horse-hoeing Husbandry_. + +1739. Great sheep-rot. + +1750. Exports of corn reached their maximum. + +1760. Bakewell began experimenting. + +1760 (about). Industrial and agrarian revolution, and great increase +of enclosure. + +1764. Elkington's new drainage system. + +1773. Wheat allowed to be imported at a nominal duty of 6d. a quarter +when over 48s. + +1777. Bath and West of England Society established, the first in +England. + +1789. England definitely becomes a corn-importing country. + +1793. Board of Agriculture established. + +1795. Speenhamland Act. + +About same date swedes first grown. + +1815. Duty on wheat reached its maximum. + +1815-35. Agricultural distress. + +1825. Export of wool allowed. + +1835. Smith of Deanston, the father of modern drainage. + +1838. Foundation of Royal Agricultural Society. + +1846. Repeal of the Corn Laws. + +1855-75. Great agricultural prosperity. + +1875. English agriculture feels the full effect of unrestricted +competition with disastrous results. + + " First Agricultural Holdings Act. + +1879-80. Excessive rainfall, sheep-rot, and general distress. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +COMMUNISTIC FARMING.--GROWTH OF THE MANOR.--EARLY PRICES.--THE +ORGANIZATION AND AGRICULTURE OF THE MANOR + + +When the early bands of English invaders came over to take Britain +from its Celtic owners, it is almost certain that the soil was held by +groups and not by individuals, and as this was the practice of the +conquerors also they readily fell in with the system they found.[1] +These English, unlike their descendants of to day, were a race of +countrymen and farmers and detested the towns, preferring the lands of +the Britons to the towns of the Romans. Co-operation in agriculture +was necessary because to each household were allotted separate strips +of land, nearly equal in size, in each field set apart for tillage, +and a share in the meadow and waste land. The strips of arable were +unfenced and ploughed by common teams, to which each family would +contribute. + +Apparently, as the land was cleared and broken up it was dealt out +acre by acre to each cultivator; and supposing each group consisted of +ten families, the typical holding of 120 acres was assigned to each +family in acre strips, and these strips were not all contiguous but +mixed up with those of other families. The reason for this mixture of +strips is obvious to any one who knows how land even in the same field +varies in quality; it was to give each family its share of both good +and bad land, for the householders were all equal and the principle on +which the original distribution of the land depended was that of +equalizing the shares of the different members of the community.[2] + +In attributing ownership of lands to communities we must be careful +not to confound communities with corporations. Maitland thinks the +early land-owning communities blended the character of corporations +and of co-owners, and co-ownership is ownership by individuals.[3] The +vills or villages founded on their arrival in Britain by our English +forefathers resembled those they left at home, and even there the +strips into which the arable fields were divided were owned in +severalty by the householders of the village. There was co-operation +in working the fields but no communistic division of the crops, and +the individual's hold upon his strips developed rapidly into an +inheritable and partible ownership. 'At the opening of Anglo-Saxon +history absolute ownership of land in severalty was established and +becoming the rule.'[4] + +In the management of the meadow land communal features were much more +clearly brought out; the arable was not reallotted,[5] but the meadow +was, annually; while the woods and pastures, the right of using which +belonged to the householders of the village, were owned by the village +'community'. There may have been at the time of the English conquest +Roman 'villas' with slaves and _coloni_ cultivating the owners' +demesnes, which passed bodily to the new masters; but the former +theory seems true of the greater part of the country. + +At first 'extensive' cultivation was practised; that is, every year a +fresh arable field was broken up and the one cultivated last year +abandoned, for a time at all events; but gradually 'intensive' culture +superseded this, probably not till after the English had conquered the +land, and the same field was cultivated year after year.[6] After the +various families or households had finished cutting the grass in their +allotted portions of meadow, and the corn on their strips of tillage, +both grass and stubble became common land and were thrown open for the +whole community to turn their stock upon. + +The size of the strips of land in the arable fields varied, but was +generally an acre, in most places a furlong (furrow long) or 220 yards +in length, and 22 yards broad; or in other words, 40 rods of 5-1/2 +yards in length and 4 in breadth. There was, however, little +uniformity in measurement before the Norman Conquest, the rod by which +the furlongs and acres were measured varying in length from 12 to 24 +feet, so that one acre might be four times as large as another.[7] The +acre was, roughly speaking, the amount that a team could plough in a +day, and seems to have been from early times the unit of measuring the +area of land.[8] Of necessity the real acre and the ideal acre were +also different, for the reason that the former had to contend with the +inequalities of the earth's surface and varied much when no scientific +measurement was possible. As late as 1820 the acre was of many +different sizes in England. In Bedfordshire it was 2 roods, in Dorset +134 perches instead of 160, in Lincolnshire 5 roods, in Staffordshire +2-1/4 acres. To-day the Cheshire acre is 10,240 square yards. As, +however, an acre was and is a day's ploughing for a team, we may +assume that the most usual acre was the same area then as now. There +were also half-acre strips, but whatever the size the strips were +divided one from another by narrow grass paths generally called +'balks', and at the end of a group of these strips was the 'headland' +where the plough turned, the name being common to-day. Many of these +common fields remained until well on in the nineteenth century; in +1815 half the county of Huntingdon was in this condition, and a few +still exist.[9] Cultivating the same field year after year naturally +exhausted the soil, so that the two-field system came in, under which +one was cultivated and the other left fallow; and this was followed by +the three-field system, by which two were cropped in any one year and +one lay fallow, the last-named becoming general as it yielded better +results, though the former continued, especially in the North. Under +the three-field plan the husbandman early in the autumn would plough +the field that had been lying fallow during summer, and sow wheat or +rye; in the spring he broke up the stubble of the field on which the +last wheat crop had been grown and sowed barley or oats; in June he +ploughed up the stubble of the last spring crop and fallowed the +field.[10] As soon as the crops began to grow in the arable fields and +the grass in the meadows to spring, they were carefully fenced to +prevent trespass of man and beast; and, as soon as the crops came off, +the fields became common for all the village to turn their stock upon, +the arable fields being usually common from Lammas (August 1) to +Candlemas (February 2) and the meadows from July 6, old Midsummer Day, +to Candlemas[11]; but as in this climate the season both of hay and +corn harvest varies considerably, these dates cannot have been fixed. + +The stock, therefore, besides the common pasture, had after harvest +the grazing of the common arable fields and of the meadows. The common +pasture was early 'stinted' or limited, the usual custom being that +the villager could turn out as many stock as he could keep on his +holding. The trouble of pulling up and taking down these fences every +year must have been enormous, and we find legislation on this +important matter at an early date. About 700 the laws of Ine, King of +Wessex, provided that if 'churls have a common meadow or other +partible land to fence, and some have fenced their part and some have +not, and cattle stray in and eat up their common corn or grass; let +those go who own the gap and compensate to the others who have fenced +their part the damage which then may be done, and let them demand such +justice on the cattle as may be right. But if there be a beast which +breaks hedges and goes in everywhere, and he who owns it will not or +cannot restrain it, let him who finds it in his field take it and slay +it, and let the owner take its skin and flesh and forfeit the rest.' + +England was not given over to one particular type of settlement, +although villages were more common than hamlets in the greater part of +the country.[12] The vill or village answers to the modern civil +parish, and the term may be applied to both the true or 'nucleated' +village of clustered houses and the village of scattered hamlets, each +of a few houses, existing chiefly on the Celtic fringe. The population +of some of the villages at the time of the Norman Conquest was +numerous, 100 households or 500 people; but the average townships +contained from 10 to 20 households.[13] There was also the single +farm, such as that at Eardisley in Herefordshire, described in +Domesday, lying in the middle of a forest, perhaps, as in other +similar cases, a pioneer settlement of some one more adventurous than +his fellows.[14] + + * * * * * + +Such was the early village community in England, a community of free +landholders. But a change began early to come over it.[15] The king +would grant to a church all the rights he had in the village, +reserving only the _trinoda necessitas_, these rights including the +feorm or farm, or provender rent which the king derived from the +land--of cattle, sheep, swine, ale, honey, &c.--which he collected by +visiting his villages, thus literally eating his rents. The churchmen +did not continue these visits, they remained in their monasteries, and +had the feorm brought them regularly; they had an overseer in the +village to see to this, and so they tightened their hold on the +village. Then the smaller people, the peasants, make gifts to the +Church. They give their land, but they also want to keep it, for it is +their livelihood; so they surrender the land and take it back as a +lifelong loan. Probably on the death of the donor his heirs are +suffered to hold the land. Then labour services are substituted for +the old provender rents, and thus the Church acquires a demesne, and +thus the foundations of the manorial system, still to be traced all +over the country, were laid. Thegns, the predecessors of the Norman +barons, become the recipients of grants from the churches and from +kings, and householders 'commend' themselves and their land to them +also, so that they acquired demesnes. This 'commendation' was +furthered by the fact that during the long-drawn out conquest of +Britain the old kindred groups of the English lost their corporate +sense, and the central power being too weak to protect the ordinary +householder, who could not stand alone, he had to seek the protection +of an ecclesiastical corporation or of some thegn, first for himself +and then for his land. The jurisdictional rights of the king also +passed to the lord, whether church or thegn; then came the danegeld, +the tax for buying off the Danes that subsequently became a fixed land +tax, which was collected from the lord, as the peasants were too poor +for the State to deal with them; the lord paid the geld for their +land, consequently their land was his. In this way the free ceorl of +Anglo-Saxon times gradually becomes the 'villanus' of Domesday. +Landlordship was well established in the two centuries before the +Conquest, and the land of England more or less 'carved into +territorial lordships'.[16] Therefore when the Normans brought their +wonderful genius for organization to this country they found the +material conditions of manorial life in full growth; it was their task +to develop its legal and economic side.[17] + +As the manorial system thus superimposed upon the village community +was the basis of English rural economy for centuries, there need be no +apology for describing it at some length. + +The term 'manor', which came in with the Conquest,[18] has a technical +meaning in Domesday, referring to the system of taxation, and did not +always coincide with the vill or village, though it commonly did so, +except in the eastern portion of England. The village was the agrarian +unit, the manor the fiscal unit; so that where the manor comprised +more than one village, as was frequently the case, there would be more +than one village organization for working the common fields.[19] + +The manor then was the 'constitutive cell' of English mediaeval +society.[20] The structure is always the same; under the headship of +the lord we find two layers of population, the villeins and the +freeholders; and the territory is divided into demesne land and +tributary land of two classes, viz. that of the villeins and that of +the freeholders. The cultivation of the demesne (which usually means +the land directly occupied and cultivated by the lord, though legally +it has a wider meaning and includes the villein tenements), depends to +a certain extent on the work supplied by the tenants of the tributary +land. Rents are collected, labour superintended, administrative +business transacted by a set of manorial officers. + +We may divide the tillers of the soil at the time of Domesday into +five great classes[21] in order of dignity and freedom: + + 1. Liberi homines, or freemen. + 2. Socmen. + 3. Villeins. + 4. Bordarii, cotarii, buri or coliberti. + 5. Slaves. + +The two first of these classes were to be found in large numbers in +Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, and +Northamptonshire. It is not easy to draw the line between them, but +the chief distinction lay in the latter being more burdened with +service and customary dues and more especially subject to the +jurisdictional authority of the lord.[22] They were both free, but +both rendered services to the lord for their land. Both the freemen +and the slaves by 1086 were rapidly decreasing in number. + +The most numerous class[23] on the manors was the third, that of the +villeins or non-free tenants, who held their land by payment of +services to the lord. The position of the villein under the feudal +system is most complicated. He both was and was not a freeman. He was +absolutely at the disposal of the lord, who could sell him with his +tenement, and he could not leave his land without his lord's +permission. He laboured under many disabilities, such as the merchet +or fine for marrying his daughter, and fines for selling horse or ox. +On the other hand, he was free against every one but his lord, and +even against the lord was protected from the forfeiture of his +'wainage' or instruments of labour and from injury to life and +limb.[24] + +His usual holding was a virgate of 30 acres of arable, though the +virgate differed in size even in the same manors; but in addition to +this he would have his meadow land and his share in the common pasture +and wood, altogether about 100 acres of land. For this he rendered the +following services to the lord of the manor: + +1. Week work, or labour on the lord's demesne for two or three days a +week during most of the year, and four or five days in summer. It was +not always the villein himself, however, who rendered these services, +he might send his son or even a hired labourer; and it was the holding +and not the holder that was considered primarily responsible for the +rendering of services.[25] + +2. Precarii or boon days: that is, work generally during harvest, at +the lord's request, sometimes instead of week work, sometimes in +addition. + +3. Gafol or tribute: fixed payments in money or kind, and such +services as 'fold soke', which forced the tenants' sheep to lie on the +lord's land for the sake of the manure; and suit of mill, by which the +tenant was bound to grind his corn in the lord's mill. + +With regard to the 'boon days' in harvest, it should be remembered +that harvest time in the Middle Ages was a most important event. +Agriculture was the great industry, and when the corn was ripe the +whole village turned out to gather it, the only exceptions being the +housewives and sometimes the marriageable daughters. Even the larger +towns suspended work that the townsmen might assist in the harvest, +and our long vacation was probably intended originally to cover the +whole work of gathering in the corn and hay. On the occasion of the +'boon-day' work, the lord usually found food for the labourers which, +the Inquisition of Ardley[26] tells us, might be of the following +description: for two men, porridge of beans and peas and two loaves, +one white, the other of 'mixtil' bread; that is, wheat, barley, and +rye mixed together, with a piece of meat, and beer for their first +meal. Then in the evening they had a small loaf of mixtil bread and +two 'lescas' of cheese. While harvest work was going on the better-off +tenants, usually the free ones, were sometimes employed to ride about, +rod in hand, superintending the others. + +The services of the villeins were often very comprehensive, and even +included such tasks as preparing the lord's bath; but on some manors +their services were very light.[27] When the third of the above +obligations, the gafol or tribute, was paid in kind it was most +commonly made in corn; and next came honey, one of the most important +articles of the Middle Ages, as it was used for both lighting and +sweetening purposes. Ale was also common, and poultry and eggs, and +sometimes the material for implements. + +These obligations were imposed for the most part on free and unfree +tenants alike, though those of the free were much lighter than those +of the unfree; the chief difference between the two, as far as tenure +of the land went, lay in the fact that the former could exercise +proprietary rights over his holding more or less freely, the latter +had none.[28] It seems very curious to the modern mind that the +villein, a man who farmed about 100 acres of land, should have been in +such a servile condition. + +The amount of work due from each villein came to be fixed by the +extent or survey of the manor, but the quality of it was not[29]; +that is, each one knew how many days he had to work, but not whether +he was to plough, sow, or harrow, &c. It is surprising to find, that +on the festival days of the Church, which were very numerous and +observed as holy days, the lord lost by no work being done, and the +same was the case in wet weather. + +One of the most important duties of the tenant was the 'averagium', or +duty of carrying for the lord, especially necessary when his manors +were often a long way apart. He would often have to carry corn to the +nearest town for sale, the products of one manor to another, also to +haul manure on to the demesne. If he owned neither horse nor ox, he +would sometimes have to use his own back.[30] + +The holding of the villein did not admit of partition by sale or +descent, it remained undivided and entire. When the holder died all +the land went to one of the sons if there were several, often to the +youngest. The others sought work on the manor as craftsmen or +labourers, or remained on the family plot. The holding therefore might +contain more than one family, but to the lord remained one and +undivided.[31] + +In the fourth class came the bordarii, the cotarii, and the coliberti +or buri; or, as we should say, the crofters, the cottagers, and the +boors. + +The bordarii numbered 82,600 in Domesday, and were subject to the same +kind of services as the villeins, but the amount of the service was +considerably less.[32] Their usual holding was 5 acres, and they are +very often found on the demesne of the manor, evidently in this case +labourers on the demesne, settled in cottages and provided with a bit +of land of their own. The name failed to take root in this country, +and the bordarii seem to become villeins or cottiers.[33] + +The cotarii, cottiers or cottagers, were 6,800 in number, with small +pieces of land sometimes reaching 5 acres.[34] Distinctly inferior to +the villeins, bordarii, and cottars, but distinctly superior to the +slaves, were the buri or coliberti who, with the bordars and cottars, +would form a reserve of labour to supplement the ordinary working days +at times when work was pressing, as in hay time and harvest. At the +bottom of the social ladder in Domesday came the slaves, some 25,000 +in number, who in the main had no legal rights, a class which had +apparently already diminished and was diminishing in numbers, so that +for the cultivation of the demesne the lord was coming to rely more on +the labour of his tenants, and consequently the labour services of the +villeins were being augmented.[35] The agricultural labourer as we +understand him, a landless man working solely for wages in cash, was +almost unknown. + +All the arrangements of the manor aimed at supplying labour for the +cultivation of the lord's demesne, and he had three chief officers to +superintend it: + +1. The seneschal, who answers to our modern steward or land agent, and +where there were several manors supervised all of them. He attended to +the legal business and held the manor courts. It was his duty to be +acquainted with every particular of the manor, its cultivation, +extent, number of teams, condition of the stock, &c. He was also the +legal adviser of his lord; in fact, very much like his modern +successor. + +2. The bailiff for each manor, who collected rents, went to market to +buy and sell, surveyed the timber, superintended the ploughing, +mowing, reaping, &c., that were due as services from the tenants on +the lord's demesne; and according to _Fleta_ he was to prevent their +'casting off before the work was done', and to measure it when +done.[36] And considering that those he superintended were not paid +for their work, but rendering more or less unwelcome services, his +task could not have been easy. + +3. The praepositus or reeve, an office obligatory on every holder of a +certain small quantity of land; a sort of foreman nominated from among +the villeins, and to a certain extent representing their interests. +His duties were supplementary to those of the bailiff: he looked after +all the live and dead stock of the manor, saw to the manuring of the +land, kept a tally of the day's work, had charge of the granary, and +delivered therefrom corn to be baked and malt to be brewed.[37] +Besides these three officers, on a large estate there would be a +messor who took charge of the harvest, and many lesser officers, such +as those of the akermanni, or leaders of the unwieldy plough teams; +oxherds, shepherds, and swineherds to tend cattle, sheep, and pigs +when they were turned on the common fields or wandered in the waste; +also wardens of the woods and fences, often paid by a share in the +profits connected with their charge; for instance, the swineherd of +Glastonbury Abbey received a sucking-pig a year, the interior parts of +the best pig, and the tails of all the others slaughtered.[38] On the +great estates these offices tended to become hereditary, and many +families did treat them as hereditary property, and were a great +nuisance in consequence to their lords. At Glastonbury we find the +chief shepherd so important a person that he was party to an agreement +concerning a considerable quantity of land.[39] There were also on +some manors 'cadaveratores', whose duty was to look into and report on +the losses of cattle and sheep from murrain, a melancholy tale of the +unhealthy conditions of agriculture. + +The supervision of the tenants was often incessant and minute. +According to the Court Rolls of the Manor of Manydown in Hampshire, +tenants were brought to book for all kinds of transgressions. The +fines are so numerous that it almost appears that every person on the +estate was amerced from time to time. In 1365 seven tenants were +convicted of having pigs in their lord's crops, one let his horse run +in the growing corn, two had cattle among the peas, four had cattle on +the lord's pasture, three had made default in rent or service, four +were convicted of assault, nine broke the assize of beer, two had +failed to repair their houses or buildings. In all thirty-four were in +trouble out of a population of some sixty families. The account is +eloquent of the irritating restrictions of the manor, and of the +inconveniences of common farming.[40] + +It is impossible to compare the receipts of the lord of the manor at +this period with modern rents, or the position of the villein with the +agricultural labourer; it may be said that the lord received a labour +rent for the villein's holding, or that the villein received his +holding as wages for the services done for the lord,[41] and part of +the return due to the lord was for the use of the oxen with which he +had stocked the villein's holding. + +Though in 1066 there were many free villages, yet by the time of +Domesday they were fast disappearing and there were manors everywhere, +usually coinciding with the village which we may picture to ourselves +as self-sufficing estates, often isolated by stretches of dense +woodland and moor from one another, and making each veritably a little +world in itself. At the same time it is evident from the extent of +arable land described in Domesday that many manors were not greatly +isolated, and pasture ground was often common to two or more +villages.[42] + +If we picture to ourselves the typical manor, we shall see a large +part of the lord's demesne forming a compact area within which stood +his house; this being in addition to the lord's strips in the open +fields intermixed with those of his tenants. The mansion house was +usually a very simple affair, built of wood and consisting chiefly of +a hall; which even as late as the seventeenth century in some cases +served as kitchen, dining room, parlour, and sleeping room for the +men; and one or two other rooms.[43] It is probable that in early +times the thegns possessed in most cases only one manor apiece,[44] so +that the manor house was then nearly always inhabited by the lord, but +after the Conquest, when manors were bestowed by scores and even +hundreds by William on his successful soldiers, many of them can only +have acted as the temporary lodging of the lord when he came to +collect his rent, or as the house of the bailiff. According to the +_Gerefa_, written about 1000--and there was very little alteration for +a long time afterwards--the mansion was adjacent to a court or yard +which the quadrangular homestead surrounded with its barns, horse and +cattle stalls, sheep pens and fowlhouse. Within this court were ovens, +kilns, salt-house, and malt-house, and perhaps the hayricks and wood +piles. Outside and surrounding the homestead were the enclosed arable +and grass fields of the portion of the demesne which may be called the +home farm, a kitchen garden, and probably a vineyard, then common in +England. The garden of the manor house would not have a large variety +of vegetables; some onions, leeks, mustard, peas, perhaps cabbage; and +apples, pears, cherries, probably damsons, plums,[45] strawberries, +peaches, quinces, and mulberries. Not far off was the village or town +of the tenants, the houses all clustering close together, each house +standing in a toft or yard with some buildings, and built of wood, +turf, clay, or wattles, with only one room which the tenant shared +with his live stock, as in parts of Ireland to-day. Indeed, in some +parts of Yorkshire at the beginning of the nineteenth century this +primitive simplicity still prevailed, live stock were still kept in +the house, the floors were of clay, and the family slept in boxes +round the solitary room. Examples of farmhouses clustered together at +some distance from their respective holdings still survive, though +generally built of stone. Next the village, though not always, for +they were sometimes at a distance by the banks of a stream, were the +meadows, and right round stretched the three open arable fields, +beyond which was the common pasture and wood,[46] and, encircling all, +heath, forest, and swamp, often cutting off the manor from the rest of +the world. + +The basis of the whole scheme of measurement in Domesday was the hide, +usually of 120 acres, the amount of land that could be ploughed by a +team of 8 oxen in a year; a quarter of this was the virgate, an eighth +the bovate, which would therefore supply one ox to the common team. +These teams, however, varied; on the manors of S. Paul's Cathedral in +1222 they were sometimes composed of horses and oxen, or of 6 horses +only, sometimes 10 oxen.[47] + +The farming year began at Michaelmas when, in addition to the sowing +of wheat and rye, the cattle were carefully stalled and fed only on +hay and straw, for roots were in the distant future, and the corn was +threshed with the flail and winnowed by hand. In the spring, after the +ploughing of the second arable field, the vineyard, where there was +one, was set out, and the open ditches, apparently the only drainage +then known, cleansed. In May it was time to set up the temporary +fences round the meadows and arable fields, and to begin fallowing the +third field. + +A valuable document, describing the duties of a reeve, gives many +interesting details of eleventh-century farming:-- + + 'In May, June, and July one may harrow, carry out manure, set + up sheep hurdles, shear sheep, do repairs, hedge, cut wood, + weed, and make folds. In harvest one may reap; in August, + September, and in October one may mow, set woad with a dibble, + gather home many crops, thatch them and cover them over, + cleanse the folds, prepare cattle sheds and shelters ere too + severe a winter come to the farm, and also diligently prepare + the soil. In winter one should plough and in severe frosts + cleave timber, make an orchard, and do many affairs indoors, + thresh, cleave wood, put the cattle in stalls and the swine in + pigstyes, and provide a hen roost. In spring one should plough + and graft, sow beans, set a vineyard, make ditches, hew wood + for a wild deer fence; and soon after that, if the weather + permit, set madder, sow flax seed and woad seed, plant a garden + and do many things which I cannot fully enumerate that a good + steward ought to provide.'[48] + +The methods of cultivation were simple. The plough, if we may judge by +contemporary illustrations, had in the eleventh century a large wheel +and very short handles.[49] In the twelfth century Neckham describes +its parts: a beam, handles, tongue, mouldboard, coulter, and +share.[50] Breaking up the clods was done by the mattock or beetle, +and harrowing was done by hand with what looks like a large rake; the +scythes of the haymakers and the sickles of the reapers were very like +those that still linger on in some districts to-day. + +Here is a list of tools and implements for the homestead: an axe, +adze, bill, awl, plane, saw, spokeshave, tie hook, auger, mattock, +lever, share, coulter, goad-iron, scythe, sickle, weed-hook, spade, +shovel, woad dibble, barrow, besom, beetle, rake, fork, ladder, horse +comb, shears, fire tongs, weighing scales, and a long list of spinning +implements necessary when farmers made their own clothes. The author +wisely remarks that one ought to have coverings for wains, plough +gear, harrowing tackle, &c.; and adds another list of instruments and +utensils: a caldron, kettle, ladle, pan, crock, firedog, dishes, bowls +with handles, tubs, buckets, a churn, cheese vat, baskets, crates, +bushels, sieves, seed basket, wire sieve, hair sieve, winnowing fans, +troughs, ashwood pails, hives, honey bins, beer barrels, bathing tub, +dishes, cups, strainers, candlesticks, salt cellar, spoon case, pepper +horn, footstools, chairs, basins, lamp, lantern, leathern bottles, +comb, iron bin, fodder rack, meal ark or box, oil flask, oven rake, +dung shovel; altogether a very complete list, the compiler of which +ends by saying that the reeve ought to neglect nothing that should +prove useful, not even a mousetrap, nor even, what is less, a peg for +a hasp. + +Manors in 1086 were of all sizes, from one virgate to enormous +organizations like Taunton or Leominster, containing villages by the +score and hundreds of dependent holdings.[51] The ordinary size, +however, of the Domesday manor was from four to ten hides of 120 acres +each, or say from 500 to 1,200 acres,[52] and the Manor of Segenehou +in Bedfordshire may be regarded as typical. Held by Walter brother of +Seiher it had as much land as ten ploughs could work, four plough +lands belonging to the demesne and six to the villeins, of whom there +were twenty-four, with four bordarii and three serfs; thus the +villeins had 30 acres each, the normal holding. The manorial system +was in fact a combination of large farming by the lords, and small +farming by the tenants. Nor must we compare it to an ordinary estate; +for it was a dominion within which the lord had authority over +subjects of various ranks; he was not only a proprietor but a prince +with courts of his own, the arbiter of his tenants' rights as well as +owner of the land. + +One of the most striking features of the Domesday survey is the large +quantity of arable land and the small quantity of meadow, which +usually was the only land whence they obtained their hay, for the +common pasture cannot often have been mown.[53] Indeed, it is +difficult to understand how they fed their stock in hard winters. + +According to the returns, in many counties more acres were ploughed in +1086 than to-day; in some twice as much. In Somerset in 1086 there +were 577,000 acres of arable; in 1907, 178,967. In Gloucestershire, in +1086, 589,000 acres; in 1907, 238,456.[54] These are extreme +instances; but the preponderance of arable is startling, even if we +allow for the recent conversion of arable to pasture on account of the +low price of corn. Between the eleventh century and the sixteenth, the +laying down of land to grass must have proceeded on a gigantic scale, +for Harrison tells us that in his day England was mainly a grazing +country. No wonder Harrison's contemporaries complained of the decay +of tillage. + +Mediaeval prices and statistics are, it is well known, to be taken +with great caution; but we may assume that the normal annual value of +land under cultivation in 1086 was about 2d. an acre.[55] Land indeed, +apart from the stock upon it, was worth very little: in the tenth and +eleventh centuries it appears that the hide, normally of 120 acres, +was only worth £5 to buy, apparently with the stock upon it. In the +time of Athelstan a horse was worth 120d., an ox 30d., a cow 20d., a +sheep 5d., a hog 8d., a slave £1--so that a slave was worth 8 +oxen[56]; and these prices do not seem to have advanced by the +Domesday period. + +According to the Pipe Roll of 1156, wheat was 1s. 6d. a quarter; but +prices then depended entirely on seasons, and we do not know whether +that was good or bad. However, many years later, in 1243 it was only +2s. a quarter at Hawsted.[57] In dear years, nearly always the result +of wet seasons, it went up enormously; in 1024 the English Chronicle +tells us the acre seed of wheat, that is about 2 bushels, sold for +4s.,[58] 3 bushels of barley for 6s. and 4 bushels of oats for 4s. In +1190 Holinshed says that, owing to a great dearth, the quarter of +wheat was 18s. 8d. The average price, however, in the twelfth century +was probably about 4s. a quarter. + +In 1194 Roger of Hoveden[59] says an ox, a cow, and a plough horse +were the same price, 4s.; a sheep with fine wool 10d., with coarse +wool 6d.; a sow 12d., a boar 12d. + +Sometimes prices were kept down by imports; 1258 was a bad and dear +year, 'most part of the corn rotted on the ground,' and was not all +got in till after November 1, so excessive was the wet and rain. And +upon the dearth a sore death and mortality followed for want of +necessary food to sustain the pining bodies of the poor people, who +died so thick that there were great pits made in churchyards to lay +the dead bodies in. And corn had been dearer if great store had not +come out of Almaine, but there came fifty great ships with wheat and +barley, meal and bread out of Dutchland, which greatly relieved the +poor.[60] + +Were the manors as isolated as some writers have asserted? Generally +speaking, we may say the means of communication were bad and many an +estate cut off almost completely from the outside world, yet the +manors must often have been connected by waterways, and sometimes by +good roads, with other manors and with the towns. Rivers in the Middle +Ages were far more used as means of communication than to-day, and +many streams now silted up and shallow were navigable according to +Domesday. Water carriage was, as always, much cheaper than land +carriage, and corn could be carried from Henley to London for 2d. or +3d. a quarter. The roads left by the Romans, owing to the excellence +of their construction, remained in use during the Middle Ages, and +must have been a great advantage to those living near them; but the +other roads can have been little better than mud tracks, except in the +immediate vicinity of the few large towns. The keeping of the roads in +repair, one part of the _trinoda necessitas_ was imposed on all lands; +but the results often seem to have been very indifferent, and they +appear largely to have depended on chance, or the goodwill or devotion +of neighbouring landowners.[61] Perhaps they would, except in the case +of the Roman roads, have been impassable but for the fact that the +great lords and abbots were constantly visiting their scattered +estates, and therefore were interested in keeping such roads in order. +But in those days people were contented with very little, and though +Edward I enforced the general improvement of roads in 1285, in the +fourteenth century they were decaying. Parliament adjourned thrice +between 1331 and 1380 because the state of the roads kept many of the +members away. In 1353 the high road running from Temple Bar, then the +western limit of London, to Westminster was 'so full of holes and +bogs' that the traffic was dangerous for men and carriages; and a +little later all the roads near London were so bad, that carriers 'are +oftentimes In peril of losing what they bring.' What must remote +country roads have been like when these important highways were in +this state? If members of Parliament, rich men riding good horses, +could not get to London, how did the clumsy wagons and carts of the +day fare? The Church might well pity the traveller, and class him with +the sick 'and the captive among the unfortunates whom she recommended +to the daily prayers of pious souls.'[62] Rivers were mainly crossed +by ford or ferry, though there were some excellent bridges, a few of +which still remain, maintained by the _trinoda necessitas_, by gilds, +by 'indulgences' promised to benefactors, and by toll, the right to +levy which, called pontage, was often spent otherwise than on the +repair of the bridge. + +A few of the old open fields still exist, and the best surviving example +of an open-field parish is that of Laxton in Nottinghamshire.[63] +Nearly half the area of the parish remains in the form of two great +arable fields, and two smaller ones which are treated as two parts of +the third field. The different holdings, freehold and leasehold, +consist in part of strips of land scattered all over these fields. The +three-course system is rigidly adhered to, first year wheat, second +year spring corn, third year fallow. + +In a corner of the parish is Laxton Heath, a common covered with +coarse grass where the sheep are grazed according to a 'stint' +recently determined upon, for when it was unstinted the common was +overstocked. The commonable meadows which the parish once had were +enclosed at a date beyond anyone's recollection, though the +neighbouring parish of Eakring still has some. There are other +enclosures in the remote parts of the parish which apparently +represent the old woodland. The inconvenience of the common-field +system was extreme. South Luffenham in Rutland, not enclosed till +1879, consisted of 1,074 acres divided among twenty-two owners into +1,238 pieces. In some places furrows served to divide the lands +instead of turf balks, which were of course always being altered. +Another difficulty arose from there being no check to high winds, +which would sometimes sweep the whole of the crops belonging to +different farmers in an inextricable heap against the nearest +obstruction. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Vinogradoff, _Growth of the Manor_, p. 18; Medley, _Constitutional +History_, p. 15. + +[2] Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, p. 257. + +[3] Maitland, _Domesday Book and Beyond_, pp. 341 et seq. + +[4] Stubbs, _Constitutional History_, §36. + +[5] Vinogradoff, _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, p. 282, +says, 'As a rule it was not subject to redivision.' + +[6] Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, i. 42. + +[7] Maitland, _op. cit._ p. 368. + +[8] _Anonymous Treatise on Husbandry_, Royal Historical Society, pp. +xli. and 68. About 1230, Smyth, in his _Lives of the Berkeleys_, i. +113, says, 'At this time lay all lands in common fields, in one acre +or ridge, one man's intermixt with another.' + +[9] See below. + +[10] Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, i. 74. +Maitland thinks the two-field system was as common as the three-field, +both in early and mediaeval times. _Domesday Book and Beyond_, p. 366. + +[11] Nasse, _Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages_, p. 5. To-day +harvest generally commences about August 1, so that this, like the +growth of grapes in mediaeval times, seems to show our climate has +grown colder. + +[12] Vinogradoff, _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, p. 264. + +[13] Maitland, _op. cit._ p. 17. + +[14] Vinogradoff, _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, p. 265. + +[15] Maitland, _op. cit._ pp. 318 et seq. + +[16] Vinogradoff, _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, p. 345. + +[17] Vinogradoff, _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, p. 339. + +[18] Maitland, _Domesday Book_, p. 110 + +[19] Vinogradoff, _op. cit._ p. 395. + +[20] Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, pp. 225 et seq. + +[21] Maitland, _op. cit._ p. 23. + +[22] Vinogradoff, _op. cit._ p. 433. + +[23] In Domesday they number 108,500. Maitland, _Domesday Book_. + +[24] Maitland, _op. cit._. + +[25] Vinogradoff, _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, p. 300. + +[26] _Domesday of S. Paul_, p. lxviii. + +[27] Maitland, _Domesday Book_, p. 56. + +[28] Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, i. 166. In +some manors free tenants could sell their lands without the lord's +licence, in others not. + +[29] Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, p. 279. + +[30] Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, p. 285. + +[31] Ibid. p. 246; and _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, p. +448. At the end of the eighteenth century, in default of sons, lands +in some manors in Shropshire descended to the youngest +daughter.--Bishton, _General View of the Agriculture of Shropshire_, +p. 178. + +[32] Vinogradoff, _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, p. 456. + +[33] Maitland, Domesday Book, p. 40. + +[34] Ibid. + +[35] Maitland, _Domesday Book_, p. 35. + +[36] _Fleta_, c. 73. + +[37] _Domesday of S. Paul_, xxxv. _Fleta_, 'an anonymous work drawn up +in the thirteenth century to assist landowners in managing their +estates' says, the reeve 'shall rise early, and have the ploughs +yoked, and then walk in the fields to see that all is right and note +if the men be idle, or if they knock off work before the day's task is +fully done.' + +[38] Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, p. 321. + +[39] Ibid. p. 324. + +[40] _Manor of Manydown_, Hampshire Record Society, p. 17. Breaking +the assize of beer meant selling it without a licence, or of bad +quality. The village pound was the consequence of the perpetual +straying of animals, and later on the vicar sometimes kept it. See +ibid. p. 104. + +[41] Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, i. 106. + +[42] Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, p. 264. + +[43] Andrews, _Old English Manor_, p. 111. + +[44] _Domesday of S. Paul_, p. xxxvii. + +[45] Thorold Rogers, _Agriculture and Prices_, i. 17: Cunningham, +_Industry and Commerce_, i. 55: Neckham, _De Natura Rerum_, Rolls +Series, ch. clxvi. Rogers says there were no plums, but Neckham +mentions them. See also Denton, _England in the Fifteenth Century_, p. +64. Matthew Paris says the severe winter in 1257 destroyed cherries, +plums and figs. _Chron. Maj._, Rolls Series, v. 660. + +[46] Woods were used as much for pasture as for cutting timber and +underwood. Not only did the pigs feed there on the mast of oak, beech, +and chestnut, but goats and horned cattle grazed on the grassy +portions. + +[47] The illustrations of contemporary MSS. usually show teams in the +plough of 2 or 4 oxen, and 4 was probably the team generally used, +according to Vinogradoff, _op. cit._ p. 253. It must, of course, have +varied according to the soil. Birch, in his _Domesday_, p. 219, says +he has never found a team of 8 in contemporary illustrations. To-day +oxen can be still seen ploughing in teams of two only. However, about +a hundred years ago, when oxen were in common use, we find teams of 8, +as in Shropshire, for a single-furrow plough, 'so as to work them +easily.' Six hours a day was the usual day's work, and when more was +required one team was worked in the morning, another in the +afternoon.--_Victoria County History: Shropshire, Agriculture_. Walter +of Henley says the team stopped work at three. + +[48] Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, i. 570. + +[49] See the excellent reproductions of the Calendar of the Cott. MSS. +in Green's _Short History of the English People_, illustrated edition, +i. 155. + +[50] _De Natura Rerum_, Rolls Series, p, 280. + +[51] Vinogradoff, _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, p. 307. + +[52] Ibid. p. 312. Perhaps one of the most interesting features of the +smaller manors is that they were constantly being swallowed up by the +larger. + +[53] As some of the common pasture was held in severalty, this may +perhaps have been mown in scarce years. Walter of Henley mentions +mowing the waste, see below, p. 34. + +[54] Maitland, _Domesday Book_, 436; _Board of Agriculture Returns_, +1907. + +[55] Vinogradoff, _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, p. 310; +Birch, _Domesday_, p. 183. + +[56] Maitland, _Domesday Book_. 44; Cunningham, _Growth of Industry +and Commerce_, i. 171; _Domesday of S. Paul_, pp. xliii. and xci. + +[57] Cullum, _History of Hawsted_, p. 181. + +[58] Rolls Series, ii. 220. According to this, the price of a bushel +of wheat reckoned in modern money was £3 in that year + +[59] Ibid. iii. 220. + +[60] Holinshed, who is supported by William of Malmesbury in the +assertion that in time of scarcity England imported corn. Matthew +Paris, _Chron. Maj._, v. 673. + +[61] Jusserand, _English Wayfaring Life_, p. 79. + +[62] Jusserand, _English Wayfaring Life_, p. 89. + +[63] Gilbert Slater, _The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of +Common Fields_, p. 8. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.--THE MANOR AT ITS ZENITH, WITH SEEDS OF DECAY +ALREADY VISIBLE.--WALTER OF HENLEY + + +In the thirteenth century the manorial system may be said to have been +in its zenith; the description therefore of Cuxham Manor in +Oxfordshire at that date is of special interest. According to +Professor Thorold Rogers[64] there were two principal tenants, each +holding the fourth part of a military fee. The prior of Holy Trinity, +Wallingford, held a messuage, a mill, and 6 acres of land in free +alms; i.e. under no obligation or liability other than offering +prayers on behalf of the donor. A free tenant had a messuage and 3-3/4 +acres, the rent of which was 3s. a year. He also had another messuage +and nine acres, for which he paid the annual rent of 1 lb. of pepper, +worth about 1s. 3d. The rector of the parish had part of a furrow, +i.e. one of the divisions of the common arable field, and paid 2d. a +year for it. Another tenant held a cottage in the demesne under the +obligation of keeping two lamps lighted in the church. Another person +was tenant-at-will of the parish mill, at a rent of 40s. a year. The +rest of the tenants were villeins or cottagers, thirteen of the former +and eight of the latter. Each of the villeins had a messuage and half +a virgate, 12 to 15 acres of arable land at least, for which his rent +was chiefly corn and labour, though there were two money payments, a +halfpenny on November 12 and a penny whenever he brewed. He had to pay +a quarter of seed wheat at Michaelmas, a peck of wheat, 4 bushels of +oats, and 3 hens on November 12, and at Christmas a cock, two hens, +and two pennyworth of bread. His labour services were to plough, sow, +and till half an acre of the lord's land, and give his work as +directed by the bailiff except on Sundays and feast days. In harvest +time he was to reap three days with one man at his own cost. + +Some of these tenants held, besides their half virgates, other plots +of land for which each had to make hay for one day for the lord, with +a comrade, and received a halfpenny; also to mow, with another, three +days in harvest time, at their own charges, and another three days +when the lord fed them. After harvest six pennyworth of beer was +divided among them, each received a loaf of bread, and every evening +when work was over each reaper might carry away the largest sheaf of +corn he could lift on his sickle. + +The cottagers paid from 1s. 2d. to 2s. a year for their holdings, and +were obliged to work a day or two in the hay-making, receiving +therefor a halfpenny. They also had to do from one to four days' +harvest work, during which they were fed at the lord's table. For the +rest of the year they were free labourers, tending cattle or sheep on +the common for wages or working at the various crafts usual in the +village. This manor was a small one, and contained in all twenty-four +households, numbering from sixty to seventy inhabitants.[65] + +On most manors, as in Forncett,[66] which contained about 2,700 acres, +from the preponderance of arable, the chief source of income to the +lord was from the grain crops; other sources may be seen from the +following table of the lord's receipts and expenses in 1272-3: + + RECEIPTS. + £ s. d. + Fixed rents 18 3 7-3/4 + Farm of market 0 2 6 + Chevage[67] 0 8 6 + Foldage 0 3 9-1/2 + Sale of works 5 13 2-3/4 + Herbage 1 0 4 + Hay 2 12 11 + Turf, &c. 1 13 6-1/2 + Underwood 5 10 2 + Grain 61 12 3-1/4 + Cider 1 1 11-1/4 + Stock 5 3 0 + Dairy 4 3 0-3/4 + Pleas 14 0 0 + Tallage 16 13 4 + ------------------ + £128 2 2-3/4 + + EXPENSES. + £ s. d. + + Rents paid and allowed 0 3 2-1/2 + Ploughs and carts 2 17 4 + Buildings and walls 4 5 10-1/2 + Small necessaries 0 7 10-3/4 + Dairy 0 4 3-1/4 + Threshing 1 15 5-1/2 + Meadow and autumn expenses 0 1 4 + Stock 0 16 7 + Bailiff 1 19 0 + Steward 1 6 9-1/2 + Grain 8 2 4-1/2 + Expenses of acct. 1 0 8-1/2 + ------------------ + £23 0 9-3/4 + +The manor was almost entirely self-sufficing; of necessity, for towns +were few and distant, and the roads to them bad. Each would have its +smith, millwright, thatcher, &c., paid generally in kind for their +services. There was little trade with the outside world, except for +salt--an invaluable article when meat had to be salted down every +autumn for winter use, since there were no roots to keep the cattle +on--and iron for some of the implements. Nearly everything was made in +the village. + +The mediaeval system of tillage was compulsory; even the freeholders +could not manage their plots as they wished, because all the soil of +the township formed one whole and was managed by the entire village. +Even the lord[68] had to conform to the customs of the community. Any +other system than this, which must have been galling to the more +enterprising, was impossible, for as the various holdings lay in +unfenced strips all over the great common fields, individual +initiative was out of the question. As may be imagined, the great +number of strips all mixed together often led to great confusion, +sometimes 2 or 3 acres could not be found at all, and disputes owing +to careless measurement were frequent. + +It is not surprising that the services by which the villeins paid rent +for their holdings to the lord very early began to be commuted for +money; it was much more convenient to both parties; and with this +change from a 'natural economy' to a 'money economy' the destruction +of the manorial system commenced, though it was to take centuries to +effect it. + +The first money payments apparently date from as early as 900,[69] +but must then have been very few, and services were the rule in the +thirteenth and earlier centuries, though at the beginning of the +twelfth we find a great number of rent-paying tenants.[70] In the +fourteenth century money began to be more generally available, and the +process of commutation grew steadily; a process greatly accelerated by +the destruction of large numbers of tenants who paid rent in services +by the Black Death of 1348-9, which forced lords of manors to let +their lands for money or work them themselves with hired labour. +Before that visitation, however, it appears that commutation of labour +services for fixed annual payments had made very little progress.[71] + +When these services were commuted for money in the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries they were put at 1d. a day in winter, and 2d. a +day in summer, and rather more in harvest[72]; and we may put the +ordinary agricultural labourers' wages from 1250-1350 all the year +round at 2d. a day, and from 1350-1400 at 3d., but few were paid in +this way. Many were paid by the year, with allowances of food besides +and sometimes clothes, and many were in harvest at all events paid by +the piece. At Crondal in Hampshire in 1248 a carter by the year +received 4s., a herdsman 2s. 3d., a day a or dairymaid, 2s.[73] The +change to money payments was beneficial to both parties; it stopped +many of the dishonest practices of the lord's bailiff, apart from the +fact that farming by officials was an expensive method. It meant, too, +that religious festivals and bad weather would no longer diminish the +lord's profits; on the other hand, the tenant could devote himself +entirely to his holding free from annoying labour services.[74] + +The state of agriculture at the time of Domesday was apparently very +low, judging by the small returns of manors,[75] but by the time of +Edward I it had made considerable progress. During the reign of Henry +III England had grown in opulence, and continued to do so under his +great son, who found time from his manifold tasks to encourage +agriculture and horticulture. Fruit and forest trees, shrubs and +flowers, were introduced from the continent, and we are told that the +hop flourished in the royal gardens.[76] At his death England was +prosperous, the people progressing in comfort, the population +advancing, the agricultural labourers were increasing in numbers, the +value of the land had risen and was rising. Then came a reaction from +which England did not recover for two centuries, and Harrison, who +wrote his description of England at the end of the sixteenth century, +says that many of the improvements began to be neglected in process of +time, so that from Henry IV till the latter end of Henry VII there was +little or no use for them in England, 'but they remained unknown.' + +The Hundred Rolls of Edward I, which embody the results of the labours +of a commission appointed by that monarch to inquire into encroachments +on royal lands and royal jurisdiction, show clearly that there had +been since the Domesday Survey a very great growth in the rural +population, a sure sign that agriculture was flourishing; and on some +estates the number of free tenants had increased largely, but the +burdens of the villeins were not less onerous than they had been. + +It was in the thirteenth century that the practice of keeping strict +and minute accounts became general, and the accounts of the bailiff of +those days would be a revelation to the bailiff of these. + +At the same time we must not forget that the earliest improvements in +English agriculture were largely due to the monks, who from their +constant journeys abroad were able to bring back new plants and seeds; +while it is well known that many of the religious houses, the +Cistercians especially, who always settled in the remote country, were +most energetic farmers, their energy being materially assisted by +their wealth. It is said that the great Becket when he visited a +monastery did not disdain to labour in the field. + +Among other benefits that the landed interest gained at this time was +the more easy transference of land provided, _inter alia_, by the +statute of _Quia Emptores_, which led to many tenants selling their +lands, provided the rights of the lord were preserved, and to a great +increase consequently of free tenants, many of whom had quite small +holdings.[77] The amalgamation of holdings by the more industrious and +skilful has, as we should expect, been a well-marked tendency all +through the history of English agriculture, and began early. For +instance, according to the records of S. Paul's Cathedral, John +Durant, whose ancestor in 1222 held only one virgate in 'Cadendon', +had in 1279 eight or ten at least. At 'Belchamp', Martin de Suthmere, +one of the free tenants, held 245 acres by himself and his tenants, +twenty-two in number, who rendered service to him; one of them being +de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who held 17 acres under Martin. To such a +position had the abler of the small holders of a century or so before +already pushed their way, in spite of the heavy hand of feudalism, +which did much to hinder individual initiative. At this period and +until Tudor times England, as regards the cultivated land, was +essentially a corn-growing country; the greater part of the lord's +demesne was arable, and the tillage fields of the villeins largely +exceeded their meadows. For instance, in 1285 the cultivated lands at +Hawsted in Suffolk were nearly all under the plough; in seven holdings +there were 968 acres of arable and only 40 of meadow, a proportion of +24 to 1. No doubt there was plenty of common pasture, but we cannot +call this cultivated land. The seven holdings were as follows:[78] + + Acres. + + Arable. Meadow. Wood. + + Thomas Fitzeustace, lord of the manor 240 10 10 + William Tallemache 280 12 24 + Philip Noel 120 4 7 + Robert de Ros 56 3 5 + Walter de Stanton 80 3 1 + William de Camaville 140 6 8 + John Beylham 52 2 3 + --- -- -- + 968 40 58 + +These were the larger tenants; among the smaller several had no meadow +at all. + +We must not forget that the grazing of the tillage fields after the +crops were off was of great assistance to those who kept stock; for +there was plenty to eat on the stubbles. The wheat was cut high, the +straw often apparently left standing 18 inches or 2 feet high; weeds +of all kinds abounded, for the land was badly cleaned; and often only +the upper part of the high ridges, into which the land was thrown for +purposes of drainage, was cultivated, the lower parts being left to +natural grass.[79] + +The greatest authority for the farming of the thirteenth century is +Walter of Henley, who wrote, about the middle of it, a work which held +the field as an agricultural textbook until Fitzherbert wrote in the +sixteenth century, and much of his advice is valuable to-day. There +was from his time until the days of William Marshall, who wrote five +centuries afterwards, a controversy as to the respective merits of +horses and oxen as draught animals, and it is a curious fact that the +later writer agreed with the earlier as to the superiority of oxen. 'A +plough of oxen', says Walter, 'will go as far in the year as a plough +of horses, because the malice of the ploughman will not allow the +plough of horses to go beyond their pace, no more than the plough of +oxen. Further, in very hard ground where the plough of horses will +stop, the plough of oxen will pass. And the horse costs more than the +ox, for he is obliged to have the sixth part of a bushel of oats every +night, worth a halfpenny at least, and twelve pennyworth of grass in +the summer. Besides, each week he costs more or less a penny a week in +shoeing, if he must be shod on all four feet;' which was not the +universal custom. + +'But the ox has only to have 3-1/2 sheaves of oats per week (ten +sheaves yielding a bushel of oats), worth a penny, and the same amount +of grass as the horse.[80] And when the horse is old and worn out +there is nothing but his skin, but when the ox is old with ten +pennyworth of grass he shall be fit for the larder.'[81] + +The labourer of the Middle Ages could not complain of lack of +holidays; Walter of Henley tells us that, besides Sundays, eight weeks +were lost in the year from holidays and other hindrances.[82] + +He advises the sowing of spring seed on clay or on stony land early, +because if it is dry in March the ground will harden too much and the +stony ground become dry and open; therefore fore sow early that corn +may be nourished by winter moisture. Chalky and sandy ground need not +be sown early. At sowing, moreover, do not plough large furrows, but +little and well laid together, that the seed may fall evenly. Let your +land be cleaned and weeded after S. John's Day, June 24, for before +that is not a good time; and if thistles are cut before S. John's Day +'for every one will come two or three.' Do not sell your straw; if you +take away the least you lose much; words which many a landlord to-day +doubtless wishes were fixed in the minds of his tenants. + +Manure should be mixed with earth, for it lasts only two or three +years by itself, but with earth it will last twice as long; for when +the manure and the earth are harrowed together the earth shall keep +the manure so that it cannot waste by descending in the soil, which it +is apt to do. + +'Feed your working oxen before some one, and with chaff. Why? I will +tell you. Because it often happens that the oxherd steals the +provender.' + +The oxen were also to be bathed, and curried when dry with a wisp of +straw, which would cause them to lick themselves. + +'Change your seed every year at Michaelmas; for seed grown on other +ground will bring more profit than that which is grown on your own.' + +Apparently the only drainage then practised was that of furrow and +open ditch; and we find him saying that to free your lands from too +much water, let the marshy ground be well ridged, and the water made +to run, and so the ground may be freed from water. + +Here is his estimate of the cost of wheat growing[83]: + + 'You know surely that an acre sown with wheat takes three + ploughings, except lands which are sown yearly; and that each + ploughing is worth 6d. and the harrowing 1d., and on the acre + it is necessary to sow at least two bushels. Now two bushels at + Michaelmas are worth at least 12d., and weeding 1/2d., and + reaping 5d., and carrying in August 1d., and the straw will pay + for the threshing.'[83] + +The return was wretched: 'at three times your sowing you ought to have +6 bushels, worth 3s.' The total cost is thus 3s. 1-1/2d.; and without +debiting anything for rent and manure, the loss would be 1-1/2d. an +acre. + +The anonymous _Treatise on Husbandry_ of about the same date says, +however, that 'wheat ought to yield to the fifth grain, oats to the +fourth, barley to the eighth, beans and peas to the sixth.'[84] In the +years 1243-8 the average yield of wheat at Combe, Oxfordshire, was 5 +bushels per acre, of barley a little over 5, oats 7. In the Manor of +Forncett, in various years from 1290 to 1306, wheat yielded about 10 +bushels, oats from 12 to 16, barley 16, and peas from 4 to 12 bushels +per acre.[85] + +As for the dairy, 2 cows, says Walter, should yield a wey, (2 cwt) of +cheese annually, and half a gallon of butter a week, 'if sorted out +and fed in pasture of salt marsh;' but 'in pasture of wood or in +meadows after mowing, or in stubble, it should take 3 cows for the +same.' Twenty ewes, which it was then the custom to milk, fed in +pasture of salt marsh, ought to yield the same as the 2 cows. A gallon +of butter was worth 6d., and weighed 7 lb. And the anonymous treatise +says each cow ought to yield from the day after Michaelmas until the +first kalends of May, twenty-eight weeks, 10d. more or less; and from +the first kalends of May till Michaelmas, twenty-four weeks, the milk +of a cow should be worth 3s. 6d.; and she should give also 6 stones +(14 lb. per stone) of cheese, and 'as much butter as shall make as +much cheese.'[86] It was a common practice all through the Middle +Ages, and survives in localities to-day, to let out the cows by the +year, at from 3s. to 6s. 8d. a head, often to the daya or dairymaid, +the owner supplying the food, and the lessee agreeing to restore them +in equal number and condition at the end of the term.[87] The +anonymous treatise tells us that 'if you wish to farm out your stock +you can take 4s. 6d. clear for each cow and the tithe, and for a sheep +6d. and the tithe, and a sow should bring you 6s. 6d. a year and +acquit the tithe, and each hen 9d. and the tithe; and Walter says, +'When I was bailiff the dairymaids had the geese and hens to farm, the +geese at 12d. and the hens at 3d.' + +Among other information conveyed by these two treatises we learn that +the poor servants or labourers were accustomed to be fed on the +diseased sheep, salted and dried; but Walter adds, 'I do not wish you +to do this.' Nor can we point the finger of scorn at this: for in the +disastrous season of 1879 numbers of rotten sheep were sold to the +butcher and consumed by the unsuspecting public without even being +salted and dried. + +He further tells us that 'you can well have 3 acres weeded for 1d., +and an acre of meadow mown for 4d., and an acre of waste meadow for +3-1/2d. And know that 5 men can well reap and bind 2 acres a day of +each kind of corn, and where each takes 2d. a day then you must give +5d. an acre.'[88] 'One ought to thresh a quarter of wheat or rye for +2d. and a quarter of oats for 1d. A sow ought to farrow twice a year, +having each time at least 7 pigs; and each goose 5 goslings a year and +each hen 115 eggs and 7 chicks, 3 of which ought to be made capons; +and for 5 geese you must have one gander, and for 5 hens one cock.' +The laying qualities of the hen, in spite of the talk of the 200-egg +bird, were evidently as good then as to-day. In those days of +self-supporting farms it was the custom to put together the farm +implements at home, and the farmer is advised that it will be well if +he can have carters and ploughmen who should know how to work all +their own wood, though it should be necessary to pay them more.[89] +The village smith, however, seems, as we should expect, to have done +most of the iron work that was needed.[90] + +These extracts have given the reader some insight into +thirteenth-century prices, prices which in the case of grain altered +very little for nearly 300 years: for instance, the average price of +wheat from 1259 to 1400 was 5s. 10-3/4d. a quarter, and from 1401 to +1540 5s. 11-3/4d.; of barley, 4s. 3-3/4d. from 1259 to 1400, 3s. +8-3/4d. from 1401 to 1540; of oats, 2s. 5-3/4d. and 2s. 2-1/4d. in the +same two periods respectively; of rye, 4s. 5d. and 4s. 7-3/4d.; and of +beans, 4s. 3-1/2d. and 3s. 9-1/4d.[91] Wheat fluctuated considerably, +being as we have seen 2s. a quarter at Hawsted in 1243 and in 1290 +14s. 10d., a most exceptional price. Oxen, which were chiefly valued +as working animals, were about 13s. apiece[92]; cows, 9s. 5d. Farm +horses were of two varieties: the 'affer' or 'stott', a rough small +animal, generally worth about 13s. 5d., and the cart-horse, probably +the ancestor of our shire horses, whose average price was 19s. 4d. A +good saddle-horse fetched as much as £5. Sheep were from 1s. 2d. to +1s. 5d. each. In Hampshire in 1248 shoeing ten farm horses for the +plough for a year cost 5s.; making a gate cost 12d. As Walter of +Henley said, it cost a penny a week to shoe a horse on all four feet; +these horses must have been very roughly shod.[93] It is evident, from +what Walter of Henley says, that horses were not always shod on all +four feet, and their shoes were generally very light. The roads were +mere tracks without any metalling, so that there was little necessity +for heavy shoes; and as Professor Thorold Rogers suggests, it is quite +possible that the hoofs of our horses have become weaker by reason of +the continual paring and protection which modern shoeing involves.[94] +They weighed usually less than half a pound, and cost about 4s. a +hundred. + +The most striking fact about agricultural prices at this date is the +low price of land compared with that of its products. The annual rent +of land was from 4d. to 6d.[95] an acre, and it was worth about ten +years' purchase. Consequently, a quarter of wheat was often worth more +than an acre of land, a good ox three times as much, a good cart-horse +four times, while a good war-horse was worth the fee-simple of a small +farm. A greater breadth of wheat was sown than of any other crop; but +it seems that none was ever stored except in the castles and +monasteries, for in spite of successive abundant harvests a bad season +would send the price up at once. Barley was, as now, chiefly used for +making beer, which was also made from oats and wheat, of course +without hops, which were not used till the fifteenth century; and +sometimes it was made of oats, barley, and wheat, a concoction worth +3/4d. a gallon in 1283.[96] Cider was also drunk, and was sold at +Exminster in Devonshire in 1286 at 1/2d. a gallon, and apples fetched +2d. a bushel. Thorold Rogers[97] says that wheat was the chief food of +the English labourer from the earliest times until perhaps the +seventeenth century, when the enormous prices were prohibitive; but +this statement must be taken with reserve, as must that of Mr. +Prothero[98] that rye was the bread-stuff of the peasantry. Where the +labourer's food is mentioned as part of his wages, wheat, barley, and +rye all occur, wheat and rye being often mixed together as 'mixtil'; +and it is most probable that in one district wheat, in another one of +the other cereals, formed his chief bread-stuff, according to the crop +best adapted to the soil of the locality. + +Walter of Henley mentions wheat as if it was the chief crop, for he +selects it as best illustrating the cost of corn-growing[99]; and from +the enormous number of entries enumerated by Thorold Rogers in his +mediaeval statistics it was apparently more grown than other cereals. +The chief meat of the lower classes then, as to-day, was bacon from +the innumerable herds of swine who roamed in the woods and wastes, but +in bad years, when food was scarce, the poor ate nuts, acorns, fern +roots, bark, and vetches.[100] + +As the cattle of the Middle Ages were like the mountain cattle of +to-day, so were the sheep like many of the sheep to be seen in the +Welsh mountains; yet, unlike the cattle, an attempt seems to have been +made, judging by the high price of rams, to improve the breed; but +they were probably poor animals worth from 1s. to 1s. 6d. each, with a +small fleece weighing about a pound and a half, worth 3d. a lb. or a +little more. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[64] _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_, p. 39. No one can write on +English agriculture without acknowledging a deep debt to his +monumental industry, though his opinions are often open to question. + +[65] Compare the account of the manors in Huntingdonshire belonging to +Romsey Abbey given in Page _End of Villeinage in England_, pp. 28 et +seq. + +[66] Davenport, _A Norfolk Manor_, p. 36; and see Hall, _Pipe Roll of +Bishopric of Winchester_, p. xxv. + +[67] Chevage, poll money, paid to the lord. + +[68] Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, p. 230. + +[69] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 117. + +[70] Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, p. 307. On the Berkeley +estates in 1189-1220 money was so scarce with the tenants that the +rents, apparently even where services had been commuted, were commonly +paid in oxen.--Smyth, _Lives of the Berkeleys_, i. 101. In the +thirteenth century the labour services of the villeins were stricter +than in the eleventh. Vinogradoff, _op. cit._ 298. + +[71] Page, _End of Villeinage_, p. 39. + +[72] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, i. 82. + +[73] Hampshire Record Society, i. 64. See Appendix, i. + +[74] Hasbach, _English Agricultural Labourer_, p. 14. + +[75] Hallam, _Middle Ages_, iii. 361 + +[76] Denton, _England in the Fifteenth Century_, p. 56. + +[77] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 273. + +[78] Cullum, _History of Hawsted_, 1784 ed., p. 180. + +[79] Ballard, _Domesday_, p. 207. + +[80] Walter of Henley, Royal Historical Society, p. 12. + +[81] Walter reckons the above food of the horse at 12s. 3d., and of +the ox at 3s. 1d.; but both are wrong. + +[82] Ibid. p. 15. + +[83] Walter of Henley, Royal Historical Society, p. 19. + +[84] Walter of Henley, Royal Historical Society, p. 71. + +[85] Davenport, _A Norfolk Manor_, pp. 29 et seq. See also Hall, _Pipe +Roll of the Bishopric of Winchester_, p. xxvi, which gives an average +yield of wheat over a large area in 1298-9 at 4.3 bushels per acre. + +[86] Walter of Henley, Royal Historical Society, p. 77. + +[87] Thorold Rogers, _Agriculture and Prices_, i. 397; _Archaeologia_, +xviii. 281. + +[88] Walter of Henley, pp. 69, 75. In Lancashire, at the end of the +thirteenth century, mowing 60-1/2 acres cost 17s. 7-1/2d. _Victoria +County History, Lancashire, Agriculture_, and _Two Compoti of the +Lancashire and Cheshire Manors of Henry de Lacy_ (Cheetham Society). + +[89] Walter of Henley, p. 63. + +[90] _Crondall, Records_, Hampshire Record Society, i. 65. + +[91] See Thorold Rogers, various tables in vol. i. of _History of +Agriculture and Prices_. Compare these with the prices on the Berkeley +estates from 1281 to 1307, omitting years of scarcity: wheat, 2s. 4d. +to 5s.; oxen, 10s. to 12s.; cows, 9s. to 10s.; bacon hogs, 5s.; fat +sheep, 1s. 6d. to 2s.; and in the early part of Edward III's reign, +wheat, 5s. 4d. to 10s.; oxen, 14s. to 24s. Other prices about the +same.--Smyth, _Lives of the Berkeleys_, i. 160. + +[92] If it is true, as generally stated, that the mediaeval ox was +one-third the size of his modern successor, it is apparent that he was +a very dear animal. Cattle at this date suffered from the ravages of +wolves. + +[93] _Crondall, Records_, Hampshire Record Society, i. 64. + +[94] _History of Agriculture and Prices_, i. 528. + +[95] Seebohm, _Transactions of Royal Historical Society_, New Series, +xvii. 288, says that rent in the fourteenth century was commonly 4d.; +the usual average is stated at 6d. an acre. + +[96] _Domesday of S. Paul_, Camden Society, p. li. + +[97] _History of Agriculture and Prices_, i. 26. + +[98] _Pioneers of Agriculture_, p. 13. + +[99] Ed. Lamond, Royal Historical Society, p. 19. + +[100] Denton, _England in the Fifteenth Century_, p. 93. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.--DECLINE OF AGRICULTURE.--THE BLACK DEATH.-- +STATUTE OF LABOURERS + + +After the death of Edward I in 1307 the progress of English +agriculture came to a standstill, and little advance was made till +after the battle of Bosworth in 1485. The weak government of Edward +II, the long French War commenced by Edward III and lasting over a +hundred years, and the Wars of the Roses, all combined to impoverish +the country. England, too, was repeatedly afflicted during the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by pestilences, sometimes caused by +famines, sometimes coming with no apparent cause; all probably +aggravated, if not caused, by the insanitary habits of the people. The +mention of plagues, indeed, at this time is so frequent that we may +call them chronic. + +At this period corn and wool were the two main products of the farmer; +corn to feed his household and labourers, and wool to put money in his +pocket, a somewhat rare thing. + +English wool, which came to be called 'the flower and strength and +revenue and blood of England', was famous in very early times, and was +exported long before the Conquest. In Edgar's reign the price was +fixed by law, to prevent it getting into the hands of the foreigner +too cheaply; a wey, or weigh, was to be sold for 120d.[101] Patriotic +Englishmen asserted it was the best in the world, and Henry II, Edward +III, and Edward IV are said to have improved the Spanish breed by +presents of English sheep. Spanish wool, however, was considered the +best from the earliest times until the Peninsular War, when the Saxon +and Silesian wools deposed it from its pride of place. Smith, in his +_Memoirs of Wool_,[102] is of the opinion that England 'borrowed some +parts of its breed from thence, as it certainly did the whole from one +place or another.' Spanish wool, too, was imported into England at an +early date, the manufacture of it being carried on at Andover in +1262.[103] Yet until the fourteenth century it was not produced in +sufficient quantities to compete seriously with English wool in the +markets of the Continent; and it appears to have been the long wools, +such as those of the modern Leicester and Lincoln, from which England +chiefly derived its fame as a wool-producing country. + +Our early exports went to Flanders, where weaving had been introduced +a century before the Conquest, and, in spite of the growth of the +weaving industry in England, to that country the bulk of it continued +to go, all through the Middle Ages, though in the thirteenth century a +determined effort was made to divert a larger share of English wool to +Italy.[104] During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the export +of wool was frequently forbidden,[105] sometimes for political +objects, but also to gain the manufacture of cloth for England by +keeping our wool from the foreigner; but these measures did not stop +the export, they only hampered it and encouraged much smuggling. It +commanded what seems to us an astonishing price, for 3d. a lb. in the +thirteenth and fourteenth centuries is probably equal to nearly 4s. in +our money. Its value, and the ease with which it could be packed and +carried, made it an object of great importance to the farmer. In +1337[106] we have a schedule of the price of wool in the various +counties of England, for in that year 30,000 sacks of the best wool +was ordered to be bought in various districts by merchants for Edward +III, to provide the sinews of war against France. The price for the +best wool was to be fixed by the king, his council, and the merchants; +the 'gross' wool being bought by agreement between buyer and seller. +Of the former the highest price fixed was for the wool of Hereford, +then and for long afterwards famous for its excellent quality, 12 +marks the sack of 364 lb.; and the lowest for that of the northern +counties, 5 marks the sack. + +Somewhat more than a century afterwards we have another similar list +of wool prices, when in 1454 the Commons petitioned the king that 'as +the wools growing within this realm have hitherto been the great +commodity, enriching, and welfare of this land, and how of late the +price is greatly decayed so that the Commons were not able to pay +their rents to their lords', the king would fix certain prices under +which wools should not be bought. The highest price fixed was for the +wool of 'Hereford, in Leominster', £13 a sack; the lowest for that of +Suffolk, £2 12s.[107]; the average being about £4 10s. + +The manorial accounts of the Knights' Hospitallers, who then held land +all over England, afford valuable information as to agriculture in +1338.[108] From these we gather that the rent of arable land varied +from 2d. to 2s. an acre; but the latter sum was very exceptional, and +there are only two instances of it given, in Lincolnshire and Kent. +Most of the tillage rented for less than 1s. an acre, more than half +being at 6d. or under, and the average about 6d. On the other hand, +meadow land is seldom of less value than 2s. an acre, and in +Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, and Norfolk rose to 3s. This is one of the +numerous proofs of the great value of meadow land at a time when hay +was almost the sole winter food of stock; in some places it was eight +or ten times as valuable as the arable.[109] The pasture on the +Hospitallers' estates was divided into several and common pasture, the +former often reaching 1s. an acre and sometimes 2s., the latter rarely +exceeding 4d. The most usual way, however, of stating the value of +pasture was by reckoning the annual cost of feeding stock per head, +cows being valued at 2s., oxen at 1s., a horse at a little less than +an ox, a sheep at 1d. The reign of Edward III was a great era for +wool-growers, and the Hospitallers at Hampton in Middlesex had a flock +of 2,000 sheep whose annual produce was six sacks of wool of 364 lb. +each, worth £4 a sack, which would make the fleeces weigh a little +more than 1 lb. each. The profit of cows on one of their manors was +reckoned at 2s. per head, on another at 3s.; and the profit of 100 +sheep at 20s.[110] The wages paid to the labourers for day work were +2d. a day, and we must remember that when he was paid by the day his +wages were rightly higher than when regularly employed, for day labour +was irregular and casual. The tenants about the same date obtained the +following prices[111] for some of their stock:-- + + £ s. d. + + A good ox, alive, fatted on corn 1 4 0 + " " " not on corn 16 0 + A fatted cow 12 0 + A two-year-old hog 3 4 + A sheep and its fleece 1 8 + A fatted sheep, shorn 1 2 + " goose 0 3 + Hens, each[112] 0 2 + 20 eggs 0 1 + +In the middle of the fourteenth century occurred the famous Black +Death, the worst infliction that has ever visited England. Its story +is too well known for repetition, and it suffices to say that it was +like the bubonic plague in the East of to-day: it raged in 1348-9, and +killed from one-third to one-half of the people.[113] It is said to +have effected more important economic results than any other event in +English history. It is probable that the prices of labour were rising +before this terrible calamity; the dreadful famine of 1315-6,[114] +followed by pestilence, when wheat went up to 26s. a quarter, and +according to the contemporary chroniclers, in some cases much higher, +destroyed a large number of the population, and other plagues had done +their share to make labour scarce, but after the Black Death the +advance was strongly marked. It also accelerated the break-up of the +manorial system. A large number of the free labourers were swept away, +and their labour lost to the lord of the manor; the services of the +villeins were largely diminished from the same cause; many of the +tenants, both free and unfree, were dead, and the land thrown on the +lord's hands. Flocks and herds were wandering about over the country +because there was no one to tend them. In short, most manors were in a +state of anarchy, and their lords on the verge of ruin. It is not to +be wondered at, therefore, that they immediately adopted strong +measures to save themselves and their property and, no doubt they +thought, the whole country. Englishmen had by this time learnt to turn +to Parliament to remedy their ills, but as the plague was still raging +a proclamation was issued of which the preamble states that wages had +already gone up greatly. 'Many, seeing the necessity of masters and +great scarcity of servants, will not serve unless they get excessive +wages', and it is, therefore, hard to till the land. Every one under +the age of 60, it was ordered, free or villein, who can work, and has +no other means of livelihood, is not to refuse to work for any one who +offers the accustomed wages; no labourer is to receive more wages than +he did before the plague, and none are to give more wages under severe +penalties. But besides regulating wages, the proclamation also insists +on reasonable prices for food and the necessaries of life: it was a +fair attempt not only to protect the landlords but the labourers also, +by keeping both wages and prices at their former rate, so that its +object was not tyrannous as has been stated.[115] It was at once +disregarded, a fate which met many of the proclamations and statutes +of the Middle Ages, which often seem to have been regarded as mere +pious aspirations. + +Accordingly, the Statute of 1351, 25 Edw. III, Stat. 2, c. 1, states +that the servants had paid no regard to the ordinance regulating +wages, 'but to their ease and singular covetise do withdraw themselves +unless they have livery and wages to the double or treble of that they +were wont to take'. Accordingly, it was again laid down that they were +to take liveries and wages as before the Black Death, and 'where wheat +was wont to be given they shall take for the bushel 10d. (6s. 8d. a +quarter),[116] or wheat at the will of the giver. And that they be +hired to serve by the whole year or by other usual terms, and not by +the day, and that none pay in the time of sarcling (weeding) or +hay-making but a penny a day, and a mower of meadows for the acre 5d., +or by the day 5d., and reapers of corn in the first week of August +2d., and the second 3d., without meat or drink.' And none were to take +for the threshing of a quarter of wheat or rye more than 2d., and for +the quarter of beans, peas, and oats more than 1d. These prices are +certainly difficult to understand. Hay-making has usually been paid +for at a rate above the ordinary, because of the longer hours; and +here we find the price fixed at half the usual wages, while mowing is +five times as much, and double the price paid for reaping, though they +were normally about the same price.[117] + +It is interesting to learn from the statute that there was a +considerable migration of labourers at this date for the harvest, from +Stafford, Lancaster, Derby, Craven, the Marches of Wales and Scotland, +and other places. + +Such was the first attempt made to control the labourers' wages by the +legislature, and like other legislation of the kind it failed in its +object, though the attempt was honestly made; and if the rate of wages +fixed was somewhat low, its inequity was far surpassed by the +exorbitance of the labourers' demands.[118] It was an endeavour to set +aside economic laws, and its futility was rendered more certain by the +depreciation of the coinage in 1351, which led to an advance in +prices, and compelled the labourers to persevere in their demands for +higher wages.[119] + +Both wages and prices, except those of grain, continued to increase, +and labour services were now largely commuted for money payments,[120] +with the result that the manorial system began to break up rapidly. + +Owing to the dearth of labourers for hire, and the loss of many of the +services of their villeins, the lords found it very hard to farm their +demesne lands. It should be remembered, too, that an additional +hardship from which they suffered at this time was that the quit rents +paid to them in lieu of services by tenants who had already become +free were, owing to the rise in prices, very much depreciated. Their +chief remedy was to let their demesne lands. The condition of the +Manor of Forncett in Norfolk well illustrates the changes that were +now going on. There, in the period 1272-1307, there were many free +tenants as well as villeins, and the holdings of the latter were +small, usually only 5 acres. It is also to be noticed that in no year +were all the labour services actually performed, some were always sold +for money. Yet in the period named there was not much progress in the +general commutation of services for money payments, and the same was +the case in the manors, whose records between 1325 and 1350 Mr. Page +examined for his _End of Villeinage in England_.[121] The reaping and +binding of the entire grain crop of the demesne at Forncett was done +by the tenants exclusively, without the aid of any hired labour.[122] + +However, in the period 1307-1376 the manor underwent a great change. +The economic position of the villeins, the administration of the +demesne, and the whole organization of the manor were revolutionized. +Much of the tenants' land had reverted to the lord, partly by the +deaths in the great pestilence, partly because tenants had left the +manor; they had run away and left their burdensome holdings in order +to get high wages as free labourers. This of course led to a +diminution of labour rents, so the landlord let most of the demesne +for a term of years,[123] a process which went on all over England; +and thus we have the origin of the modern tenant farmer. A fact of +much importance in connexion with the Peasants' Revolt, soon to take +place, was that the average money rent of land per acre in Forncett in +1378 was 10d., while the labour rents for land, where they were still +paid by villeins who had not commuted or run away, were, owing to the +rise in the value of labour, worth two or three times this. We cannot +wonder that the poor villeins were profoundly discontented. + +On this manor, as on others, some of the villeins, in spite of the +many disadvantages under which they lay, managed to accumulate some +little wealth. In 1378 and in 1410 one bond tenant had two messuages +and 78 acres of land; in 1441 another died seized of 5 messuages and +52 acres; some had a number of servants in their households, but the +majority were very poor. There are several instances of bondmen +fleeing from the manor; and the officers of the manor failed to catch +them. This was common in other manors, and the 'withdrawal' of +villeins played a considerable part in the disappearance of serfdom +and the break-up of the system.[124] The following table shows the +gradual disappearance of villeins in the Manor of Forncett: + + In 1400 the servile families who had land numbered 16 + 1500 " " " 8 + 1525 " " " 5 + 1550 " " " 3 + 1575 " " " 0 + +There is no event of greater importance in the agrarian history of +England, or which has led to more important consequences, than the +dissolution of this community in the cultivation of the land, which +had been in use so long, and the establishment of the complete +independence and separation of one property from another.[125] As soon +as the manorial system began to give way, and men to have a free hand, +the substitution of large for small holdings set in with fresh vigour, +for we have already seen that it had begun. It was one of the chief +causes of the stagnation of agriculture in the Middle Ages that it lay +under the heavy hand of feudalism, by which individualism was checked +and hindered. Every one had his allotted position on the land, and it +was hard to get out of it, though some exceptional men did so; as a +rule there was no chance of striking out a new line for oneself. The +villein was bound to the lord, and no lord would willingly surrender +his services. There could be little improvement in farming when the +custom of the manor and the collective ownership of the teams bound +all to the same system of farming.[126] In fact, agriculture under +feudalism suffered from many of the evils of socialism. + +But, though hard hit, the old system was to endure for many +generations, and the modern triumvirate of landlord, tenant, and +labourer was not completely established in England until the era of +the first Reform Bill. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[101] Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, i. 130. A +weigh in the Middle Ages was 182 lbs., or half a sack. + +[102] Second edition, i. 50 n. See also Burnley, _History of Wool_, p. +17. + +[103] Gross, _Gild Merchant_, ii. 4. It is from the Spanish merino, +crossed with Leicesters and Southdowns, that the vast Australian +flocks of to-day are descended. + +[104] Cunningham, _op. cit._ i. 628. + +[105] Ashley, _Early History of English Woollen Industry_, p. 34. + +[106] _Calendar of Close Rolls_, 1337-9, pp. 148-9. + +[107] _Rolls of Parliament_, v. 275. + +[108] _The Hospitallers in England_, Camden Society. + +[109] Denton, _England in the Fifteenth Century_, p. 147. + +[110] _Hospitallers in England_, p. xxvi. + +[111] Ibid. pp. 1, li. + +[112] Poultry-keeping was wellnigh universal, judging by the number of +rents paid in fowls and eggs. + +[113] 1348 seems also to have been an excessively rainy year. The wet +season was very disastrous to live stock; according to the accounts of +the manors of Christ Church, Canterbury, about this time (_Historical +MSS. Commission, 5th Report_, 444) there died of the murrain on their +estates 257 oxen, 511 cows, 4,585 sheep. Murrain was the name given to +all diseases of stock in the Middle Ages, and is of constant +occurrence in old records. + +[114] The cause of this as usual was incessant rain during the greater +part of the summer; the chronicles of the time say that not only were +the crops very short but those that did grow were diseased and yielded +no nourishment. The 'murrain' was so deadly to oxen and sheep that, +according to Walsingham, dogs and ravens eating them dropped down +dead. + +[115] See Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 335. Also in an age +when the idea of Competitive price had not yet been evolved, and when +regulation by authority was the custom, it was natural and right that +the Government in such a crisis should try to check the demands of +both labourers and producers, which went far beyond what employers or +consumers could pay. Putnam, _Enforcement of the Statute of +Labourers_, 220. + +[116] The average price of wheat in 1351 was 10s. 2-1/2d., which went +down to 7s. 2d. next year, and 4s. 2-1/2d. the year after; but judging +by the ineffectiveness of the statute to reduce wages, it probably had +little effect in causing this fall. + +[117] See Appendix I. + +[118] Putnam, _op. cit._, 221. The statute for the first ten years, +however, kept wages from ascending as high as might have been the +case. + +[119] McPherson, _Annals of Commerce_, i. 543, says that as the plague +diminished the number of employers as well as labourers, the demand +for labour could not have been much greater than before, and would +have had little effect on the rate of if Edward III had not debased +the coinage. But if the owners did decrease the lands would only +accumulate in fewer hands, and would still require cultivation. + +[120] Page, _End of Villeinage_, pp. 59 et seq. + +[121] Ibid. p. 44. + +[122] _Transactions_, Royal Historical Society, New Series, xiv. 123. + +[123] This had been done before, but was now much more frequent. +Hasbach, _op. cit._ p. 17. + +[124] 'After the Black Death the flight of villeins was extremely +common.'--Page, _op. cit._, p. 40. + +[125] Nasse, _Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages_, p. 1. + +[126] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 137. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +HOW THE CLASSES CONNECTED WITH THE LAND LIVED IN THE MIDDLE AGES + + +The castles of the great landowners have been so often described that +there is no need to do this again. The popular idea of a baron of the +Middle Ages is of a man who when he was not fighting was jousting or +hunting. Such were, no doubt, his chief recreations; so fond was he of +hunting, indeed, that his own broad lands were not enough, and he was +a frequent trespasser on those of others; the records of the time are +full of cases which show that poaching was quite a fashionable +amusement among the upper classes. But among the barons were many men +who, like their successors to-day, did their duty as landlords. Of one +of the Lords of Berkeley in the fourteenth century, it was said he was +'sometyme in husbandry at home, sometyme at sport in the field, +sometyme in the campe, sometyme in the Court and Council of State, +with that promptness and celerity that his body might have bene +believed to be ubiquitary'. Many of them were farmers on a very large +scale, though they might not have so much time to devote to it as +those excellent landlords the monks. + +Thomas Lord Berkeley, who held the Berkeley estates from 1326 to 1361, +farmed the demesnes of a quantity of manors, as was the custom, and +kept thereon great flocks of sheep, ranging from 300 to 1,500 on each +manor.[127] The stock of the Bishop of Winchester, by an inquisition +taken at his death in 1367, amounted to 127 draught horses, 1,556 head +of black cattle, and 12,104 sheep and lambs. Almost every manor had +one or two pigeon houses, and the number of pigeons reared is +astonishing; from one manor Lord Berkeley obtained 2,151 pigeons in a +single year. No one but the lord was allowed to keep them, and they +were one of the chief grievances of the villeins, who saw their seed +devoured by these pests without redress. Their dung, too, was one of +the most valued manures. Lord Berkeley, like other landlords, went +often in progress from one of his manors and farmhouses to another, +making his stay at each of them for one or two nights, overseeing and +directing the husbandry. The castle of the great noble consumed an +enormous amount of food in the course of the year; from two manors on +the Berkeley estate came to the 'standinghouse' of the lord in twelve +months, 17,000 eggs, 1,008 pigeons, 91 capons, 192 hens, 288 ducks, +388 chickens, 194 pigs, 45 calves, 315 quarters of wheat, 304 quarters +of oats; and from several other manors came the like or greater store, +besides goats, sheep, oxen, butter, cheese, nuts, honey, &c.[128] Even +the lavish hospitality of the lords, and the great number of their +retainers, must have had some difficulty in disposing of these huge +supplies. + +The examining of their bailiff's accounts must have taken a +considerable portion of the landlord's time, for those of each manor +were kept most minutely, and set forth, among other items, 'in what +sort he husbanded' the demesne farms, 'what sorts of cattle he kept in +them, and what kinds of graine he yearly sowed according to the +quality and condition of the ground, and how those kinds of graine +each second or third yeare were exchanged or brought from one manor to +another as the vale corne into an upland soyle, and contrarily'. And +we are told incidentally he 'set with hand, not sowed his beanes'. He +was also accustomed to move his live stock from one manor to another, +as they needed it. + +The accounts also stated what days' works were due from each tenant +according to the season of the year, and at the end of each year there +was a careful valuation of live and dead stock.[129] + +The difference +between the smaller gentry and the more important yeomen[130] who +farmed their own land must have been very slight. No doubt both of +them were very rough and ignorant men, who knew a great deal about the +cultivation of their land and very little about anything else. We may +be sure that the ordinary house of both was generally of wood; as +there is no stone in many parts of England, and bricks were not +reintroduced till the fourteenth century and spread slowly. Even in +Elizabeth's reign, Harrison[131] tells us that 'the ancient houses of +our gentry are yet for the most part of strong timber', and he even +thinks that houses made of oak were luxurious, for in times past men +had been contented with houses of willow, plum, and elm, but now +nothing but oak was good enough; and he quaintly says that the men who +lived in the willow houses were as tough as oak, and those who lived +in the oak as soft as willow. There are very few mansions left of the +time before Edward III, for being of timber they naturally decayed. + +In a lease, dated 1152, of a manor house belonging to S. Paul's +Cathedral,[132] is a description of a manor house which contained a +hall 35 feet long, 30 feet broad, and 22 feet high; that is, 11 feet +to the tie beam and 11 feet from that to the ridge board; showing that +the roof was open and that there were no upper rooms. There was a +chamber between the hall and the thalamus or inner room which was 12 +feet long, 17 feet broad, and 17 feet high, the roof being open as in +the hall; and the thalamus was 22 feet long, 16 feet broad, and 18 +feet high. About the same date the Manor house of Thorp was larger, +and contained a hall, a chamber, tresantia (apparently part of the +hall or chamber separated by a screen to form an antechamber), two +private rooms, a kitchen, brew-house, malt-house, dairy, ox shed, and +three small hen-houses. + +The ordinary manor house of the Middle Ages contained three rooms at +least, of mean aspect, the floor even of the hall, which was the +principal eating and sleeping room, being of dirt; and when there was +an upper room or solar added, which began to be done at the end of the +twelfth century,[133] access to it was often obtained by an outside +staircase. + +If the manor house belonged to the owner of many manors, it was +sometimes inhabited by his bailiff. + +The barns on the demesnes were often as important buildings as the +manor houses; one at Wickham, belonging to the canons of S. Paul's[134] +in the twelfth century, was 55 feet long, 13 feet high from the floor +to the principal beam, and 10-1/2 feet more to the ridge board; the +breadth between the pillars was 19-1/2 feet, and on each side it had a +wing or aisle 6-1/2 feet wide and 6-1/2 feet high. The amount of corn +in the barn was often scored on the door-posts.[135] In the manor +houses chimneys rarely existed, the fire being made in the middle of +the hall. Even in the early seventeenth century in Cheshire there were +no chimneys in the farmhouses, and there the oxen were kept under the +same roof as the farmer and his family.[136] When chimneys did come in +they were not much thought of. 'Now we have chimneys our tenderlings +complain of rheums, catarrhs, and poses (colds);' for the smoke not +only hardened the timbers, but was said by Harrison to be an excellent +medicine for man. Instead of glass there was much lattice, and that +made either of wicker or fine rifts of oak in checkerwise, and horn +was also used. Beds, of course, were a luxury, the owner of the manor, +his guests, and retainers flung themselves down on the hall floor +after supper and all slept together, though sometimes rough mattresses +were brought in. + +Furniture was rude and scanty. In 1150 the farm implements and +household furniture on the Manor of 'Waleton' was valued and consisted +of 4 carts, 3 baskets, a basket used in winnowing corn, a pair of +millstones, 10 tubs, 4 barrels, 2 boilers of lead with stoves, 2 +wooden bowls, 3 three-legged tables, 20 dishes or platters, 2 +tablecloths worth 6d., 6 metal bowls, half a load of the invaluable +salt, 2 axes, a table with trestles (the usual form of table), and 5 +beehives made of rushes.[137] These articles were handed down from one +generation to another, and in a lease made 150 years afterwards of the +same manor most of them reappear. The greater part of the furniture, +until the fifteenth century, was most likely made by migratory +workmen, who travelled from village to village; for except the rudest +pieces it was beyond the village carpenter, and shops there were none. + +It is not to be expected that when the master lived in this manner the +lot of the labourer was a very good one. His home was miserably poor, +generally of 'wattle and dab', sometimes wholly of mud and clay; many +with only one room for all purposes. A bill is still in existence for +a house, if it can be called one, built in 1306 for two labourers by +Queen's College, Oxford, which cost 20s. in all, and was a mere hovel +without floor, ceiling, or chimney.[138] Their wretched houses appear +to have been built on the bare earth, and unfloored. Perhaps as time +went on a rude upper storey was added, the floor of which was made of +rough poles or hurdles and was reached by a ladder. The furniture was +miserably poor; a few pots and pans, cups and dishes, and some tools +would exhaust the list.[139] The goods and chattels of a landless +labourer in 1431 consisted of a dish, an adze, a brass pot, 2 plates, +2 augers, an axe, a three-legged stool, and a barrel.[140] Englishmen +of all classes were hopelessly dirty in their habits; even till the +sixteenth century they were noted above other countries for the +profuseness of their diet and their unclean ways. Erasmus spoke of the +floor of his house as inconceivably filthy. To save fuel, the +labourer's family in the cold season all lay huddled in a heap on the +floor, 'pleasantly and hot', as Barclay the poet tells us; and if he +ever had a bed it was a bundle of fern or straw thrown down, with his +cloak as a coverlet, though thus he was just as well off as his social +superiors, for with them the loose cloak of the day was a common +covering for the night. He was constantly exposed to disease, for +sanitary precautions were ignored; at the entrance of his hovel was a +huge heap of decaying refuse, poisoning air and water. Even in the +sixteenth century a foreigner noticed that 'the peasants dwell in +small huts and pile up their refuse out of doors in heaps so high that +you cannot see their houses'.[141] Diseased animals were constantly +eaten, vegetables were few, and in the winter there was no fresh meat +for any one, except game and rabbits and, for the well-to-do, fish, +but we may doubt if the peasant got any but salt fish. The consequence +was that leprosy and kindred ailments were common; and we do not +wonder that plagues were frequent and slew the people like flies. The +peasants' food consisted largely of corn. In the bailiff's accounts of +the Manor of Woodstock in 1242, six servants at Handborough received +41-1/2 bushels of corn each, 2 ox herds at Combe received the same, and +4 servants at Bladon had 36 bushels each. In 1274 at Bosham, and in +1288 at Stoughton in Sussex, the allowance was the same.[142] The +writer of the anonymous _Treatise on Husbandry_ says that in his time, +the thirteenth century, the average annual allowance of corn to a +labourer was 36 bushels.[143] Fish, too, seem to have formed a large +portion of his diet; all classes ate enormous quantities of fish, +before the Reformation, in Lent and on fast days, and the labourer was +constantly given salt herrings as part of his pay. In 1359, at +Hawsted, the villeins when working were allowed 2 herrings a day, some +milk, a loaf, and some drink.[144] Eden[145] says his food consisted +of a few fish, principally herrings, a loaf of bread, and some beer; +but we must certainly add pork, which was his stand-by then as +now.[146] In the fourteenth century, at all events, there were three +kinds of bread in use--white bread, ration bread, and black bread; and +it was no doubt the latter that the peasant ate.[147] Clothing was +dear and cloth coarse, the most valuable personal property consisting +of clothing and metal vessels. Shirts were the subject of charitable +gifts.[148] By 37 Edw. III, c. 14, labourers were not to wear any +manner of cloth but 'blanket and russet wool of 12d.' and girdles of +linen. If they wore anything more extravagant it was forfeited to the +king. + +To the labourer of modern times the life of his forefathers would have +seemed unutterably dull. No books, no newspapers, no change of scene +by cheap excursions, no village school, no politics. The very +cultivation of the soil by the old three-course system was monotonous. +But there were bright spots in his existence: the village church not +only afforded him the consolations of religion but also entertainments +and society. Religion in the Middle Ages was a part of the people's +daily life, and its influence permeated even their amusements. +Miracles and mystery plays, played in the churches and churchyards, +were a common feature in village life; as were the church ales or +parish meetings held four or five times a year, where cakes and beer +were purchased from the churchwarden and consumed for the good of the +parish. Indeed, there can be no doubt that there was much more +sociability than to-day, in the country at least. Labour was lightened +by the co-operation of the common fields; common shepherds and +herdsmen watched the sheep and cattle of the different tenants, 'a +common mill ground the corn, a common oven baked the bread, a common +smith worked at a common forge.' His existence, moreover, was +enlivened by a considerable number of sports. A statute at the end of +the fourteenth century (12 Ric. II, c. 6) says he was fond of playing +at tennis(!), football, quoits, dice, casting the stone, and other +games, which this statute forbad him, and enacted that he should use +his bow and arrows on Sundays and holidays instead of such idle sport. +This is a foretaste of the modern sentiment that seeks to wean him +from watching football matches and take to miniature rifle clubs. He +was also, like some of his successors, fond of poaching, though he +appears to have been rash enough to indulge in it by day. 13 Ric. II, +c. 13, says he was prone on holidays, when good Christian people be in +church hearing divine service, to go hunting with greyhounds and other +dogs, in the parks and warrens of the lord and of others, and +sometimes these hunts were turned into conferences and conspiracies,' +for to rise and disobey their allegiance', such as preceded the +Peasants' Revolt of 1381; and accordingly no one who did not own lands +worth 40s. a year was to keep a dog to hunt, or ferrets other +'engines': the first game law on the English statute book. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[127] Smyth, _Lives of the Berkeleys_, i. 302. No doubt the riches of +the Berkeleys were considerably greater than those of many of the +barons. + +[128] _Lives of the Berkeleys_, i. 166. There is no reason to doubt +Smyth, as he wrote with the original accounts before him. + +[129] _Lives of the Berkeleys_, i. 156. + +[130] The yeoman is said to have made his appearance in the fifteenth +century, but the small freeholders of the manor before that date were +to all intents and purposes yeomen. No doubt, as trade grew in the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries successful tradesmen bought small +freeholds in the country and swelled the numbers of yeomen. + +[131] Harrison, _Description of Britain_, F.J. Furnivall edn., p. 337. + +[132] _Domesday of S. Paul_, Camden Society, p. 129. + +[133] Turner, _Domestic Architecture_, i. 59. + +[134] _Domesday of S. Paul_, p. 123. + +[135] _Historical MSS. Commission Report_, v. 444. + +[136] Ormerod, _History of Cheshire_, i. 129. + +[137] _Domesday of S. Paul_, p. xcvii. + +[138] Denton, _England in the Fifteenth Century_. + +[139] Eden, _State of the Poor_, i. 21. + +[140] See Cullum, _History of Hawsted_. + +[141] Harrison, _Description of Britain_, Appendix ii, lxxxi. In some +manors, however, there were careful regulations for public health. +According to the Durham _Halmote Rolls_, published by the Surtees +Society, village officials watched over the water supply, prevented +the fouling of streams; bye-laws were enacted as to the regulation of +the common place for clothes washing, and the times for emptying and +cleansing ponds and mill-dams. + +[142] Ballard, _Domesday_, Antiquary Series, p. 209. + +[143] Walter of Henley, Royal Historical Society, p. 75. + +[144] Cullum, _Hawsted_, 1784 ed., p. 182. + +[145] _State of the Poor_, i. 15. + +[146] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, i. 32. + +[147] See _Knights Hospitallers in England_, Camden Society, +Introduction. + +[148] Thorold Rogers, _op. cit._ i. 66. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BREAK-UP OF THE MANOR.--SPREAD OF LEASES.--THE PEASANTS' +REVOLT.--FURTHER ATTEMPTS TO REGULATE WAGES.--A HARVEST HOME.-- +BEGINNING OF THE CORN LAWS.--SOME SURREY MANORS + + +We have seen that the landlords' profits were seriously diminished by +the Black Death, and they cast about them for new ways of increasing +their incomes. Arable land had been until now largely in excess of +pasture, the cultivation of corn was the chief object of agriculture, +bread forming a much larger proportion of men's diet than now. This +began to change. Much of the land was laid down to grass, and there +was a steady increase in sheep farming; thus commenced that revolution +in farming which in the sixteenth century led Harrison to say that +England was mainly a stock-raising country. The lords also let a +considerable amount of their demesne land on leases for years. 'Then +began the times to alter' says Smyth of the Lord Berkeley of the end +of the fourteenth century, 'and hee with them, and he began to tack +other men's cattle on his pasture by the week, month, and quarter, and +to sell his meadow grounds by the acre. And in the time of Henry IV +still more and more was let, and in succeeding times. As for the days' +works of the copyhold tenants, they also were turned into money.'[149] +Such leases had been used long before this, but this is the date of +their great increase. In the thirteenth century a lease of 2 acres of +arable land in Nowton, Suffolk, let the land at 6d. an acre per annum +for a term of six years.[150] It contains no clauses about +cultivation; the landlord warrants the said 2 acres to the tenant, and +the tenant agrees to give them up at the end of the term freely and +peaceably. The deed was indented, sealed, and witnessed by several +persons. The impoverished landlords also let much of their land on +stock and land leases. The custom of stocking the tenants' land was a +very ancient one: the lord had always found the oxen for the plough +teams of the villeins. In the leases of the manors of S. Paul's in the +twelfth century the tenant for life received stock both live and dead, +which when he entered was carefully enumerated in the lease, and at +the end of the tenancy he had to leave behind the same quantity.[151] +It was a common practice also, before the Black Death, for the lord to +let out cows and sheep at so much per head per annum.[152] The stock +and land lease therefore was no novelty. In 1410 there is a lease of +the demesne lands at Hawsted by which the landlord kept the manor +house and its appurtenances in his own hands, the tenant apparently +having the farm buildings, which he was to keep in repair. He was to +receive at the beginning of the term 20 cows and one bull, worth 9s. +each; 4 stotts, worth 10s. each; and 4 oxen, worth 13s. 4d. each; +which, or their value in money, were to be delivered up at the end of +the term. The tenant was also to leave at the end of the lease as many +acres well ploughed, sown, and manured as he found at the beginning. +Otherwise the landlord was not to interfere with the cultivation. If +the rent or any part thereof was in arrear for a fortnight after the +two fixed days for payment, the landlord might distrain; and if for a +month, he might re-enter: and both parties bound themselves to forfeit +the then huge sum of £100 upon the violation of any clause of the +lease.[153] There is a lease[154] of a subsequent date (the twentieth +year of Henry VIII), but one which well illustrates the custom now so +prevalent, granted by the Prior of the Monastery of Lathe in Somerset +to William Pole of Combe, Edith his wife, and Thomas his son, for +their lives. With the land went 360 wethers. For the land they paid 16 +quarters of best wheat, 'purelye thressyd and wynowed,' 22 quarters of +best barley, and were to carry 4 loads of wood and fatten one ox for +the prior yearly; the ox to be fattened in stall with the best hay, +the only way then known of fattening oxen. For the flock of wethers +they paid £6 yearly. The tenants were bound to keep hedges, ditches, +and gates in repair. Also they were bound by a 'writing obligatory' in +the sum of £100 to deliver up the wether flock whole and sound, 'not +rotten, banyd,[155] nor otherwise diseased.' The consequence of the +spread of leases was that the portion of the demesne lands which the +lords farmed themselves dwindled greatly, or it was turned from arable +into grass. Stock and land leases survived in some parts till the +beginning of the eighteenth century, when it was still the custom for +the landlord to stock the land and receive half the crop for +rent.[156] According to the _Domesday of S. Paul_, in the thirteenth +century, a survey of eighteen manors containing 24,000 acres showed +three-eighths of the land in demesne, the rest in the hands of the +tenants. In 1359 the lord of the principal manor at Hawsted held in +his own hand 572 acres of arable land, worth 4d. to 6d. an acre rent, +and 50 acres of meadow, worth 2s. an acre.[157] He had also pasture +for 24 cows, which was considered worth 36s. a year, and for 12 horses +and 12 oxen worth 48s. a year, with 40 acres of wood, estimated at 1s. +an acre. In 1387, however, the arable land had decreased to 320 acres, +but the stock had increased, and now numbered 4 cart horses, 6 stotts +or smaller horses, 10 oxen, 1 bull, 26 cows, 6 heifers, 6 calves, 92 +wethers, 20 hoggerells or two-year-old sheep, 1 gander, 4 geese, 30 +capons, 26 hens, and only one cock. The dairy of 26 cows was let out, +according to the custom of the time, for £8 a year; and we are told +that the oxen were fed on oats, and shod in the winter only. + +But if the position of the lords was severely affected by the great +pestilence that of the villeins was also. The villein himself was +becoming a copyholder; in the thirteenth century the nature of his +holding had been written on the court roll, before long he was given a +copy of the roll, and by the fifteenth century he was a +copyholder.[158] There was, too, a new spirit abroad in this century +of disorganization and reform, which stirred even the villeins with a +desire for better conditions of life. These men, thus rising to a more +assured position and animated by new hopes, saw all round them hired +labourers obtaining, in spite of the Statute of Labourers, double the +amount of wages they had formerly received, while they were bound down +to the same services as before. The advance in prices was further +increased by the king's issuing in 1351 an entirely new coinage, of +the same fineness but of less weight than the old; so that the demands +of the labourers after the Black Death were largely justified by the +depreciation in the currency.[159] There had also arisen at this time, +owing to the increase in the wealth of the country, a new class of +landlords who did not care for the old system[160]; and it is probably +these men who are meant by the statute I Ric. II, c. 6, which +complains that the villeins daily withdrew their services to their +lords at the instigation of various counsellors and abettors, who made +it appear by 'colour of certain exemplifications made out of the Book +of Domesday' that they were discharged from their services, and +moreover gathered themselves in great routs and agreed to aid each +other in resisting their lords, so that justices were appointed to +check this evil. But there were other 'counsellors and abettors' of +the Peasants' Revolt than the new landlords. One of its most +interesting features to modern readers is its thorough organization. +Travelling agents and agitators like John Ball were all over the +country, money was subscribed and collected, and everything was ripe +for the great rising of 1381, which was brought to a head by the bad +grading of the poll tax of King Richard. It has been said that the +chief grievance of the villeins was that the lords of manors were +attempting to reimpose commuted services, but judging by the petition +to the King when he met them at Mile-end there can be no doubt that +the chief grievance was the continuance of existing services. 'We +will', said they, 'that ye make us free for ever, and that we be +called no more bond, or so reputed.' Also, as Walsingham says,[161] +they were careful to destroy the rolls and ancient records whereby +their services were fixed, and to put to death persons learned in the +law. + +As every one knows, the revolt was a failure; and whether it +ultimately helped much to extinguish serfdom is doubtful. It probably, +like the pestilence, accelerated a movement which had been for some +time in progress and was inevitable. There is ample evidence to prove +that there was a very general continuance of predial services after +the revolt, though they went on rapidly decreasing. One of the chief +methods adopted by the villeins to gain their freedom was desertion, +and so common did this become that apparently the mere threat of +desertion enabled the villein to obtain almost any concession from his +lord, who was afraid lest his land should be utterly deserted. The +result was that by the middle of the fifteenth century the abolition +of labour services was approaching completion.[162] It lingered on, +and Fitzherbert lamented in Elizabeth's reign the continuance of +villeinage as a disgrace to England; but it had then nearly +disappeared, and was unheard of after the reign of James I.[163] + +Seven years after the Peasants' Revolt another attempt was made to +regulate agricultural wages by the statute 12 Ric. II, c. 4, which +stated that 'the hires of the said servants and labourers have not +been put on certainty before this time', though we have seen that the +Act of 1351 tried to settle wages. In the preamble it is said that the +statute was enacted because labourers 'have refused for a long season +to work without outrageous and excessive hire', and owing to the +scarcity of labourers 'husbands' could not pay their rents, a sentence +which shows the general use of money rents. + +The wages were as follows, apparently with food:-- + + s. d. + + A bailiff annually, and clothing once a year 13 4 + A master hind, without clothing 10 0 + A carter, " " 10 0 + A shepherd, " " 10 0 + An ox or cow herd " " 6 8 + Swine herd or female labourer, without clothing 6 0 + A plough driver, without clothing 7 0 + +The farm servants' food would be worth considerably more than the +actual cash he received; a quarter of wheat, barley, and rye mixed +every nine weeks was no unusual allowance, which at 4s. 4d. would be +worth about 25s. a year. He would also have his harvest allowance, +though the statute above forbids any perquisites, worth about 3s., and +sometimes it was accompanied by the gift of a pig, some beer, or some +herrings.[164] His wife also, at a time when women did the same work +as the men, could earn 1d. a day, and his boy perhaps 1/2d. If his +wages were wholly paid in money, we may say that in the last half of +the fourteenth century the ordinary labourer earned 3d. a day, so that +as corn and pork, his chief food, had not risen at all, he was much +better off than in the preceding 100 years. + +Cullum, in his invaluable _History of Hawsted_, gives us a picture of +harvesting on the demesne lands in 1389 which shows an extraordinarily +busy scene. There were 200 acres of all kinds of corn to be gathered +in, and over 300 people took part; though apparently such a crowd was +only collected for the two principal days of the harvest, and it must +be remembered that the towns were emptied into the country at this +important season. The number of people for one day comprised a carter, +ploughman, head reaper, cook, baker, brewer, shepherd, daya +(dairymaid); 221 hired reapers; 44 pitchers, stackers, and reapers +(not hired, evidently villeins paying their rents by work); 22 other +reapers, hired for goodwill (_de amore_); and 20 customary tenants. +This small army of men consumed 22 bushels of wheat, 8 pennyworth of +beer, and 41 bushels of malt, worth 18s. 9-1/2d.; meat to the value of +9s. 11-1/2d.; fish and herrings, 5s. 1d.; cheese, butter, milk, and +eggs, 8s. 3-1/2d.; oatmeal, 5d. salt, 3d.; pepper and saffron, 10d., +the latter apparently introduced into England in the time of Edward +III, and much used for cooking and medicine, but it gradually went out +of fashion, and by the end of the eighteenth century was only +cultivated in one or two counties, notably Essex where Saffron Walden +recalls its use; candles, 6d.; and 5 pairs of gloves 10d.[165] + +The presentation of gloves was a common custom in England; and these +would be presented as a sign of good husbandry, as in the case of the +rural bridegroom in the account of Queen Elizabeth's visit to +Kenilworth who wore gloves to show he was a good farmer. Tusser bids +the farmer give gloves to his reapers. The custom was still observed +at Hawsted in 1784, and in Eden's time, 1797, the bursars of New +College, Oxford, presented each of their tenants with two pairs, which +the recipients displayed on the following Sunday at church by +conspicuously hanging their hands over the pew to show their +neighbours they had paid their rent. In this account of the Hawsted +harvest the large number of hired men and the few customary tenants is +noteworthy as a sign of the times, for before the Black Death the +harvest work on the demesne was the special work of the latter. + +In the fourteenth century the long series of corn laws was commenced +which was to agitate Englishmen for centuries, and after an apparently +final settlement in 1846 to reappear in our day.[166] It was the +policy of Edward III to make food plentiful and cheap for the whole +nation, without special regard to the agricultural interest: and by 34 +Edw. III, c. 20, the export of corn to any foreign part except Calais +and Gascony, then British possessions, or to certain places which the +king might permit, was forbidden. Richard II, however, reversed this +policy in answer to the complaints of agriculturists whose rents were +falling,[167] and endeavoured to encourage the farmer and especially +the corn-grower; for he saw the landlords turning their attention to +sheep instead of corn, owing to the high price of labour. Accordingly, +to give the corn-growers a wider market, he allowed his subjects by +the statute 17 Ric. II, c. 7, to carry corn, on paying the duties due, +to what parts they pleased, except to his enemies, subject however to +an order of the Council; and owing to the interference of the Council +the law probably became a dead letter, at all events we find it +confirmed and amended by 4 Hen. VI, c. 5. + +The prohibition of export must have been a serious blow to those +counties near the sea, for it was much easier to send corn by ship to +foreign parts than over the bad roads of England to some distant +market.[168] Indeed, judging by the great and frequent discrepancy of +prices in different places at the same date, the dispatch of corn from +one inland locality to another was not very frequent. Richard also +attempted to stop the movement, which had even then set in, of the +countrymen to the growing towns, forbidding by 12 Ric. II, c. 5, those +who had served in agriculture until 12 years of age to be apprenticed +in the towns, but to 'abide in husbandry'. + +One of the most unjust customs of the Middle Ages was that which bade +the tenants of manors, except those who held the _jus faldae_, fold +their sheep on the land of the lord, thus losing both the manure and +the valuable treading.[169] However, sometimes, as in Surrey, the +sheepfold was in a fixed place and the manure from it was from time to +time taken out and spread on the land.[170] + +In the same district horses had been hitherto used for farm work, as +it was considered worthy of note that oxen were beginning to be added +to the horse teams. The milk of two good cows in twenty-four weeks was +considered able to make a wey of cheese, and in addition half a gallon +of butter a week; and the milk of 20 ewes was equal to that of 3 cows. + +On the Manor of Flaunchford, near Reigate, the demesne land amounted +to 56 acres of arable and two meadows, but there must have been the +usual pasture in addition to keep the following head of stock: 13 +cows, who in the winter were fed from the racks in the yard; 4 calves, +bought at 1s. each; 12 oxen for ploughing, whose food was oats and +hay--a very large number for 56 acres of arable, and they were +probably used on another manor; 1 stott, used for harrowing; a goat, +and a sow. + + £ s. d. + + In 1382 the total receipts of this manor were 8 1 9-1/2 + The total expenses 7 0 5 + -------------- + Profit £1 1 4-1/2 + ============== + + Among the receipts were:-- + For the lord's plough, let to farmers (perhaps + this accounts for the large team of oxen kept) 6 8 + 14 bushels of apples 1 2 + 5 loads of charcoal 16 8 + A cow 10 0 + Among the payments:-- + For keeping plough in repair, and the wages of a + blacksmith, one year by agreement 6 8 + Making a new plough from the lord's timber 6 + Mowing 2 acres of meadow 1 0 + Making and carrying hay of ditto, with + help of lord's servants 4 + Threshing wheat, peas, and tares, per quarter 4 + " oats, per quarter 1-1/2 + Winnowing 3 quarters of corn 1 + Cutting and binding wheat and oats, per acre 6 + +On the Manor of Dorking the harvest lasted five weeks as a rule; the +fore feet only of oxen used for ploughing, and of heifers used for +harrowing, were shod. For washing and shearing sheep 10d. a hundred +was the price; ploughing for winter corn cost 6d. an acre, and +harrowing 1/2d. 30-1/2 acres of barley produced 41-1/2 quarters; 28 +acres of oats produced 38-1/2 quarters; 13 cows were let for the +season at 5s. each. In the same reign, at Merstham, the demesne lands +of 166-1/2 acres were let on lease with all the live and dead stock, +which was valued at £22 9s. 3d., and the rent was £36 or about 4s. 4d. +an acre, an enormous price even including the stock. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[149] Smyth, _Lives of the Berkeleys_, ii. 5. There is no doubt the +lease system was growing in the thirteenth century. About 1240 the +writ _Quare ejecit infra terminum_ protected the person of a tenant +for a term of years, who formerly had been regarded as having no more +than a personal right enforceable by an action of covenant. +Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, p. 330; but leases for lives and +not for years seem the rule at that date. + +[150] Cullum, _Hawsted_, p. 175. + +[151] See _Domesday of S. Paul_, Introduction. + +[152] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, i. 25. + +[153] Cullum, _Hawsted_, p. 195. + +[154] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 586. + +[155] Banyd, afflicted with sheep rot. + +[156] Eden, _State of the Poor_, i. 55. + +[157] Cullum, _Hawsted_, p. 182. Another instance of the difference in +value between arable and tillage. At the inquisition of the Manor of +Great Tey in Essex, 1326, the jury found that 500 acres of arable land +was worth 6d. an acre rent, 20 acres of meadow 3s. an acre, and 10 +acres of pasture 1s. an acre. _Archaeologia_, xii. 30. + +[158] Medley, _Constitutional History_, p. 52. + +[159] Cunningham, _op. cit._ i. 328, and 335-6. + +[160] _Domesday of S. Paul_, p. lvii. + +[161] _Hist. Angl._, Rolls Series, i. 455. The other political and +social causes of the revolt do not concern us here. The attempt to +minimize its agrarian importance is strange in the light of the words +and acts above mentioned. + +[162] Page, _op. cit._ p. 77. + +[163] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 402, 534; _Transactions +of the Royal Historical Society_, New Series, xvii. 235. Fitzherbert +probably referred more to villein status, which continued longer than +villein tenure. + +[164] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, i. 278, +288. + +[165] Harrison, _Description of Britain_, p. 233, says the produce of +an acre of saffron was usually worth £20. + +[166] Exportation of corn is mentioned in 1181, when a fine was paid +to the king for licence to ship corn from Norfolk and Suffolk to +Norway.--McPherson, _Annals of Commerce_, i. 345. As early as the +reign of Henry II, Henry of Huntingdon says, German silver came to buy +our most precious wool, our milk (no doubt converted into butter and +cheese), and our innumerable cattle.--Rolls Series, p. 5. In 1400, the +_Chronicle of London_ says the country was saved from dearth by the +importation of rye from Prussia. + +[167] Hasbach, _op. cit._. p. 32. + +[168] Lord Berkeley, about 1360, had a ship of his own for exporting +wool and corn and bringing back foreign wine and wares.--Smyth, _Lives +of the Berkeleys_, i. 365. + +[169] Nasse, _Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages_, p. 66. + +[170] Customs in some Surrey manors in the time of Richard II, +_Archaeologia_, xviii. 281. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +1400-1540 + +THE SO-CALLED 'GOLDEN AGE OF THE LABOURER' IN A PERIOD OF GENERAL +DISTRESS + + +In this period the average prices of grain remained almost unchanged +until the last three decades, when they began slowly and steadily to +creep up, this advance being helped to some extent by defective +harvests. In 1527, according to Holinshed it rained from April 12 to +June 3 every day or night; in May thirty hours without ceasing; and +the floods did much damage to the corn. In 1528 incessant deluges of +rain prevented the corn being sown in the spring, and grain had to be +imported from Germany. The price of wheat was a trifle higher than in +the period 1259-1400; barley, oats, and beans lower; rye higher.[171] +Oxen and cows were dearer, horses about the same, sheep a little +higher, pigs the same, poultry and eggs dearer, wool the same, cheese +and butter dearer. The price of wheat was sometimes subject to +astonishing fluctuations: in 1439 it varied from 8s. to 26s. 8d.; in +1440 from 4s. 2d. to 25s. The rent of land continued the same, arable +averaging 6d. an acre,[172] though this was partly due to the fact +that rents, although now generally paid in money, were still fixed and +customary; for the purchase value of land had now risen to twenty +years instead of twelve.[173] The art of farming hardly made any +progress, and the produce of the land was consequently about the same +or a little better than in the preceding period.[174] + +At the end of the fourteenth century the ordinary wheat crop at +Hawsted was in favourable years about a quarter to the acre, but it +was often not more than 6 bushels; and this was on demesne land, +usually better tilled than non-demesne land.[175] As for the labourer, +it is well known that Thorold Rogers calls the fifteenth century his +golden age, and seeing that his days' wages, if he 'found himself', +were now 4d. and prices were hardly any higher all round than when he +earned half the money in the thirteenth century, there is much to +support his view. As to whether he was better off than the modern +labourer it is somewhat difficult to determine; as far as wages went +he certainly was, for his 4d. a day was equal to about 4s. now; it is +true that on the innumerable holidays of the Church he sometimes did +not work,[176] but no doubt he then busied himself on his bit of +common. But so many factors enter into the question of the general +material comfort of the labourer in different ages that it is almost +impossible to come to a satisfactory conclusion. Denton paints a very +gloomy picture of him at this time[177]; so does Mr. Jessop, who says, +the agricultural labourers of the fifteenth century were, compared +with those of to-day, 'more wretched in their poverty, incomparably +less prosperous in their prosperity; worse clad, worse fed, worse +housed, worse taught, worse governed; they were sufferers from +loathsome diseases, of which their descendants know nothing; the very +beasts of the field were dwarfed and stunted; the disregard of to +sell their corn at low prices to the detriment of the whole kingdom: a +typical example of the political economy of the time, which considered +the prosperity of agriculture indispensable to the welfare of the +country, even if the consumer suffered. Accordingly, it was enacted +that wheat could be exported without a licence when it was under 6s. +8d. a quarter, except to the king's enemies. On imports of corn there +had been no restriction until 1463, when 3 Edw. IV, c. 2 forbade the +import of corn when under 6s. 8d: a statute due partly to the fear +that the increase of pasture was a danger to tillage land and the +national food supply, and partly to the fact that the landed interest +had become by now fully awake to the importance of protecting +themselves by promoting the gains of the farmer.[178] It may be +doubted, however, if much wheat was imported except in emergencies at +this time, for many countries forbade export. These two statutes were +practically unaltered till 1571,[179] and by that of 1463 was +initiated the policy which held the field for nearly 400 years. + +Thorold Rogers denounces the landlords for legislating with the object +of keeping up rents, but, as Mr. Cunningham has pointed out, this +ignores the fact that the land was the great fund of national wealth +from which taxation was paid; if rents therefore rose it was a gain to +the whole country, since the fund from which the revenue was drawn was +increased.[180] + +In spite of the high wages of agricultural labourers, the movement +towards the towns noticed by Richard II continued. The statute 7 Hen. +IV, c. 17, asserts that there is a great scarcity of labourers in +husbandry and that gentlemen are much impoverished by the rate of +wages; the cause of the scarcity lying in the fact that many people +were becoming weavers,[181] and it therefore re-enacted 12 Ric. II, +c. 5, which ordained that no one who had been a servant in husbandry +until 12 years old should be bound apprentice, and further enacted +that no person with less than 20s. a year in land should be able to +apprentice his son. Like many other statutes of the time this seems to +have been inoperative, for we find 23 Hen. VI, c. 12 (1444), enacting +that if a servant in husbandry purposed leaving his master he was to +give him warning, and was obliged either to engage with a new one or +continue with the old. It also regulated the wages anew, those fixed +showing a substantial increase since the statute of 1388. By the +year:-- + + A bailiff was to have £1 3s. 4d., and 5s. worth of clothes. + A chief hind, carter, or shepherd, £1, and 4s. worth of clothes. + A common servant in husbandry, 15s., and 3s. 4d. worth of clothes. + A woman servant, 10s., and 4s. worth of clothes. + All with meat and drink. + +By the day, in harvest, wages were to be:-- + + A mower, with meat and drink, 4d.; without, 6d. + A reaper or carter, with meat and drink, 3d.; without, 5d. + A woman or labourer, with meat and drink, 2d.; without, 4d. + +In the next reign the labourer's dress was again regulated for him, +and he was forbidden to wear any cloth exceeding 2s. a yard in price, +nor any 'close hosen', apparently tight long stockings, nor any hosen +at all which cost more than 14d.[182] Yeomen and those below them were +forbidden to wear any bolsters or stuff of wool, cotton wadding, or +other stuff in their doublets, but only lining; and somewhat +gratuitously it was ordered that no one under the degree of a +gentleman should wear pikes to his shoes. + +In 1455 England's Thirty Years' War, the War of the Roses, began, and +agriculture received another set back. The view that the war was a +mere faction fight between nobles and their retainers, while the rest +of the country went about their business, is somewhat exaggerated. No +doubt, the mass of Englishmen, as in the civil war of the seventeenth +century, preferred to 'sit still', as Clarendon said, but the business +of many must have been very much upset. The various armies were +compelled to obtain their supplies from the country, and with the +lawless habits of the times plundered friend and foe alike, as +Cavalier and Roundhead did afterwards; and many a farmer must have +seen all his stock driven off and his grain seized to feed the +combatants. For instance, it was said before the battle called Easter +Day Field that all the tenants of Abbot's Ripton in Huntingdonshire +were copyholders of the Abbot of Ramsey, and the northern army lay +there so long that they impoverished the country and the tenants had +to give up their copyholds through poverty.[183] The loss of life, +too, must have told heavily on a country already suffering from +frequent pestilence. It is calculated that about one-tenth of the +whole population of the country were killed in battle or died of +wounds and disease during the war; and as these must have been nearly +all men in the prime of life, it is difficult to understand how the +effect on the labour market was not more marked. The enclosing of land +for pasture farms, which we shall next have to consider, was probably +in many cases an absolute necessity, for the number of men left to +till the soil must have been seriously diminished. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[171] See table at end of volume. The shrinkage of prices which +occurred in the fifteenth century was due to the scarcity of precious +metals. + +[172] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, iv. 128. +The rent of arable land on Lord Derby's estate in Wirral in 1522 was a +little under 6d. a statute acre; of meadow, about 1s. 6d.--_Cheshire +Sheaf_ (Ser. 3), iv. 23. + +[173] Thorold Rogers, _op. cit._ iv. 3. + +[174] Thorold Rogers, _op. cit._ iv. 39. + +[175] Cullum, _Hawsted_, p. 187. The amount of seed for the various +crops was, wheat 2 bushels per acre, barley 4, oats 2-1/2. + +[176] By 4 Hen. IV, c. 14, labourers were to receive no hire for holy +days, or on the eves of feasts for more than half a day; but the +statute was largely disregarded. + +[177] See _England in the Fifteenth Century_, p. 105: 'The undrained +neglected soil, the shallow stagnant waters which lay on the surface +of the ground, the unhealthy homes of all classes, insufficient and +unwholesome food, the abundance of stale fish eaten, and the scanty +supply of vegetables predisposed rural and town population to +disease.' + +[178] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 448. + +[179] McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_ (1852), p. 412. In 1449 +Parliament had decided that all foreign merchants importing corn +should spend the money so obtained on English goods to prevent it +leaving the country.--McPherson, _Annals of Commerce_, i. 655. + +[180] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 191. + +[181] Much of the weaving, however, was done in rural districts. + +[182] See 3 Edw. IV, c. 5; _Rot. Parl._ v. 105; 22 Edw. IV, c. 1. + +[183] Cunningham, _op. cit._ i. 456. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ENCLOSURE + + +We have now reached a time when the enclosure question was becoming of +paramount importance,[184] and began to cause constant anxiety to +legislators, while the writers of the day are full of it. Enclosure +was of four kinds: + + 1. Enclosing the common arable fields for grazing, generally + in large tracts. + + 2. Enclosing the same by dividing them into smaller fields, + generally of arable. + + 3. Enclosing the common pasture, for grazing or tillage. + + 4. Enclosing the common meadows or mowing grounds. + +It is the first mainly, and to a less degree the third of these, which +were so frequent a source of complaint in the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries; for the first, besides displacing the small holder, threw +out of employment a large number of people who had hitherto gained +their livelihood by the various work connected with tillage, and the +third deprived a large number of their common rights. + +The first Enclosure Act was the Statute of Merton, passed in 1235, 20 +Henry III, c. 4, which permitted lords of manors to add to their +demesnes such parts of the waste pasture and woods as were beyond the +needs of the tenants. There is evidence, however, that enclosure, +probably of waste land, was going on before this statute, as the +charter of John, by which all Devonshire except Dartmoor and Exmoor +was deforested, expressly forbids the making of hedges, a proof of +enclosure, in those two forests.[185] We may be sure that the needs of +the tenants were by an arbitrary lord estimated at a very low figure. +At the same time many proceeded in due legal form. Thomas, Lord +Berkeley, about the period of the Act reduced great quantities of +ground into enclosures by procuring many releases of common land from +freeholders.[186] His successor, Lord Maurice, was not so observant of +legality. He had a wood wherein many of his tenants and freeholders +had right of pasture. He wished to make this into a park, and treated +with them for that purpose; but things not going smoothly, he made the +wood into a park without their leave, and then treated with his +tenants, most of whom perforce fell in with his highhanded plan; those +who did not 'fell after upon his sonne with suits, in their small +comfort and less gaines.'[187] Sometimes the rich made the law aid +their covetousness, as did Roger Mortimer the paramour of the 'She +Wolf of France'. Some men had common of pasture in King's Norton Wood, +Worcestershire, who, when Mortimer enclosed part of their common land +with a dike, filled the dike up, for they were deprived of their +inheritance. Thereupon Mortimer brought an action of trespass against +them 'by means of jurors dwelling far from the said land', who were +put on the panel by his steward, who was also sheriff of the county, +and the commoners were convicted and cast in damages of £300, not +daring to appear at the time for fear of assault, or even death.[188] +Neither dared they say a word about the matter till Mortimer was dead, +when it is satisfactory to learn that Edward III gave them all their +money back save 20 marks. We are told that Lord Maurice Berkeley +consolidated much of his demesne lands, throwing together the +scattered strips and exchanging those that lay far apart from the +manor houses for those that lay near; trying evidently to get the home +farms into a ring fence as we should term it.[189] In this policy he +was followed by his successor Thomas the Second, who during his +ownership of the estate from 1281 to 1320, to the great profit of his +tenants and himself, encouraged them to make exchanges, so as to make +their lands lie in convenient parcels instead of scattered strips, by +which he raised the rent of an acre from 4d. and 6d. to 1s. 6d.[190] +There is a deed of enclosure made in the year 1250, preserved, by +which the free men of North Dichton 'appropriated and divided between +them and so kept for ever in fee all that place called Sywyneland, +with the moor,' and they were to have licence to appropriate that +place, which was common pasture (the boundaries of which are given), +'save, however, to the grantor William de Ros and his heirs' common of +pasture in a portion thereof named by bounds, with entry and exit for +beasts after the wheat is carried. The men of North Dichton were also +to have all the wood called Rouhowthwicke, and to do what they liked +with it.[191] In return they gave the lord 10 marks of silver and a +concession as regards a certain wood. It has been noticed that the +Black Death, besides causing many of the landlords to let their +demesnes, also made them turn much tillage into grass to save labour, +which had grown so dear. We have also seen that the statutes +regulating wages were of little effect, and they went on rising, so +that more land was laid down to grass. The landowners may be said to +have given up ordinary farming and turned to sheep raising. + +English wool could always find a ready sale, although Spanish sheep +farming had developed greatly; and the profitable trade of growing +wool attracted the new capitalist class who had sprung up, so that +they often invested their recently made fortunes in it, buying up many +of the great estates that were scattered during the war.[192] + +The increase of sheep farming was assisted by the fact that the +domestic system of the manufacture of wool, which supplanted the guild +system, led, owing to its rapid and successful growth, to a constant +and increasing demand for wool. At the same time this development of +the cloth industry helped to alleviate the evils it had itself caused +by giving employment to many whom the agricultural changes wholly or +partially deprived of work. 'It is important to remember, that where +peasant proprietorship and small farming did maintain their ground it +was largely due to the domestic industries which supplemented the +profits of agriculture.'[193] + +Much of the land laid down to grass was demesne land, but many of the +common arable fields were enclosed and laid down. John Ross of Warwick +about 1460 compares the country as he knew it with the picture +presented by the Hundred Rolls in Edward I's time, showing how many +villages had been depopulated; and he mentions the inconvenience to +travellers in having to get down frequently to open the gates of +enclosed fields.[194] + +Enclosure was really a sure sign of agricultural progress; nearly all +the agricultural writers from Fitzherbert onwards are agreed that +enclosed land produced much more than uninclosed. Fitzherbert, in the +first quarter of the sixteenth century, said an acre of land rented +for 6d. uninclosed was worth 8d. when enclosed. Gabriel Plattes, in +the seventeenth century, said an acre enclosed was worth four in +common. In fact, the history of enclosures is part of the history of +the great revolution in agriculture by which the manorial system was +converted into the modern system as we know it to-day of several +ownership and the triumvirate of landlord, tenant farmer, and +labourer. No one could have objected to the enclosure of waste; it was +that of the common arable fields and of the common pasture that +excited the indignation of contemporaries. They saw many of the small +holders displaced and the countryside depopulated; many of the +labourers were also thrown out of employment, for there was no need in +enclosed fields of the swineherd and shepherd and oxherd who had +tended the common flocks of the villagers in the old unfenced fields. +But much of the opposition was founded on ignorance and hatred of +change; England had been for ages mainly a corn-growing land, and, +many thought, ought to remain so. As a matter of fact, what much of +the arable land wanted was laying down to grass; it was worn out and +needed a rest. The common field system was wasteful; the land, for +instance, could never be properly ploughed, for the long narrow strips +could not be cross-ploughed, and much of it must have suffered +grievously from want of manure at a time when hardly any stock was +kept in the winter to make manure. The beneficial effect of the rest +is shown by the fact that at the end of the sixteenth century, when +some of the land came to be broken up, the produce per acre of wheat +had gone up largely.[195] Marling and liming the land, too, which had +been the salvation of much of it for centuries, had gone out partly +because of insecurity of tenure, partly because in the unsettled state +of England men knew not if they could reap any benefit therefrom; and +partly because, says Fitzherbert, men were lazier than their fathers. +There can be no doubt that enclosures were often accompanied with +great hardships and injustice. Dugdale, speaking of Stretton in +Warwickshire,[196] says that in Henry VII's time Thomas Twyford, +having begun the depopulation thereof, decaying four messuages and +three cottages whereunto 160 acres of 'errable' land belonged, sold it +to Henry Smith; which Henry, following that example, enclosed 640 +acres of land more, whereby twelve messuages and four cottages fell to +ruins and eighty persons there inhabiting, being employed about +tillage and husbandry, were constrained to depart thence and live +miserably. By means whereof the church grew to such ruin that it was +of no other use than for the shelter of cattle. A sad picture, and +true of many districts, but much of the depopulation ascribed to +enclosures was due to the devastation of the Civil Wars. + +In spite of these enclosures, which began to change the England of +open fields into the country we know of hedgerows and winding roads, +great part of the land was in a wild and uncultivated state of fen, +heath, and wood, the latter sometimes growing right up to the walls of +the towns.[197] An unbroken series of woods and fens stretched right +across England from Lincoln to the Mersey, and northwards from the +Mersey to the Solway and the Tweed; Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, +and Leicestershire were largely covered by forests, and Sherwood +Forest extended over nearly the whole of Notts. Cannock Chase was +covered with oaks, and in the forest of Needwood in Camden's time the +neighbouring gentry eagerly pursued the cheerful sport of hunting. The +great forest of Andredesweald, though much diminished, still covered a +large part of Sussex, and the Chiltern district in Bucks and +Oxfordshire was thick with woods which hid many a robber. The great +fen in the east covered 300,000 acres of land in six counties, in +spite of various efforts to reclaim the land, and was to remain in a +state of marsh and shallow water till the seventeenth century. + +North and west of the great fen was Hatfield Chase, 180,000 acres +mostly swamp and bog, with here and there a strip of cultivated land, +much of which had been tilled and neglected; a great part too of +Yorkshire was swamp, heath, and forest, and of Lancashire marshes and +mosses, some of which were not drained till recent times. The best +corn-growing counties were those lying immediately to the north of +London, stretching from Suffolk to Gloucestershire, and including the +southern portions of Staffordshire and Leicestershire; Essex was a +great cheese county; Hants, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, and +Bedfordshire were famous for malt, and Leicestershire for peas and +beans. The population of England in 1485 was probably from two to two +and a half millions. At the time of Domesday it was under two +millions, and from that date increased perhaps to nearly four millions +at the time of the Black Death in 1348-9, which swept away from +one-third to one-half of the people, and repeated wars and pestilences +seem to have kept it from increasing until Tudor times. Of the whole +population no fewer than eleven-twelfths were employed in +agriculture.[198] + +It was sought to remedy enclosure and depopulation by legislation, and +the statute of 4 Hen. VII, c. 19, was passed, which stated in its +preamble that where in some towns (meaning townships or villages) 200 +persons used to be occupied and lived by their lawful labours, now +there are occupied only two or three herdsmen, so that the residue +fall into idleness, and husbandry is greatly decayed, churches +destroyed, the bodies there buried not prayed for, the parsons and +curates wronged, and the defence of this land enfeebled and impaired; +the latter point being wisely deemed one of the most serious defects +in the new system of farming. Indeed, the encouragement of tillage was +largely prompted by the desire to see the people fed on good +home-grown corn and made strong and healthy by rural labour for the +defence of England. It therefore enacted that houses which within +three years before had been let for farms with 20 acres of tillage +land should be kept in that condition, under a penalty of forfeiting +half the profits to the king or the lord of the fee. Soon after Henry +VIII ascended the throne came another statute, 6 Hen. VIII, c. 5, that +all townships, villages, &c., decayed and turned from husbandry and +tillage into pasture, shall by the owner be rebuilt and the land made +mete for tillage within one year; and this was repeated and made +perpetual by a law of the next year.[199] + +But legislation was in vain; the price of wool was now beginning to +advance so that the attraction of sheep farming was irresistible, and +laws, which asked landowners and farmers to turn from what was +profitable to what was not, were little likely to be observed, +especially as the administration of these laws was in the hands of +those whose interest it was that they should not be observed. + +Their ill success, however, did not deter the Parliament from fresh +efforts. 25 Hen. VIII, c. 13, sets forth the condition of affairs in +its preamble: as many persons have accumulated into few, great +multitude of farms and great plenty of cattle, especially sheep, +putting such land as they can get into pasture, and enhanced the old +rents and raised the prices of corn, cattle, wool, and poultry almost +double, 'by reason whereof a mervaylous multitude and nombre of the +people of this realme be not able to provide drynke and clothes +necessary for themselves, but be so discoraged with myserie and +povertie that they fall dayly to thefte and robberye or pitifully dye +for hunger and colde.' So greedy and covetous were some of these +accumulators that they had as many as 24,000 sheep; and a good sheep, +that was used to be sold for 2s. 4d. or 3s. at the most, was now from +4s. to 6s.; and a stone of clothing wool, that in some shires was +accustomed to be sold for 18d. or 20d., is now 3s. 4d. to 4s.; and in +others, where it was 2s. 4d. to 3s. it is now 4s. 8d. to 5s. + +It was therefore enacted that no man, with some exceptions, was to +keep more than 2,000 sheep at one time in any part of the realm, +though lambs under one year were not to count. The frequency of these +laws proves their inefficacy, and the conduct of Henry VIII was the +chief cause of it; for while Parliament was complaining of the +decrease of tillage he gave huge tracts of land taken from the +monasteries to greedy courtiers, who evicted the tenants and lived on +the profits of sheep farming.[200] For the dissolution of the +monasteries was now taking Place,[201] and the best landowners in +England, some of whom farmed their own land long after most of the lay +landlords had given it up or turned it into grass, and whose lands are +said to have fetched a higher rent than any others, were robbed and +ruined. Including the dissolution of the monasteries and the +confiscation of the chantry lands in 1549 by Edward VI, about +one-fifteenth of the land of England changed hands at this time. The +transfer of the abbey lands to Henry's favourites was very prejudicial +to farming; it was a source of serious dislocation of agricultural +industry, marked by all the inconvenience, injustice, and loss that +attends a violent transfer of property. It is probable also that many +of the monastic lands were let on stock and land leases; and the stock +was confiscated, with inevitable ruin to the tenant as well as the +landlord.[202] And not only was a serious injury wrought to +agriculture by the spoliation of a large number of landlords generally +noted for their generosity and good farming, but with the religious +houses disappeared a large number of consumers of country produce, the +amount of which may be gathered from the following list of stores of +the great Abbey of Fountains at the dissolution: 2,356 horned cattle, +1,326 sheep, 86 horses, 79 swine, and large quantities of wheat, oats, +rye, and malt, with 392 loads of hay.[203] It must indeed have seemed +to many as if the poor farmer was never to have any rest; no sooner +were the long wars over and pestilences in some sense diminished, than +the evils of enclosure and the dissolution of the monasteries came +upon him. Many ills were popularly ascribed to the fall of the +monasteries; in an old ballad in Percy's _Reliques_ one of the +characters says, in western dialect:-- + + 'Chill tell the what, good vellowe, + Before the friers went hence, + A bushel of the best wheate + Was zold vor vorteen pence, + And vorty eggs a penny + That were both good and newe.' + +NOTE.--If any further proof were needed of the constant attention +given by Parliament to agricultural matters, it would be furnished by +the Acts for the destruction of vermin.[204] Our forefathers had no +doubt that rooks did more harm than good, yearly destroying a +'wonderfull and marvelous greate quantitie of corne and graine'; and +destroying the 'covertures of thatched housery, bernes, rekes, +stakkes, and other such like'; so that all persons were to do their +best to kill them, 'on pain of a grevous amerciament'. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[184] Much the same tendencies were at work in other countries, +especially in Germany. + +[185] Slater, _English Peasantry and Enclosure_, 248. + +[186] Smyth, _Lives of the Berkeleys_, i. 113. + +[187] _Cal. Pat. Rolls_, 1331, p. 127. + +[188] _Lives of the Berkeleys_, i. 141. + +[189] Ibid. i. 141. + +[190] _Lives of the Berkeleys_, i. 160. + +[191] _Historical MSS. Commission, 6th Report_, p. 359. + +[192] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 379. + +[193] Ashley, _English Woollen Industry_, pp. 80-1. Broadly speaking, +there are four stages in the development of industry--the family +system, the guild system, the domestic system, and the factory system. + +[194] _Hist. Reg. Angl._, p. 120. + +[195] Gisborne, _Agricultural Essays_, pp. 186-9. + +[196] _Antiquities of Warwickshire_ 2nd ed., p. 51. + +[197] Denton, _England in the Fifteenth Century_, p. 135. + +[198] See Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 331; Denton, +_England in the Fifteenth Century_, p. 127. + +[199] 7 Hen. VIII, c. 1. + +[200] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 489. + +[201] Dissolution of small monasteries, 1536; of greater, 1539-40. + +[202] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, iv. 129. + +[203] Dugdale, _Monasticon_, v, 291. + +[204] 24 Hen. VIII, c. 10; 8 Eliz. c. 15; 14 Eliz. c. 11; 39 Eliz. c. +18. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +FITZHERBERT.--THE REGULATION OF HOURS AND WAGES + + +The farming of this period is portrayed for us by Fitzherbert, the +first agricultural writer of any merit since Walter of Henley in the +thirteenth century. He was one of the Justices of Common Pleas, and +had been a farmer for forty years before he wrote his books on +husbandry, and on surveying in 1523, so that he knew what he was +writing about; 'there is nothing touching husbandry contained in this +book but I have had experience thereof and proved the same.' In spite +of the increase of grazing in his time he says the 'plough is the most +necessarie instrument that an husbandman can occupy', and describes +those used in various counties; in Kent, for instance, 'they have some +go with wheeles as they do in many other places'; but the plough of +his time is apparently the same as that of Walter of Henley, and +altered little till the seventeenth century. The rudeness of it may be +judged from the fact that in some places it only cost 10d. or 1s. +though in other parts they were as much as 6s. or even 8s. He +says[205] it was too costly for a farmer to buy all his implements, +wherefore it is necessary for him to learn to make them, as he had +done in the Middle Ages before the era of ready-made implements, when +he always bought the materials and put them together at home. On the +vexed question of whether to use horses or oxen for ploughing, he says +it depends on the locality; for instance, oxen will plough in tough +clay and upon hilly ground, whereas horses will stand still; but +horses go faster than oxen on even ground and light ground, and are +'quicke for carriages, but they be far more costly to keep in winter.' + +According to him, oxen had no shoes as horses had.[206] Here is his +description of a harrow: it is 'made of six final peeces of timber +called harow bulles, made either of ashe or oke; they be two yardes +long, and as much as the small of a man's leg; in every bulle are five +sharpe peeces of iron called harow tyndes, set somewhat a slope +forward.' This harrow, drawn by oxen, was good to break the big clods, +and then the horse harrow came after to break the smaller clods. It +differed slightly from the former, some having wooden tines. For +weeding corn the chief instrument 'is a pair of tongs made of wood, +and in dry weather ye must have a weeding hoke with a socket set upon +a staffe a yard long.'[207] + +He recommends that grass be mown early, for the younger and greener +the grass is the softer and sweeter it will be when it is hay, and the +seeds will be in it instead of fallen out as when left late; advice +which many slovenly farmers need to-day. He does not approve of the +custom of reaping rye and wheat high up and mowing them after, but +advises that they be cut clean; barley and oats, however, should be +commonly mown. Both wheat and rye were to be sown at Michaelmas, and +were cast upon the fallow and ploughed under, two London bushels of +wheat and rye being the necessary amount of seed per acre. In spite of +his praise of the plough he allows that the sheep 'is the most +profitablest cattel that a man can have', and he gives a list of their +diseases, among the things that rot them being a grass called +sperewort, another called peny grass, while marshy ground, mildewed +grass, and grass growing upon fallow and therefore full of weeds were +all conducive to rot. The chief cause, however, is mildew, the sign of +whose presence is the honeydew on the oak leaves. In buying cattle to +feed the purchaser is to see that the hair stare not, and that the +beast lacks no teeth, has a broad rib, a thick hide, and be loose +skinned, for if it stick hard to his ribs he will not feed[208]; it +should be handled to see if it be soft on the forecrop, behind the +shoulder, on the hindermost rib upon the huck bone, and at the nache +by the tail. Among other diseases of cattle he mentions the gout, +'commonly in the hinder feet'; but he never knew a man who could find +a remedy. He was a great advocate of enclosures; for it was much +better to have several closes and pastures to put his cattle in, which +should be well quick-setted, ditched, and hedged, so as to divide +those of different ages, as this was more profitable than to have his +cattle go before the herdsman (in the common field). + +It will be seen from the above that Fitzherbert made no idle boast in +saying he wrote of what he knew, and much of his advice is applicable +to-day, though the time is past for the farmer's wife to 'wynowe all +manner of cornes, to make malte, to shere corne, and in time of nede +to helpe her husbande to fyll the mucke wayne or dounge carte, dryve +the plough, lode heye, corne, and such other'; though she may go or +ride to the market 'to sel butter, cheese, milke, eggs, chekyns, +hennes, and geese.'[209] It appears that the horses of England at this +time had considerably deteriorated, for the statute 27 Hen. VIII, c. +6, mentions the great decay of the breed, the cause it is stated being +that 'in most places of this Realme little horsis and naggis of small +stature and valeu be suffered to depasture and also to covour marys +and felys of very small stature'; therefore owners and farmers of deer +parks shall keep in every such park two brood mares of 13 'hand +fulles' (hands) at least. Another statute, 32 Hen. VIII, c. 13, strove +to remedy this evil by enacting that no entire horse under 15 hands +was to feed on any forest, chase, waste, or common land. + +This statute was a useful one, so also was 21 Hen. VIII, c. 8, which +forbade for three years the killing of calves between January 1 and +May 1, under a penalty of 6s. 8d., because so many had been killed by +'covetous persons' that the cattle of the country were dwindling in +number. Others, however, were merely meddlesome, and directed against +that unpopular man the dealer. For instance, owners refusing to sell +cattle at assessed prices were to answer first in the Star Chamber (25 +Hen. VIII, c. 1); and by 3 and 4 Edw. VI, c. 19, no cattle were to be +bought but in open fair or market, and not to be resold then alive, +though a man might buy cattle anywhere for his own use. No person, +again, was to resell cattle within five weeks after he bought them (5 +Edw. VI, c. 14); and a common drover had by the same Act to have a +licence from three justices before he could buy and sell cattle. We +may be sure that these laws were more honoured in the breach than in +the observance, as they deserved to be. + +Hops were said to have been introduced from the Low Countries about +the middle of Henry VIII's reign; but there can be no doubt that this +is a mistake. It has been mentioned that they flourished in the +gardens of Edward I, and a distinguished authority[210] says the hop +may with probability be reckoned a native of Britain; but it was first +used as a salad or vegetable for the table, the young sprouts having +the flavour of asparagus and coming earlier. Hasted, the historian of +Kent, states[211] that a petition was presented to Parliament against +the hop plant in 1428 wherein it was called a 'wicked weed'. Harrison +says, 'Hops in time past were plentiful in this land, afterwards their +maintenance did cease, and now (cir. 1580) being revived where are +anie better to be found?'[212] Even then growers had to face foreign +competition, as the customs accounts prove that considerable +quantities were imported into England. In 1482 a cwt. was sold for 8s. +and 1 cwt. 21 lb. for 19s. 6d., an early example of that fluctuation +in price which has long characterized them.[213] Their average price +about this time seems to have been 14s. 1/2d. a cwt. + +During the Tudor period the number of day labourers increased, largely +owing to the enclosures having deprived the small holder and commoner +of their land and rights. But judging by the statutes those paid +yearly and boarded in the farm house were still most numerous. + +In 1495 the hours of labourers were first regulated by law. The +statute II Hen. VII, c. 22, says that 23 Hen. VI, c. 12,[214] was +insufficiently observed; and besides increasing wages slightly set +forth the following hours for work on the farm: the labourer was to be +at his work from the middle of March to the middle of September before +5 a.m., and have half an hour for breakfast and an hour and a half for +dinner and sleep, when sleep was allowed, that is from the middle of +May to the middle of August; when sleep was not allowed, an hour for +dinner and half an hour for his nonemete or lunch; and he was to work +till between 7 and 8 p.m. During the rest of the year he was to work +from daylight to dark. The attempt to regulate hours, which seem fair +and reasonable, no doubt met with better success than that to regulate +wages, for 6 Hen. VIII, c. 3 (1514), says the previous statutes had +been very much disregarded, and sets down the rates once more:-- + + A bailiff's yearly wages, with diet, were to be not more + than £1 6s. 8d., and 5s. for clothes. + + A chief hind, carter, or chief shepherd, with diet, not more + than £1, and 5s. for clothes. + + A common servant or labourer, with diet, not more than + 16s. 8d., and 4s. for clothes. + + A woman servant, with diet, not more than 10s., and 4s. + for clothes. + +By the day, except in harvest, a common labourer from Easter to +Michaelmas was to have 2d. with food and drink, 4d. without; and from +Michaelmas to Easter 1-1/2d. with food and drink, and 3d. without. In +harvest:-- + + A mower, with food, 4d. a day; without, 6d. + A reaper, with food, 3d. a day; without, 5d. + A carter, with food, 3d.; without, 5d. + Other labourers, with food, 2-1/2d.; without, 4-1/2d. + Women, with food, 2-1/2d.; without, 4-1/2d. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[205] _Booke of Husbandry_ (ed. 1568), fol. 5. The surveyor of +Fitzherbert's day combined some of the duties of the modern bailiff +and land agent: he bought and sold for his employer, valued his +property, and supervised the rents. + +[206] _Booke of Husbandry_ (ed. 1568), fol. vi. + +[207] Ibid. fol. xv. + +[208] _Booke of Husbandry_ (ed. 1568), fol. xxix. + +[209] Fitzherbert adds pigs and all manner of cornes, so altogether +the farmer's wife seems to have done as much as the farmer. + +[210] Sir Jas. E. Smith, _English Flora_, iv. 241. + +[211] _History of Kent_ (ed. 1778), i. 123. + +[212] _Description of Britain_ (Furnivall ed.), p. 325. + +[213] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, iii. 254. + +[214] See above. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +1540-1600 + +PROGRESS AT LAST.--HOP-GROWING.--PROGRESS OF ENCLOSURE.--HARRISON'S +'DESCRIPTION' + + +The period we have now reached was one of steady growth in the value +of land and its products. In 1543 Henry VIII, who had given away or +squandered, in addition to the great treasure left him by his thrifty +father, all the wealth obtained from the dissolution of the +monasteries, debased the coinage in order to get more money into his +insatiable hands, and prices went up in consequence. But there were +other causes: the influx of precious metals from newly discovered +America into Europe had commenced to make itself felt, and the +population of the country began to grow steadily. Also, it must not be +forgotten that the seasons, which in the early part of the century had +been normal, were for the next sixty years frequently rainy and bad. +It is unnecessary to say that this must have largely helped to raise +the price of corn. The average price of wheat from 1540-1583 was 13s. +10-1/2d. a quarter; from 1583-1702, 39s. 0-1/2d. Corn was still +subject to extraordinary fluctuations: in 1557, Holinshed says before +harvest wheat was 53s. 4d. a quarter, malt 44s. After harvest wheat +was 5s., malt 6s. 8d., the former prices being due to a terrible +drought in England. Oxen in the period 1583-1703 were worth 75s. +instead of under £1 in the period 1400-1540. Wool was from 9d. to 1s. +a lb. instead of about 3-1/2d., and all other farm products increased +with these.[215] Hops were from 1540-1582 about 26s. 8d. a cwt., and +from 1583-1700, 82s. 9-1/2d. In 1574 Reynold Scott published the first +English treatise on hops,[216] in which he says, 'one man may well +keep 2,000 hils, upon every hil well ordered you shall have 3 lb. of +hoppes at the least, one hundred pounds of these hoppes are commonly +worth 26s. 8d., one acre of ground and the third part of one man's +labour with small cost beside, shall yield unto him that ordereth the +same well, fortie marks yearly and that for ever,' an optimistic +estimate that many growers to-day would like to see realized. 'In the +preparation of a hop garden', says the same writer, 'if your ground be +grasse, it should be first sowen with hempe or beanes which maketh the +ground melowe, destroyeth weedes, and leaveth the same in good season +for this purpose.[217] At the end of Marche, repayre to some good +garden to compound with the owner for choice rootes, which in some +places will cost 5d. an hundredth. And now you must choose the biggest +rootes you can find, such as are three or four inches about, and let +every root be nine or ten inches long, and contain three joints.' +Holes were then to be dug at least 8 feet apart, one foot square, and +one foot deep, and in each two or three roots planted and well hilled +up. Tusser, however, recommended them much closer: + + 'Five foot from another each hillock should stand, + As straight as a levelled line with the hand. + Let every hillock be four foot wide. + Three poles to a hillock, I pas not how long, + Shall yield the more profit set deeplie and strong.' + +Three or four poles were to be set to each hill 15 or 16 feet long, +unless the ground was very rich, the poles 9 or 10 inches in +circumference at the butt, so as to last longer and stand the wind +well. After they were put up, the ground round the poles was to be +well rammed. Rushes or grass were used for tieing the hops. During +the growth of the hops, not more than two or three bines were to be +allowed to each pole; and after the first year the hills were to be +gradually raised from the alleys between the rows until, according to +the illustrations in Scott's book, they were 3 or 4 feet high, the +'greater you make your hylles the more hoppes you shall have upon +your poals'. When the time for picking came, the bines when cut were +carried to a 'floore prepared for the purpose', apparently of +hardened earth, where they were stripped into baskets, and Scott +thought that 'it is not hurtfull greatly though the smaller leaves be +mingled with the hoppes'. In wet weather the hops were to be stripped +in the house. The fire for drying hops was of wood, and some dried +their hops in the sun, both processes to us appearing very risky; as +the first would be too quick, and the latter next to impossible in +September in England. They were sometimes packed in barrels, as +Tusser tells us, 'Some close them up drie in a hogshead or vat, yet +canvas or sontage (coarse cloth) is better than that.' + +By this time England had largely changed from a corn-growing to a +stock-raising country; Harrison, writing in the middle of Queen +Elizabeth's reign, says, 'the soile of Britaine is more inclined +to feeding and grazing than profitable for tillage and bearing of +corne ... and such store is there of cattle in everie place that the +fourth part of the land is scarcely manured for the provision of +graine.' But this statement seems exaggerated. We know that by +Harrison's time enclosures had affected but a small area, and the +greater part of the cultivated land was in open arable fields. The +yield of corn was now much greater than in the Middle Ages; rye or +wheat well tilled and dressed now produced 15 to 20 bushels to the +acre instead of 6 or 8, barley 36 bushels, oats 4 or 5 quarters[218], +though in the north, which was still greatly behind the rest of +England, crops were smaller. No doubt this was partly due to the +much-abused enclosures: the industrious farmer could now do what he +liked with his own, without hindrance from his lazy or unskilful +neighbour. Tusser's preference for the 'several' field is very +decided; comparing it with the 'champion' or common field he says:-- + + The countrie inclosed I praise + the tother delighteth me not, + There swineherd that keepeth the hog + there neetherd with cur and his horne, + There shepherd with whistle and dog + be fence to the medowe and corne, + There horse being tide on a balke + is readie with theefe for to walke, + Where all things in common doth reste + corne field with the pasture and meade, + Tho' common ye do for the best + yet what doth it stand ye in steade? + More plentie of mutton and beefe + corne butter and cheese of the best + More wealth any where (to be briefe) + more people, more handsome and prest (neat.) + Where find ye? (go search any coaste) + than there where enclosure is most. + More work for the labouring man + as well in the towne as the fielde. + For commons these commoners crie + inclosing they may not abide, + Yet some be not able to bie + a cow with her calf by her side. + Nor laie (intend) not to live by their wurke, + But thievishly loiter and lurke. + What footpaths are made and how brode + Annoiance too much to be borne, + With horse and with cattle what rode + is made thorowe erie man's come. + +But the rich graziers boasted that they did not grow corn because +they could buy it cheaper in the market; and they are said to have +traded on the necessity of the poor farmer to sell at Michaelmas in +order to pay his rent, and when they had got the corn into their +hands they raised the price. The corn-dealers of the time were looked +upon with dislike by every one; many of the dearths then so frequent, +and nearly always caused by bad seasons, were ascribed to 'engrossers +buying of corn and witholding it for sale'. By a statute of 1552 the +freedom of internal corn trade was entirely suppressed, and no one +could carry corn from one part of England to another without a +licence, and any one who bought corn to sell it again was liable to +two months' imprisonment and forfeited his corn. Although we shall +see that this policy was reversed in the next century, the feeling +against corn-dealers survived for many years and was loudly +expressed during the Napoleonic war; indeed, we may doubt if it +is extinct to-day. + +Many of the fruits and garden produce, which had been neglected since +the first Edward, had by now come into use again, 'not onlie among the +poor commons, I meane of melons, pompions, gourds, cucumbers, +radishes, skirets (probably a sort of carrot), parsneps, carrots, +cabbages, navewes (turnip radishes (?)), turnips,[219] and all kinds +of salad herbes, but also at the tables of delicate merchants, +gentlemen, and the nobilitie.'[220] + +'Also we have most delicate apples, plummes, pears, walnuts, filberts, +&c., and those of sundrie sorts, planted within fortie years past, in +comparison of which most of the old trees are nothing worth: so have +we no less store of strange fruite, as abricotes, almonds, peaches, +figges, cornetrees (probably cornels) in noblemen's orchards. I have +seen capers, orenges, and lemmons, and heard of wild olives growing +here, besides other strange trees.'[221] + +As a proof of the growth of grass in proportion to tillage between +the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, Eden gives several +examples,[222] of which the following are significant:-- + + Arable. Grass. + acres. acres. + + 1339. 18 messuages in Norfolk had 160 60 + 1354. a Norfolk manor 300 59 + 1395. 2 messuages in Warwickshire 400 60 + 1560. 2 messuages in Warwickshire 600 660 + 1567. a Norfolk estate 200 400 + 1569. " manor 60 60 + +'Our sheepe are very excellent for sweetness of flesh, and our woolles +are preferred before those of Milesia and other places.'[223] So +thought Harrison and many English landowners and farmers too, so that +legislation was powerless to stop the spread of sheep farming. In 1517 +a commission of inquiry instigated by Wolsey held inquisition on +enclosures and the decay of tillage, and it seems to have been the +only honest effort to stop the evil. It was to inquire what decays, +conversions, and park enclosures had been made since 1489, but the +result even of this attempt was small. In 1535 a fresh statute, 27 +Hen. VIII, c. 22, stated that the Act limiting the number of sheep to +be kept had only been observed on lands held of the king, whereon many +houses had been rebuilt and much pasture reconverted to tillage; but +on lands holden of other lords this was not the case, therefore the +king was to have the moiety of the profits of such lands as had been +converted from tillage to pasture since 4 Hen. VII until a proper +house was built and the land returned to tillage; but the Act only +applied to fourteen counties therein enumerated. The enclosing for +sheep-runs still went on, however, often with ruthless selfishness; +houses and townships were levelled, says Sir Thomas More, and nothing +left standing except the church, which was turned into a sheep-house: + + 'The towns go down, the land decays, + Of corn-fields plain lays, + Great men maketh nowadays + A sheepcot of the church', + +said a contemporary ballad. + +Latimer wrote, 'where there were a great many householders and +inhabitants there is now but a shepherd and his dog.' 'I am sorie to +report it,' says Harrison,[224] 'but most sorrowful of all to +understand that men of great port and countenance are so far from +suffering their farmers to have anie gaine at all that they themselves +become graziers, butchers, tanners, sheepmasters, and woodmen, thereby +to enrich themselves.' The Act against pulling down farmhouses was +evaded by repairing one room for the use of a shepherd; a single +furrow was driven across a field to prove it was still under the +plough; to avoid holding illegal numbers of sheep flocks were held in +the names of sons and servants.[225] The country swarmed with heaps of +miserable paupers, 'sturdy and valiant' beggars, and thieves who, +though hanged twenty at a time on a single gallows, still infested all +the countryside, their numbers being swollen by the dissolution of the +monasteries and the breaking up of the bands of retainers kept by the +great nobles. + +Rents also were rising rapidly. Latimer's account of his father's farm +is too well known to be again quoted; his opinions were shared by all +the writers of the day. Sir William Forrest, about 1540, says that +landlords now demand fourfold rents, so that the farmer has to raise +his prices in proportion, and beef and mutton were so dear that a poor +man could not 'bye a morsell'. 'Howe joyne they lordshyp to +lordshyppe, manner to manner, ferme to ferme. How do the rych men, and +especially such as be shepemongers, oppresse the king's people by +devourynge their common pastures with the shepe so that the poore are +not able to keepe a cowe, but are like to starve. And yet when was +beef ever so dere or mutton, wool now 8s. a stone. + +'Now', says another, later in the century, 'I can never get a horse +shoed under 10d. or 12d., when I have also seen the common pryce was +6d. And cannot your neighbour remember that within these thirty years +I could bye the best pigge or goose that I could lay my hand on for +four pence which now costeth 12d., a good capon for 3d. or 4d., a hen +for 2d., which now costeth me double and triple.'[226] + +Parliament, of course, tried to regulate the price of food; an Act of +1532, 24 Hen. VIII, c. 3, ordained that beef and pork should be 1/2d. +a lb. and mutton and veal 5/8d. a lb. The decrease in the number of +cows also received its attention; 2 and 3 Philip and Mary, c. 3, +states that forasmuch of late years a great number of persons have fed +in their pastures sheep and cattle with no regard to breeding, so that +there was great scarcity of stock, therefore for every 60 sheep kept +one milk cow shall be kept, and for every 120 sheep one calf shall be +bred, and for every 10 head of horned cattle shall be kept one milk +cow, and for every two cows so kept one calf shall be bred. The Act +was to last seven years, but 13 Eliz. c. 25 made it perpetual. + +In 1549 came the rising of Robert Kett in Norfolk, the last attempt of +the English labourer to obtain redress of his wrongs by force of arms, +though Kett himself belonged to the landlord class and took the side +of the people probably by accident. The petition of grievances drawn +up by his followers aimed at diminishing the power of lords of manors +as regards enclosures, the keeping of dove-cots, and other feudal +wrongs. 'We pray', said the insurgents, 'that all bondmen may be made +free, for God made all free with His precious blood-shedding.' The +rebellion came to nothing, and some of the abuses at which it was +aimed were dying a natural death, though enclosure often acted hardly +on the poor man. + +The manorial system went on steadily decaying, and by this time the +demesne lands had much diminished in area on most manors. Many parcels +had been sold to the new landlord class, who had made their fortunes +in the towns and, like most Englishmen, desired to become country +gentlemen. + +Much of the demesne had been sold in small lots to well-off tradesmen, +and as the villeins had become copyholders a large part of the land +was owned or occupied by yeomen or tenant farmers, who cultivated from +20 to 150 acres. Many of the labourers also owned or rented cottages +with 4 or 5 acres attached to them. Such was the rural society at the +end of the Tudor period. The progress of enclosures helped to destroy +this, for the labourers gradually ceased to own or occupy land, farms +increased in size, the ownership of land came to be more and more the +privilege of the rich, and people flocked in increasing numbers to the +towns.[227a] In five Norfolk manors in Elizabeth's time only from +one-seventh to one-tenth was in demesne, and little of what was left +was farmed by the lord, but let to farmers on leases.[227b] On some +manors the demesne land lay in compact blocks near the manor house; on +others it was in scattered strips of various size; in others it lay in +blocks and strips. The following particulars of a manor in Norfolk +give a good picture of an estate in 1586-8, the tenants on it, their +rank, and the size of their holdings:-- + + Horstead with Staninghall, 2,746 acres. + + The tenants with messuages in the village were:-- + + Acres. + + 1. J. Topliffe, gentleman 280 + 2. F. Woodhouse, Esquire 270 + 3. R. Ward, gentleman 265 + 4. H. Shreve 180 + 5. A. Pightling, widow 120 + 6. W. Rose's heirs 110 + 7. G. Berde 60 + 8. A. Thetford, gentleman 60 + 9. T. Pightling 60 + 10. R. Pightling 60 + 11. J. Rose 40 + 12. R. Lincoln 40 + 13. W. Jeckell 20 + 14. W. Bulwer 20 + 15. E. Newerby, gentleman 15 + 16. T. Barnard 12 + 17. E. Sparke 10 + +There were also 12 tenants without houses, holding from 1 to 20 +acres; the demesne was 230 acres; there were two glebes containing 84 +acres, and town lands of 7 acres. The waste amounted to 350 acres, +which by 1599 had all disappeared. + +On this manor the houses were not collected together in a village as +usual in most parts of England, but scattered about the estate. In +two other manors the amount of waste remaining at this period was +very small, but in three others little had been 'approved' and much +consequently remained; most of the 'approvements', where made, seem +to have been of long standing, and all the enclosures made were for +tillage, not for grass as we should expect. The 350 acres of waste +that remained at Horstead in 1586-8 was enclosed in 1599 by agreement +between the lords of the manor and the tenants on the following +terms:-- + + 1. Lords to take 80 acres in severalty. + + 2. Lords to reserve all rights to treasure trove, minerals, + waifs, &c., with right of entry to take the same. + + 3. All rights of pasture, shack, and foldage were to be + extinguished on all lands in the village. + + 4. The tenants were to pay an annual quit rent of £7 14s. 5d. + for their shares of the common. + +Before a man enclosed he consolidated his holding by exchange, so as +to bring it into a compact parcel instead of scattered strips, a very +lengthy process; then he ploughed up the bounds between the strips; +after which he changed the direction of the ploughing, ploughing the +land crossways, a very necessary change, as it had all been ploughed +lengthways for centuries; and lastly he erected his fences: the +bounds of the strips, however, were sometimes left to show which were +freehold and which copyhold. On the other hand, there were exceptions +to the curtailment of the demesne: on an Oxfordshire manor of the +sixteenth century the greater part of the 64 yard-lands of which it +consisted had by then passed from the possession of the peasants to +the private use of the lord of the manor.[228] To each yard-land +belonged a house and farmyard, 24 to 28-3/4 acres of arable land, a +share in the commonable meadows which for each occupier came to some 8 +acres, also the right to turn out 8 oxen or cows, or 6 horses and 40 +sheep on to the common pasture. Probably, as in other manors in +ancient times, each occupier had a right to as much firewood as was +necessary, and timber for building purposes and fences. The arable +land lay in numerous small plots of half an acre each and less, +mingled together in a state of great confusion, and was farmed on the +four-field system--wheat, beans, oats, fallow--though 200 years before +the three-field system had been most common in the district. Many of +the common arable fields evidently often contained, in those days of +poor cultivation and inefficient drainage, patches of boggy and poor +land which were left uncultivated.[229] In the rolls of the Manor of +Scotter in Lincolnshire, in the early part of the sixteenth century, +no one was to allow his horses to depasture in the arable fields +unless they were tethered on these bad spots to prevent them wandering +into the growing corn.[230] Many of the other regulations of this +manor throw a flood of light on the farming of the day. In 1557 it was +ordered that no man should drive his cattle unyoked through the +corn-field under a penalty of 3s. 4d. Every man shall keep a +sufficient fence against his neighbour under the same penalty. No man +shall make a footpath over the corn-field, the penalty for so doing +being 4d. Every one shall both ring and yoke their swine before S. +Ellen's Day (probably May 3), under a penalty of 6s. 8d., the custom +of yoking swine to prevent them breaking fences being common until +recent times. It was the custom in some manors to sow peas in a plot +especially set apart for the poor. Another rule was that no one should +bake or brew by night for fear of burning down the flimsy houses and +buildings. The penalty for ploughing up the balks which divided the +strips, or meere (marc) furrows as they were called in Lincolnshire, +was 2d., a very light one for so serious an offence. In 1565 a penalty +of 10s. was imposed on Thomas Dawson for breaking his hemp, i.e. +separating the fibre from the bark in his large open chimney on winter +nights, a habit which the manor courts severely punished owing to the +risk of fire, for hemp refuse is very inflammable. It 1578 it was laid +down that every one was to sow the outside portion of their arable +lands, and not leave it waste for weeds to the damage of his +neighbours; and that those who were too poor to keep sheep should not +gather wool before 8 o'clock in the morning, in reference to the +custom of allowing the poor to pick refuse wool found on bushes and +thorns, and this rule was to prevent them tearing wool from the sheep +at night under that pretext. No man was to keep any beasts apart from +the herdsman, for if the herdsman did not know the animals he could +not tell them from strays. Every one was to sweep their chimney four +times a year, for fear of sparks falling on the thatch. No man was to +suffer the nests of crows or magpies in his ground, but pull them down +before May Day. In the meadows, before each man began to mow his grass +he was to mark the exact limits of his own land with 'wadsticks' or +tall rods, so that there could be no mistake as to boundaries. The +health of the community and of the live stock also received attention: +in 1583 one Pattynson was fined 1s. for allowing a 'scabbed' horse to +go on the common; dead cattle were to be buried the day after death, +and all unwholesome meat was to be buried. + +Harrison praises the farmer of his day highly: 'the soyle is even now +in these oure dayes growne to be much more fruitfulle; the cause is +that our country men are grown more skilful and careful throwe +recompense of gayne.' He was also doing well by means of his skill and +care; and in spite of the raising of rents by the much-abused +landlords; for in former times 'for all their frugality they were +scarcely able to live and pay their rents on rent day without selling +a cow or a horse'. Such also used to be their poverty, that if a +farmer went to the alehouse, 'a thing greatly used in those days,' and +there, 'in a braverie to show what store he had, did caste downe his +purse and therein a noble or 6 shillings in silver unto them, it was +very likely that all the rest could not lay downe so much against it.' +And In Henry's time, though rents of £4 had increased to £40, £50, or +£100, yet the farmer generally had at the end of his term saved six or +seven years' rent, besides a 'fair garnish of pewter on his cupboard', +and odd vessels, also 'three or four feather beds, so manie coverlids +and carpets of tapestry, a silver salt, a bowle for wine, and a dozzen +of spoones to furnish up the sute'. His food consisted principally of +beef, and 'such food as the butcher selleth', mutton, veal, lamb, +pork, besides souse, brawn, bacon, fruit, fruit pies, cheese, butter, +and eggs.[231] In feasting, the husbandman or farmer exceeded, +especially at bridals, purifications of women, and such other +meetings, where 'it is incredible to tell what meat is consumed and +spent'. But, besides these, there were many poorer farmers who lived +at home 'with hard and pinching diet'. Wheaten bread was at this time +a luxury confined to the gentility, the farmer's loaf, according to +Tusser, was sometimes wheat, sometimes rye, sometimes mastlin, a +mixture of wheat and rye, though the poorer farmer on uninclosed land +ate bread made of beans. + +The poor ate bread of rye or barley, and in time of dearth of beans, +peas, and oats, and sometimes acorns.[232] According to Tusser, the +labourer was allowed roast meat twice a week, + + 'Good plowmen looke weekly of custom and right, + For roast meate on Sundaies, and Thursdaies at night'; + +and Latimer calls bacon 'the necessary meate' of the labourer, and it +seems to have been his great stand-by then as now. The bread and bacon +were supplemented largely by milk and porridge.[233] The statute, 24 +Hen. VIII, c. 3, says that all food, and especially beef, mutton, +pork, and veal, 'which is the common feeding of mean and poor +persons.' was too dear for them to buy, and fixed the price of beef +and pork at 1/2d. a lb. and of mutton and veal at 5/8d. a lb.; but the +statute, like others of the kind, was of little avail, and the price +of beef was in the middle of the sixteenth century about 1d. a lb. or +8d. in our money. As the average price of wheat at the same date was +14s. a quarter, or about 112s. in our money, fresh meat was +comparatively much cheaper, and it is no wonder that even the farmer +could not afford wheaten bread regularly. Moryson, writing in +Elizabeth's reign, says 'Englishmen eate barley and rye brown bread, +and prefer it to white as abiding longer in the stomeck and not so +soon digested'.[234] + +A tithe dispute at North Luffenham in Rutlandshire throws considerable +light on the financial position of the various classes interested in +the land about 1576. At the trial several witnesses were examined, who +all made statements as to the amount of their worldly wealth, and it +is a noteworthy fact that even the humblest had saved something; +perhaps because there was no poor law or State pension fund to +discourage thrift.[235] Thomas Blackburne, a husbandman, who had +served his master as 'chief baylie of his husbandrie', had at the end +of a long life saved £40. Another, William Walker, eighty years of +age, during forty years of service to Mr. John Wymarke had put by £10. +Robert Sculthorp, who had at one time been a farmer, was worth £26 6s. +8d., but the size of his farm is unfortunately not told us. Roland +Wymarke, a gentleman farmer, who had farmed for forty years at North +Luffenham, was little better off than Thomas Blackburne, the baylie, +for he estimated his capital at £50. £50, however, must not be taken +as representing the average wealth of a 'gentleman', though a few +hundred pounds was then considered a considerable fortune. In 1577 +Thomas Corny, a prosperous landlord at Bassingthorpe, Lincolnshire, +had a house with a hall, three parlours, seven chambers, a high +garret, maid's garret, five chambers for yeomen hinds, shepherd, &c., +two kitchens, two larders, milk-house, brew-house, buttery, and +cellar; and it was furnished with tables, carpets, cushions, pictures, +beds, curtains, chairs, chests, and numerous kitchen and other +utensils, besides a quantity of plate, which was then looked upon not +only as a useful luxury but as a safe form of investment. The small +squire was not nearly so well off as this. In 1527 the house of John +Asfordby, who was of that degree, contained a hall, parlour, small +parlour, low parlour, a chamber over the parlour, gallery chamber, +buttery, and kitchen, and furniture was scanty, but the plate cupboard +was well filled.[236] A prosperous yeoman was often comparatively +better off than the small squire. Richard Cust, of Pinchbeck in the +same county, though his house was small, consisting only of a hall, +parlour with chamber over, kitchen with chamber over, brew-house, +milne-house (mill-house), and milk-house, was richer in furniture, +possessing a folding-table, 4 chairs, 6 cushions, 27 pieces of pewter, +10 candlesticks, 4 basins, 1 laver, 6 beds, and other articles.[237] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[215] See table at end, and Thorold Rogers's prices in Vol. V. of his +great work. + +[216] 'A perfite platforme of a Hoppegarden', in _Arte of Gardening_, +by R. Scott, 1574. + +[217] Tusser recommends that the hopyard be dug. Thomas Tusser was +born in Essex, about 1525, and died in 1580. He led a roving life, +which included a good deal of farming; but the statement that he died +poor appears to be inaccurate. Much of his advice is not very +valuable. + +[218] Harrison, _Description of Britain_, p. 110. + +[219] Usually grown in gardens, until the middle of the seventeenth +century. Tusser also mentions them. + +[220] _Description of Britain_, ii. 324 (Furnivall ed.). + +[221] Harrison, _Description of Britain_, ii. 329. + +[222] _State of the Poor_, i. 48-9. Blomefield's _Norfolk_, iv. 569, +i. 51, i. 649. Dugdale, _Warwickshire_, p. 557. + +[223] _Description of Britain_, iii. 5. + +[224] _Description of Britain_ (ed. Furnivall), ii. 243. + +[225] Froude, _History of England_, v. III. + +[226] 'A compendious or brief examination of certain ordinary +complaints', quoted by Eden, _State of the Poor_, 1. 119. + +[227a] _Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_ (New Series), +xix. 103. + +[227b] Ibid. xi. 74 sq. + +[228] Nasse, _Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages_, p. 9. +_Archaeologia_, xxxiii. 270. + +[229] In the still surviving open fields at Laxton, mentioned above, +there are certain unploughed portions called 'sicks', or grassy +patches, never cultivated.--Slater, _op. cit._ p. 9. + +[230] _Archaeologia_, xlvi. 374. + +[231] _Description of Britain_, ii. 150. + +[232] In the reign of Mary, 'the plain poor people did make very much +of acorns.' Cullum, _Hawsted_, p. 181. + +[233] Eden, _State of the Poor_, i. 116. + +[234] _Itinerary_, iii. 140. + +[235] _Rutland Magazine_, i. 64. + +[236] _Victoria County History: Lincolnshire_, ii. 331. + +[237] See _Records of Cust Family_, i. 56. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +1540-1600 + +LIVE STOCK.--FLAX.--SAFFRON.--THE POTATO. THE ASSESSMENT OF WAGES + + +The cattle and sheep of this period have generally been described as +poor animals, and no doubt they would seem small to us. To Jacob +Rathgib, a traveller, writing in 1592, they seemed worthy of praise: +'England has beautiful oxen and cows, with very large horns, low and +heavy and for the most part black; there is abundance of sheep and +wethers, which graze by themselves winter and summer without +shepherds.' The heaviest wethers, according to him, weighed 60 lb. and +had at the most 6 lb. of wool, a much heavier fleece than is generally +ascribed to them; others had 4 or 5 lb. Horses were abundant, and, +though low and small, were very fleet; the riding horses being +geldings and generally excellent. Immense numbers of swine were in the +country, 'larger than in any other.' Six years later another +traveller, Hentzner, noticed that the soil abounded with cattle, and +the inhabitants were more inclined to feeding than ploughing. He saw, +too, a Berkshire harvest-home: 'As we were returning to our inn (at +Windsor) we happened to meet some country people celebrating their +harvest-home, their last load of corn they crown with flowers, having +besides an image richly dressed by which perhaps they would signify +Ceres; this they keep moving about, while men and women, men and +maid-servants, riding through the streets in the cart, shout as loud +as they can till they arrive at the barn.' Harrison[238] tells us, no +doubt with patriotic bias, that 'our oxen are such as the like are not +to be found in any country of Europe both for greatness of body and +sweetness of flesh, their horns a yard between the tips.' Cows had +doubled in price in his time, from 26s. 8d. to 53s. 4d. 'Our horses +are high, but not of such huge greatness as in other places,' yet +remarkable for the easiness of their pace; and 5 or 6 cart-horses will +draw 30 cwt. a long journey, and a pack-horse will carry 4 cwt. +without any hurt,--a statement which is one more proof of the poorness +of the roads. The chief horse fairs were at 'Ripon, Newportpond, +Wolfpit, and Harborow,' where horse dealers were as great rogues as +ever. Pigeons were still the curse of the farmer, and their cotes were +called dens of thieves. + +By the end of the sixteenth century, certainly by the first quarter of +the seventeenth, the villein, who in the Middle Ages had formed the +bulk of the population, had disappeared.[239] It is probable that even +at the beginning of the Tudor period the great majority of the bondmen +had become free, and that the serf then only formed one per cent. of +the population, and many of those had left the country and become +artizans in the towns, for personal serfdom had outlasted demesne +farming; though even there the heavy hand of the lord was upon them +and enforced the ancient customs. + +In the sixteenth century flax was apparently grown upon most farms, +the statutes 34 Hen. VIII, c. 4, and 5 Eliz., c. 5, obliging every +person occupying 60 acres of tillage to have a quarter of an acre in +flax or hemp, and Moryson says the husbandmen wore garments of coarse +cloth made at home, so did their wives, and 'in generall' their linen +was coarse and made at home.[240] + + 'Good flax and good hemp to have of her own + In Maie a good housewife will see it be sowne', + +sings Tusser. The statute of Henry VIII enjoined the sowing of flax +and hemp because of the great increase of idle people in the realm, to +which the numerous imports, especially linen cloth, contributed. + +Saffron also was much grown, that at Saffron Walden in Essex was said +to be the best in the world, the profit from it being reckoned at £13 +an acre. Its virtues were innumerable, if we may believe the +contemporary writers; it flavoured dishes, helped digestion, was good +for short wind, killed moths, helped deafness, dissolved gravel, and, +lastly, 'drunk in wine doth haste on drunkenesse.' + +The most important novelty of this century was the potato, which the +colonists, sent out in 1586 by Sir Walter Raleigh, brought from +Virginia to Ireland, though it had been introduced into Europe by the +Spaniards before this. According to Gerard, the old English botanist, +it was, on its first introduction from America, only cultivated in the +gardens of the nobility and gentry as a curious exotic; and in 1606 it +occurs among the vegetables considered necessary for a nobleman's +household.[241] It is curious to find Gerard comparing it to what he +calls the 'common potato', in reality the sweet potato brought to +England by Drake and Hawkins earlier in the century. In James I's +reign the root was considered a great delicacy, and was sold to the +queen's household at 2s. a lb., an enormous price. + +Like most agricultural novelties it spread very slowly, but about the +middle of the seventeenth century began to be planted out in the +fields in small patches in Lancashire, whence it spread all over the +kingdom and to France.[242] At this date it was looked upon as a very +second-rate article of food, if we may judge by the _Spectator_ (No. +232), which alludes to it as the diet of beggars. About 1690, Houghton +says, 'now they begin to spread all the kingdom over,' and recommends +them boiled or roasted and eaten with butter and sugar.[243] Eden +notes its increasing popularity during the eighteenth century, and by +his time (the end of that century) in many parts it was the staple +article of food for the poor; in Somerset the children mainly +subsisted on it, and in Devon it was made into bread. Its cultivation +on a large scale in the field did not, however, spread all over +England till the Napoleonic war, and the ignorance and prejudice +against it lasted for long; even Cobbett called it 'the lazy root,' +and whole potatoes were used for seed regardless of the number of +eyes. + +In 1563 was passed the famous Act, 5 Eliz., c. 4, which Thorold Rogers +has asserted to be the commencement of a conspiracy for cheating the +English workman of his wages, to tie him to the soil, to deprive him +of hope, and to degrade him into irremediable poverty.[244] The +violence of this language is a prima facie reason for doubting the +correctness of his assertion, which on examination is found to be +grossly exaggerated. Under Richard II the justices were authorized to +fix the rate of wages, provided they did not exceed the maximum fixed +by Parliament. The Elizabethan statute abolished the maximum and left +the justices to fix reasonable rates. So far from being an attempt to +keep wages down it seems to have been an honest effort to regulate +them according to prices,[245] whereas most previous statutes had +merely reduced wages. The preamble of the Act states this clearly +enough, saying that the existing laws with regard to the hiring and +wages of servants were insufficient; chiefly because the wages 'are in +dyvers places to small and not answerable to this time respecting the +advancement of prices in all things that belong to the said servants +and labourers, the said lawes cannot conveniently without the great +greefe and burden of the poore labourer and hired man be put in due +execution.' But as several of these Acts were still beneficial it was +proposed to consolidate them into one statute in order to banish +idleness, advance husbandry, and give the labourer decent wages. It +was enacted therefore that all persons between the ages of twelve +years and sixty, not being otherwise occupied, 'nor being a gentleman +born, nor having lands of the yearly value of 40s., nor goods to the +value of £10,' should be compellable to serve in husbandry with 'any +person that keepeth husbandry' by the year, and the hours of work were +re-enacted. + +The rates of wages of artificers, husbandmen, &c., were to be +ascertained yearly by the justices and the sheriff, 'if he +conveniently may,' at quarter sessions, 'calling unto them such +discrete and grave persons as they shall thinck meete and conferring +together respecting the plentie or scarcitie of the tyme and other +circumstances necessary to be considered,' and the wages fixed were to +be certified into Chancery. Then proclamations of the wages thus +determined were to be made in the cities and market towns. Every +person who gave higher wages than those established by the +proclamation was to be imprisoned for ten days and fined £5, every +receiver to be imprisoned twenty-one days. The importance still +attached to the harvest season is shown by the section that all +artificers and others were compellable to work in harvest or be put in +the stocks two days and a night. For the better advancement of +husbandry and tillage every householder farming 60 acres of tillage or +more might receive an apprentice in husbandry, but no tradesman or +merchant might take an apprentice save his own son, unless his parents +had freehold of the annual value of 40s.; and no person was to use +'any art mistery or manual occupation now in use' unless he had served +seven years' apprenticeship to it. There can be no doubt that the +clauses last quoted confined a large portion of the population to +agricultural work, but as we know that the people were deserting the +country and flocking to the towns, this must have seemed to the +framers of the law very desirable. + +This method of fixing wages was in force until 1814, and its repeal +then was entirely contrary to the opinion of the artizan class; but it +may be doubted if the magistrates extensively used the powers given +them by the Act, and wages seem to have been settled generally by +competition. Several instances remain, however, of wages drawn up +under this Act. Almost immediately after it was passed, in June 1564, +the Rutland magistrates met under the Act, and stated that the prices +of linen, woollen, leather, corn, and other victuals were great, so +they drew up the following list of wages[246]:-- + + A bailiff in husbandry, having charge of two plough lands, + at least should have by the year 40s., and 8s. + for his livery. + + A chief servant in husbandry, which can eire (plough), sow, + mow, thresh, make a rick, thatch and hedge, and can kill + and dress a hog, sheep, and calf, by the year 40s., and 6s. + for his livery. + + A common servant in husbandry, which can mow, sow, thresh, + and load a cart, and cannot expertly make a rick, hedge, and + thatch, and cannot kill and dress a hog, sheep, or calf, by + the year 33s. 4d., and 5s. for his livery. + + A mean servant in husbandry, which can drive the plough, pitch + The cart, and thresh, and cannot expertly sow, mow, thresh, + and load a cart, nor make a rick, nor thatch, by the year 24s., + and 5s. for his livery. + +The chief shepherd is only to receive 20s. and 5s. for his livery; but +this must be an error, as in the statutes 6 Hen. VIII, c. 3, and 23 +Hen. VI, c. 12, he was placed next the bailiff as we should expect. + +These wages were evidently 'with diet', and show a considerable +advance on those fixed by 6 Hen. VIII, c. 3.[247] By the day the +ordinary labourer was to have 6d. in winter, 7d. in summer, and 8d. to +10d. in harvest time, 'finding himself.' A mower with meat earned 5d., +without meat 10d. a day; a man reaper with meat 4d., without 8d.; a +woman reaper 3d., and 6d. + +As the price of corn and meat was three times what it had been in the +fifteenth century, and the labourers' wages, taking into consideration +his harvest pay, not quite double, the Rutland magistrates hardly +observed the spirit of the Act. Rutland, moreover, judging by the +assessments of the time, was a county where agriculture was very +flourishing; and thirty years after we find in Yorkshire that the +winter wages of the labourer were 4d. and the summer 5d. a day: that +is, he had little more wages than in the fifteenth century, with +provisions risen threefold. At Chester at the same date his day's +wages were to be 4d. all the year round.[248] In 1610 the Rutland +magistrates at Oakham[249] decreed that an ordinary labourer was to +have 6d. a day in winter and 7d. in summer, the same wages as in 1564, +yet wheat in that year averaged 32s. 7d. a quarter. A bailiff by the +year was now advanced to 52s., a manservant of the best sort, equal no +doubt to the chief servant in husbandry, to 50s., a 'common servant' +to 40s., and a 'mean servant' to 29s., but all without livery. At +Chelmsford, in 1651, there was a very different rate fixed, the +ordinary labourer getting from 1s. to 1s. 2d. a day; but this seems to +have been exceptional, as at Warwick in 1684 he was only to have 8d., +and as late as 1725 in Lancashire 9d. to 10d. a day.[250] In 1682, by +the Bury St. Edmunds assessment, a common labourer got 10d. a day in +winter and 1s. in summer, and a reaper in harvest 1s. 8d. By the year +a bailiff was paid £6, a carter £5, and a common servant £3 10s., of +course with food.[251] These figures clearly prove that the wages +fixed by the magistrates were often terribly inadequate, though it +must be said in their defence that the great rise in prices probably +struck them as abnormal and not likely to last. It should be +remembered, too, that besides his wages the labourer and his family +had often bye industries such as weaving to fall back upon, and in +most parts of England still a piece of common land to help him. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[238] _Description of Britain_, iii. 2. + +[239] _Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_ (New Series), +xvii. 235. + +[240] Moryson, _Itinerary_ (ed. 1617), iii. 179. + +[241] _Archaeologia_ xiii. 371. + +[242] In 1650 it was much cultivated about London. + +[243] _Collections on Husbandry and Trade_, ii. 468. + +[244] _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_, p. 398. + +[245] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, ii. 38. The Statute of +Labourers of 1351 made the same effort, see p. 43. + +[246] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, iv. 120; +and _Work and Wages_, p. 389. + +[247] See above. + +[248] Thorold Rogers, _Work and Wages_, pp. 390-1. + +[249] _Archaeologia_, xi. 200. + +[250] Thorold Rogers, _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_, p. 396. + +[251] Cullum, _Hawsted_, p. 215. It is strange to find food reckoned +so highly; if the common labourer at Hawsted received his food, he was +only paid 5d. a day in winter, and 6d. in summer; if one man's food +was reckoned at half his wages, how far did the other half go in +feeding and clothing his family? + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +1600-1700 + +CLOVER AND TURNIPS.--GREAT RISE IN PRICES. MORE ENCLOSURE.--A FARMING +CALENDAR + + +The seventeenth century was one of considerable progress in English +agriculture. The decay of common-field farming was enabling individual +enterprise to have its way. The population was rapidly growing; by +1688 the returns of the hearth tax prove that the northern counties +were nearly as thickly populated as the southern, and prices during +the first half were continually rising, though after that they +remained almost stationary, since the effect of the influx of precious +metals from the New World was exhausted. In the first half of the +century John Smyth ascribes the advance of rents to the Castilian +voyages opening the New World, whereby such floods of treasure have +flowed into Europe that the rates of Christendom are raised near +twentyfold'. + +But the greatest agricultural event of the century was the +introduction of clover and the encouragement of turnips as grown in +Holland, by Sir Richard Weston, about 1645. No doubt the turnip was +already well known in England. Tusser and Fitzherbert both mention it, +apparently as a garden root only; but Gerard in his _Herbal_, 1597, +says it grew in fields 'and divers vineyards or hoppe gardens in most +places of England', which certainly points to an effort having been +made generally to use it as a field crop whenever an enclosed space +gave it some protection from the depredations of the common herds. +However, its cultivation must have declined, as long after this it was +regarded as a novelty as a field crop in most parts of England.[252] +In Holland it had been used in the field universally, and this use +with that of 'great', as it was called, or broad clover, Weston +pressed on the English farmer. But their progress was wofully slow. At +Hawsted in Suffolk clover and turnips were first sown about 1700, and +the eastern portion of England was far ahead of the north and west; as +late as 1772 Arthur Young wrote that 'sainfoin, cabbages, potatoes, +and carrots are not common crops in England; I do not imagine above +half or at most two-thirds of the nation cultivate clover.'[253] Yet +their introduction must have been of the greatest benefit to the +farmer and the public; his stock of hay was increased, he could +utilize his fallows, and keep a much larger head of stock through the +winter, who would give him a greater quantity of manure. Every one +where turnips were grown could now have fresh meat during the winter. +The slow progress of these great blessings is perhaps the strongest +testimony in our history of the innate conservatism of the farmer. The +green crop was for long considered to be suited only to the garden, +and as our forefathers were prejudiced against the spade it was +difficult to get such crops cultivated even there; but it should also +be remembered that no crop was possible in the common fields which did +not come to maturity before Lammas, unless some special agreement was +made as to it.[254] Clover, Sir Richard Weston said, thrives best when +sown on the worst and barrenest ground, which was to be pared and +burnt, and unslaked lime added to the ashes. Then it was to be well +ploughed and harrowed, and about 10 lb. of seed sown per acre in the +end of March or in April. 'It will stand five years, and then when +ploughed up will yield three or four years running rich crops of +wheat, and then a crop of oats, after which you may sow clover again.' + +In the seventeenth century the practice of liming and marling, which +had been largely discontinued since the fourteenth century, was +revived (Westcote, in his _View of Devon_ in 1630, calls liming, &c., +a new invention), and there was also a great improvement in +implements. Patents were taken out for draining machines in 1628, for +new manures in 1633-6, ploughs 1623-7 and 1634, mechanical sowing +1634-9. Only six were taken out, however, between 1640 and 1760 that +concerned agriculture.[255] The Civil War checked the improvement, for +though the great mass of the people had nothing to do with either +party, the country was of necessity in a very unsettled state, and +both sides plundered indiscriminately. Yet in some parts, as in +Devonshire, so many of the able men served in the two armies, that few +but old men, women, and children were left to manage the farms, and +even they were afraid to grow more than enough to supply themselves +since both armies seized the crops.[256] These bad effects lasted for +some time afterwards; Chapple, a Devonshire land agent of the +eighteenth century, says he had talked with people who remembered the +state of husbandry in the last ten or twelve years of the reign of +Charles II, when in many parts of Devonshire an acre or two of wheat +was esteemed a rarity. + +That the rate of progress in the century was not more rapid is +attributed by Blyth to several causes[257]:-- + + 1. Want of leases, by which tenants were deprived of security. + + 2. Discouragement to flood (irrigate) land, from the risk of + law suits with neighbours. + + 3. Intermixture of different properties in common fields. + + 4. Unlimited pasturage on commons, by which they were overstocked. + + 5. The want of a law compelling all men to kill moles. + + 6. The excessive number of water-mills, to the great destruction + of much gallant land. + +The average price of wheat during the seventeenth century was 41s. a +quarter, of barley 22s., and oats 14s. 8-1/2d. Oxen averaged about £5 +apiece, cows much less, about £3, and there was not much change in +their value during the century. Sheep were about 10s. 6d., and a +cart-horse in the first half of the century from £5 to £10, in the +second half from £8 to £15. Beef rose from 2d. a lb. in the early part +of the century to 3d. at the close of it. Wool remained stationary at +from 9d. to 1s. per lb. + +[258]A proclamation of 1633 fixed the +following prices for London poulterers and victuallers:-- + + s. d. + + Best turkey-cock 4 4 + Duck 8 + Best hen 1 0 + 3 eggs 1 + 1 lb. best fresh butter in winter 6 + 1 lb. best fresh butter in summer 5 + 1 lb. best salt butter 4-1/2 + Best fat goose 2 0 + " crammed capon 2 6 + " pullet 1 6 + " chicken 6 + +According to the _Manydown Manor Rolls_ the Wootton churchwardens in +1600 paid from 8s. to 11s. for calves, 4s. 4d. for a fat lamb, 8s. for +a sheep, 6s. 8d. for a barren ewe, 6d. for a couple of chickens, 1s. +6d. for 500 faggots.[259] + +After the restoration in 1660 another period of prosperity set +in,[260] and altogether the century was a prosperous one for farmers +and manufacturers. The newly established Royal Society materially +helped agriculture. 'Since his majesty's most happy restoration the +whole land hath been fermented and stirred up by the profitable hints +it hath received from the Royal Society, by which means parks have +been disparked, commons enclosed, woods turned into arable, and +pasture lands improved by clover, St. foine, turnips, cole-seed, and +many other good husbandries, so that the food of cattle is increased +as fast, if not faster, than the consumption, and by these means the +rent of the kingdom is far greater than ever it was.'[261] The century +was distinguished also for the curious number of cycles of good and +bad seasons; 1646-50 were years of prolonged dearth, wheat reaching an +enormous price, and 1661-2, were famine years, while the end of the +century was long famous for its barren years. + +With the prices of produce rents rose enormously. Very early in the +century[262] rents of arable land had increased ninefold, since the +fifteenth century, and by 1688 Davenant and King estimated the average +rent of arable land in England at 5s. 6d. per acre and of permanent +grass at 8s. 8d. Perhaps this is too high an estimate, as on the +Belvoir estate of 17,837 acres in 1692 the rental all round was 3s. +9-1/4d. an acre for land above the average in quality, though it must +be remembered that the Earls and Dukes of Rutland were indulgent +landlords. + +The _History of Hawsted_ affords a valuable index of the increase of +rents at this period.[263] In 1500 the average rent was 1s. 4d. an +acre; in 1572, 39 acres of arable, meadow, and pasture were let for +2s. 3d. an acre, the landlord, it is interesting to notice, reserving +the right of hawking, netting rabbits, hunting, and fowling; and about +the same date other lands on the estate were let at 1s. 3d. and 1s. +6d. an acre, so that there had not generally been much advance since +1500, which is what we should expect, as the great rise took place at +the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth +centuries. In 1589, therefore, it is not surprising to find that 40 +acres of meadow and pasture let at 5s. an acre, and in 1611 some +buildings and 155 acres of park at 11s. an acre. In 1616, 366 acres of +arable and pasture and 39 acres of meadow were valued at 12s. an acre +for letting, and the Hall Farm of 175 acres (8-1/2 acres meadow) at +10s.; and Great Pipers Farm of 138 acres (8 meadow) at 7s., while +meadow and pasture near the mansion was valued at 21s. an acre. + +In 1658 the rent of the Hall Farm had advanced from 10s. an acre to +about 13s., though in 1682 it went down to 11s. 6d.[264] According to +the survey of the Manor of Manydown in Hampshire in 1650, meadow land +was worth 20s. an acre, pasture 8s. to 10s., arable from 2s. to 10s., +the latter showing a great variation in quality.[265] In 1723 Bryers +Wood Farm at Hawsted, which had been let in 1620 for £15, was let at +£29 5s. These rents are considerably higher than the estimate of +Davenant and King; but it must be remembered that they were for land +in the parts of England, where farming was at its best, and they, in +accounting for the whole country, had to take into consideration a +vast amount of land in the north and west which was worth very little. +In the Rawlinson Collection[266] in the Bodleian Library is a rental +of Lord Kingston's estate in north Nottinghamshire in 1689, the rents +averaging 10s. an acre; but this was an exceptionally good estate, +much of the property being meadow and pasture. The farmhouses also +were above the average, while in two of the parishes the tenants had +rights of common, and in two others the tenancies were tithe free. +There was very little arable land on the estate, three small holdings +letting for 6s. 8d. an acre; and some of the pasture land was let at +14s., 15s. 6d., and even 18s. an acre. The largest farm, Saundby Hall, +of 607 acres, nearly all meadow and pasture, was 9s. 10d. an acre. The +cottages were fortunate in having pieces of land attached to them. In +Saundby, Richard Ffydall rented a cottage and 2 acres of arable land +for £1 13s. 4d.; Widow Johnson a cottage and yard for 13s. 4d.; +William Daubney a cottage with 6-1/2 acres of arable and 5-1/2 acres +of pasture for £7 18s. 6d. A farm in Scrooby, consisting of a +messuage, cottage, and 113 acres of arable, meadow, and pasture, only +let at £23. + +As to the freehold value of land, in 1621, according to D'Ewes, it was +worth from sixteen to twenty years' purchase; yet, in 1688, Sir Josiah +Child said that lands now sell at twenty years' purchase, which fifty +or sixty years before sold at eight or ten; and he also states, 'the +same farms or lands to be now sold would yield treble and in some +cases six times the money they were sold for fifty years ago'.[267] +Davenant puts land at twelve years' purchase in 1600, at eighteen +years in 1688.[268] In 1729 the price of land was said to be +twenty-seven years' purchased.[269] + +The legislation against laying down tillage to grass was continued +until the end of the sixteenth century. The statute 39 Eliz., c. 1, +repealed 4 Hen. VII, c. 19, and all other Acts against pulling down +houses, and provided that a house of husbandry should be a house that +hath or hath had 20 acres of arable land. All such houses which had +been destroyed during the last seven years were to be rebuilt, and if +destroyed more than seven years only one-half was to be rebuilt; but +to each of them at least 40 acres of land were to be attached. + +The next statute, 39 Eliz., c. 2, sets forth once more the advantages +of tillage, viz. the increase and multiplying of people for service in +the wars, and in time of peace the employment of a greater number of +people, the keeping of people from poverty, the dispersal of the +wealth of the kingdom in many hands, and 'the standing of this realm +upon itself without depending upon foreign countries'[270]; and +therefore enacts that lands converted from tillage to pasture shall be +restored to tillage within three years, and lands then in tillage +should be so continued; but this was only to extend to twenty-three +counties, and omitted most of those in the south-west. At the +beginning of the seventeenth century a reaction set in; the price of +corn had risen immensely and continued to do so, the price of wool +remained stationary, and tillage was as profitable as grass. In 1620 +Coke speaks of the man who only kept a shepherd and a dog as one who +never prospered. In 1624 several of the tillage laws were +repealed.[271] + +As an example of the unenclosed fields, at the end of the sixteenth +century, we may take the common fields at Daventry, which were three +in number, containing respectively 368, 383, and 524 acres, divided +into furlongs, a term which had now a very wide signification, each of +which was subdivided into lands nearly always half an acre in extent, +several of these lands when adjoining being often held now by the same +owner. One furlong may be taken as an example. It was 37 acres 1 rood +in extent, and contained ninety-six lands, owned by seventeen people. +The meadows were divided still more minutely, some of the smaller +portions being only a quarter of an acre each. The largest meadow +contained 50 acres, divided among fifty-three people. In the manor, +besides the arable and meadow, there were 300 acres of common +pasture, a park, and a small wood. There were forty-one freeholders +and many leasehold tenants, the average freehold being 34 acres, the +average leasehold only half an acre, small holdings being the usual +feature of the unenclosed township. + +In the seventeenth century the price of wool ceased to operate as a +cause of enclosure, but in many parts the change to pasture continued, +owing to the rise in price of cattle and of wages. The same reason, +too, for laying down land to grass that had been so powerful in the +preceding centuries still existed, the common arable fields needed +rest from continual cropping and poor manuring, while good crops of +corn could be grown from the virgin soil of the newly enclosed waste. +The preamble of the Durham decrees clearly states this: 'the land is +wasted and worn with continual ploweing, and thereby made bare, +barren, and very unfruitful.'[272] We may, therefore, take Coke's +words as inapplicable to many districts. In the seventeenth century +there were several methods of enclosing. Sometimes the lord of the +manor enclosed and left the land of the tenants still in common; or a +tenant enclosed piece by piece; or enclosures were made by Act of +Parliament, the earliest of which for common fields was passed in the +time of James I, a method at this period very seldom used; or there +was an agreement between lord and tenants often authorized by the +Courts of Chancery or Exchequer. + +Besides enclosure, another process was going on, the consolidation of +farms by the amalgamation of small holdings into larger ones. +Farmhouses, as we see them to-day, began to appear on the holdings +thus consolidated, instead of being grouped together in villages. A +writer in 1604 says, 'we may see many of their houses built alone like +raven's nests, no birds building neere them' so unwonted was the sight +of isolated dwellings in most places at the time. + +However, in 1630 Charles I went back to the policy of his forefathers +and issued letters to certain of the Midland counties ordering all +enclosures of the last two years to be removed, and Commissions were +issued to inquire into the matter in 1632, 1635, and 1636,[273] the +chief evil feared from enclosures being depopulation, and enclosers +were prosecuted in the Court of Star Chamber. + +The assertion that enclosures ceased during the seventeenth century +has been proved inaccurate by modern research, and there is no doubt +that they went on continuously. In 1607, in the Midlands, the +enclosing of land produced serious armed resistance, probably because +the Midland counties were then the great corn-growing district of +England, and the change to pasture and the consolidation of farms +displaced a larger population there than elsewhere. Between 1628 and +1630 enclosures in Leicestershire, for instance, were very numerous, +no less than 10,000 acres being enclosed in that time, most of which +was converted to pasture. The attempt of the Government to check the +movement, initiated by Charles I, seems to have had considerable +effect, but died away with the Civil War, and though other attempts +were made under the Commonwealth they came to nothing, and from this +time enclosures went on unchecked by the Government,[274] and were +soon to have its active support. Yet there was a vast amount still in +common field: the whole of the cultivated land of England in 1685 was +stated by King and Davenant to amount to not much more than half the +total area, and of this cultivated portion three-fifths was still +farmed on the old common-field system. Northamptonshire, +Leicestershire, Rutland, Huntingdonshire, and Bedfordshire were +comparatively unenclosed.[275] From the books and maps of the day 'it +is clear that many routes which now pass through an endless succession +of orchards, corn-fields, hay-fields, and bean-fields then ran through +nothing but heath, swamp, and warren. In the drawings of an English +landscape made in that age for the Grand Duke Cosmo scarce a hedgerow +is to be seen.... At Enfield, hardly out of sight of the smoke of the +capital, was a region of five-and-twenty miles in circumference which +contained only three houses and scarcely any enclosed fields.'[276] +The enclosure of these areas was to be mainly the work of the latter +half of the eighteenth and the first quarter of the nineteenth +centuries. + +The amount of enclosure in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and the first +half of the seventeenth centuries was, according to the latest +research, much, and perhaps very naturally, exaggerated by +contemporaries. Between 1455-1607 the enclosures in twenty-four +counties are said to have amounted to some 500,000 acres, or 2.76 of +their total area,[277] but the evidence for this is by no means +conclusive. However, there seems no reason to doubt that the enclosure +of this period was but a faint beginning of that great outburst of it +that marked the agrarian revolution of the middle of the eighteenth +century, and that it was mainly confined to the Midland counties, Mr. +Johnson, in his recent Ford Lectures, has stated that the enclosure of +the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was not accompanied by very +much direct eviction of freeholders or bona fide copyholders of +inheritance; yet the small holder suffered in many ways, e.g. by the +lord disproving the hereditary character of the copyhold, or by +changing copyholds of inheritance into copyholds for lives or leases +for lives or years. He and his successors could then refuse to renew +at the termination of lives or years except on payment of a +practically prohibitory fine. In short, though there was not much +violation of legal right there was much injustice, and enclosure, +though its effects were exaggerated at this period, certainly tended +to displace the small landholder. It does not appear, however, that +the moderate-sized proprietors were seriously affected. Many of the +larger freeholders and copyholders on manors enclosed on their own +account, and perhaps increased at the expense of the very large and +the very small. Indeed, the decrease of small landowners was chiefly +due to political and social causes. The old self-sufficing, +agricultural economy of England, which we have seen beginning to break +up in the fourteenth century, was becoming thoroughly disintegrated. +The capitalist class was increasing; the successful merchant and +lawyer were acquiring land and becoming squires; there was an intense +land hunger. Simon Degge, wilting of Staffordshire in 1669, says that +in the previous sixty years half the lands had changed owners, not so +much as of old they were wont to do, by marriage, but by purchase; and +he notices how many lawyers and tradesmen have supplanted the +gentry.[278] + +In fact, there was a much freer disposal of lands from the end of the +fifteenth century, when the famous Taltarum's case enabled entailed +estates to be barred, until the Restoration, than there has been +before or since. For these two hundred years the courts of law and +parliament resisted every effort to re-establish the system of +entails; the owners of land constantly multiplied, and this tendency +must have counteracted the displacement of the small holder by +enclosure. Sir Thomas Smith, writing towards the end of the sixteenth +century, says that it was the yeomen who bought the lands of +'unthrifty gentlemen;' and Moryson tells us that 'the buyers +(excepting lawyers) are for the most part citizens and vulgar +men'.[279] It became one of the boasts of England that she had a large +number of yeomen farming their own land. During the Civil War, +however, it became important to landowners to protect their properties +in the interest of children and descendants from forfeiture for +treason. The judges lent their aid, and the system of strict family +settlements was devised, under which the great bulk of the estates in +England are now held. This system favoured the accumulation of lands +in a few hands and the aggregation of great estates, and was largely +responsible for the disappearance of the small freeholder. + +In reviewing the progress of agriculture in the seventeenth century, +the drainage of the fen country of Lincolnshire and the adjoining +counties must not be forgotten. It had been for centuries the scene of +drainage operations on a more or less extended scale, few of which, +however, met with success; but in the seventeenth century the growing +value of land caused a serious revival of these efforts. Attempts made +under Elizabeth and James I had only succeeded in rescuing a certain +amount of land for pasture,[280] but in the reign of Charles I the +scheme of Cornelius Vermuyden was more successful. His system, +however, was defective, and in the reign of Charles II the Bedford +Level was in a lamentable state and in danger of reverting to its +primitive condition. Many of the works too were destroyed by the +'stiltwalkers', and in 1793 Maxwell states that out of 44,000 acres of +fen land in Huntingdonshire only 8,000 or 10,000 were productive[281]; +and in 1794 Stone tells us that the commons round the Isle of +Axholme were chiefly covered with water.[282] Still to Vermuyden and +his contemporaries must be assigned the credit of the first +comprehensive scheme for rescuing these fertile lands from the waters +that covered them. + +At the commencement of this important century an old calendar of +1606[283] clearly sets forth the farming work of the year:-- + +January and February are the best months for ploughing for peas, +beans, and oats, and to have peas soon in the year following sow them +in the wane of the moon at S. Andrewstide before Christmas; which may +be compared to Tusser's advice for February, + + 'Go plow in the stubble, for now is the season + For sowing of fitches of beans and of peason.' + +'Clean grounds of all such rubbish as briars, brambles, blackthorns, +and shrubbs' (then more often choking the ground than now), which are +to be fagoted as good fuel for baking and brewing. + +'Do not plough in rainy weather, for it impoverisheth the earth.' + +March and April. Take up colts from grass to be broken. Sow beans, +peas, and oats. In these months are all grounds where cattle went in +the last winter to be furthed (apparently managed) and cleared and the +mole-hills scattered, that the fresh spring of grass may grow better. +All hedges and ditches to be made betwixt 'severals', evidently +enclosures as distinguished from common fields. From March 25 to May 1 +summer pastures are to be spared, that they may have time to get head +before summer cattle be put in. In the meantime such cattle are to be +bestowed in meadows till May Day, and after that date such meadows are +to be cleansed and spared until the crops of hay be taken off. From +now till midsummer sell fat cattle and sheep, and with the money buy +lean cattle and sheep. Sow barley. + +May and June. Sort all cattle for their summer pasture on May Day, +viz. draught oxen by themselves, milch cows by themselves, weaning +calves, yearlings, two-year-olds, three- and four-year-olds, every +sort by themselves, which being divided in pasture fitting for them +will make larger and fairer cattle. Separate the horses in the same +way. Wash sheep and shear four or five days after, which done the wool +is to be well wound and weighed, and safely laid up in some place +where there is not too much air or it will lose weight, nor where it +is damp or it will increase too much in weight. Cleanse winter corn +from thistles and weeds. + +July and August. First of all comes hay-making. In August wean lambs, +and put them in good pasture, and in winter put them in fresh pasture +until spring, and then put them with the 'holding' sheep. + +In these months is corn to be 'shornne or mowen downe' (the writer, it +is to be noticed, has no preference for either method); and after the +corn is carried put draught horses and oxen into the averish (corn +stubble), to ease other pastures; and after them put hogs in. Gather +crabs in woods and hedgerows for making verjuice. + +September and October. Have all plows and harrows neat and fit for +sowing of wheat, rye, mesling (wheat and rye mixed), and vetches.[284] + +Pick hops. Buy store cattle, both steers and heifers, of three or four +years old, which being well wintered at grass, or on straw at the barn +doors, will be the sooner fed the summer following, and they will +sooner feed after straw than grass. + +From October to May are calves to be reared, because then they be more +hardly bred and become the stronger cattle. Feed brawns, bacons, +lards, and porkets on mast if there is any, if not on corn. 'In these +months cleanse poundes or pools, this season being the driest;' an +extraordinary assertion, unless the climate has changed, seeing that +according to the monthly averages from 1841-1906, taken at the Royal +Observatory, Greenwich, October is the wettest month in the year.[285] + +November and December. Sort all kinds of sheep until Lady Day, viz. +wethers by themselves, and weaning lambs by themselves; and do not put +rams to the ewes before S. Lukestide, October 18, for those lambs fall +about March 25, and if they fall before then the scarcity of grass and +the cold will so nip and chill them that they will die or be +weaklings. It is good at this time to take draught cattle and horses +from grass into the house before any great storms begin. Thrash corn +now after it hath had a good sweat in the mow, and so dried again, and +give the straw to the draught oxen and cattle at the standaxe or at +the barn doors for sparing of hay, advice which Tusser also gives: + + 'Serve rie straw out first, then wheat straw and peas, + Then ote straw and barley, then hay if ye please.' + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[252] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1896, pp. 77 sq., and Gerard, _Herbal_ (ed. +1633), p. 232. + +[253] About 1684, John Worlidge wrote to Houghton that sheep fatted on +clover were not such delicate meat as the heath croppers, and that +sheep fatten very well on turnips. Houghton, _Collection for +Improvement of Husbandry_, iv. 142. This is said to be the first +notice of turnips being given to sheep. + +[254] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1896, p. 77. One of the proofs of the rarity +of vegetables among the poorer classes of England, especially in the +Middle Ages, is the fact that rents paid in kind never included them. + +[255] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1892, p. 19. + +[256] Chapple, _Review of Risdon's Survey of Devon_ (1785), p. 17 n. +_Victoria County History: Devonshire, Agriculture_. + +[257] Blyth was a great advocate of enclosure. 'Live the commoners do +indeed', he says, 'very many in a mean, low condition, with hunger and +ease. Better do these in Bridewell. What they get they spend. And can +they make even at the year's rent?' + +[258] Rymer, _Foedera_ (Orig. ed.), xix. 512. + +[259] _Manydown Manor Rolls_, Hampshire Record Society, p. 172. + +[260] Thorold Rogers, _Work and Wages_, p. 459. + +[261] Houghton, _Collections, &c._, ii. 448. + +[262] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, v. p. vii. +Cf. p. 139 infra. + +[263] Cullum, _Hawsted_, pp. 196 et seq. In the Hawsted leases, at the +end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries, it is +noteworthy that there were, at a time of repeated complaints against +laying down land to pasture, clauses against breaking up pasture land. + +[264] In 1677 there were complaints of a fall in rents. + +[265] _Manydown Manor Rolls_, Hampshire Record Society, pp. 178 et +seq. + +[266] Rawl. A. 170, No. 101. + +[267] McPherson, _Annals of Commerce_, ii. 483. + +[268] Ibid. ii. 630. + +[269] Ibid. iii. 147. The rental of the lands in England in 1600 was +estimated by Davenant at £6,000,000, in 1688 at £14,000,000; and in +1726 by Phillips at £20,000,000. Ibid. iii. 133. In 1850, Caird +estimated it at £37,412,000. + +[270] With what horror would those legislators have contemplated +England's position to-day, when a temporary loss of the command of the +sea would probably ruin the country. + +[271] 21 Jac. 1, c. 28. + +[272] _Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_ (New Series), +xix. 116. + +[273] _Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_ (New Series), +xix. 127. + +[274] Ibid. 130. + +[275] See article in _Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_ +(New Series), xix. + +[276] Macaulay, _History of England_, ch. iii. + +[277] _Quarterly Journal of Economics_, xvii. 587. Considering that +the legislature of the sixteenth century was against enclosure and +depopulation, it is hard to understand 31 Eliz., c. 7, which forbade +cottages to be erected unless 4 acres of land were attached thereto, +in order to avoid the great inconvenience caused by the 'buyldinge of +great nombers and multitude of cottages, which are daylie more and +more increased in many partes of this realme'. How was it that +cottages had increased so much in rural districts, which are of course +alluded to, in spite of enclosure? + +[278] Harwood, _Erdeswick_. + +[279] Hasbach, _op. cit._ p. 44. + +[280] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 187. + +[281] _General View of Hunts._, p. 8. + +[282] _General View of Lincoln_, p. 29. + +[283] _Farming Calendar_, from an original MS., printed in +_Archaeologia_, xiii. 373 et seq. + +[284] Cf. Tusser: + +'October for wheat-sowing calleth as fast'; + +and + +'When wheat upon eddish (stubble), ye mind to bestowe Let that be the +first of the wheat ye do sowe'; + +and + +'Who soweth in raine, he shall reap it with tears'. + +[285] The writer of the diary probably meant this work should be done +in September. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE GREAT AGRICULTURAL WRITERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.--FRUIT +GROWING. A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ORCHARD + + +The seventeenth century is distinguished by a number of agricultural +writers whose works, as they afford the best account of the farming of +the time, we may be pardoned for freely quoting. The best known of +them were, Sir John Norden, Gervase Markham, Sir Richard Weston, +Blythe, Hartlib, Sir Hugh Plat, John Evelyn, John Worlidge, and +Houghton. + +Sir John Norden printed his _Surveyor's Dialogue_ in 1608, which is in +the form of a conversation between a farmer and a surveyor, the former +at the outset telling the latter that men of his profession were then +very unpopular because 'you pry into men's titles and estates, and +oftentimes you are the cause that men lose their land, and customs are +altered, broken, and sometimes perverted by your means. And above all, +you look into the values of men's lands, wherefore the lords of manors +do reckon their tenants to a higher rent, and therefore not only I but +many poore tenants have good cause to speak against the +profession'.[286] + +The surveyor attributes the increase in prices to farmers outbidding +one another for farms, for the rents of farms and prices grow +together; a statement which seems to have been quite true and disposes +of the assertion that the landlords raised the rents unfairly, for +they were quite entitled to what rent they could get in the open +market, the farmers being presumably wise enough not to offer rents +which would preclude a profit. He further blames the farmer of his day +for being discontented with his lot: in former times 'farmers and +their wives were content with mean dyet and base attire and held their +children to some austere government, without haunting alehouses, +taverns, dice, and cards; now the husbandman will be equal to the +yeoman, the yeoman to the gentleman, the gentleman to the squire, and +there is at this day thirty times as much vainely spent in a family of +like multitude and quality as was in former ages'; a complaint that +has been common in all ages. Contrary to what is the practice to-day, +and apparently to common sense, the surveyor recommends that open +drains be made as narrow above as at the bottom, at the most not more +than a foot and a half broad.[287] Hops, he says, were then grown in +Suffolk, Essex, and Surrey, 'in your loose and spongie grounds, +trenched.' 'Carret' roots were raised in Suffolk and Essex, and +beginning to increase in all parts of the realm[288]; but if he +alludes to their cultivation in the open field the statement must be +taken with considerable qualification, as they were not so grown +generally until the end of the eighteenth century or the beginning of +the next. + +Kent was then, as now, the great fruit county of England; 'above all +others I think the Kentishmen be most apt and industrious in planting +orchards with pippins and cherries, especially near the Thames about +Feversham and Sittingbourne.' But Devon and Hereford were also famous; +Westcote about 1630 says the Devonshire men had of late much enlarged +their orchards, and 'are very curious in planting and grafting all +kinds of fruit'[289]; and John Beale in 1656 tells us Hereford 'is +reputed the orchard of England'[290]; while Hartlib says there were +many orchards in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.[291] He calls +'Tandeane' near Taunton the Paradise of England, where the husbandry +was excellent, the land fruitful by nature and improved by the art and +industry of the farmers; 'they take extraordinary pains in soyling, +ploughing, and dressing their lands, and after the plow there goeth +some three or four with mattocks to break the clods and to draw up the +earth out of the furrows that the lands may lye round, and that the +water annoy not the seed (the water evidently often lying long in the +furrows between the great high ridges), and to that end they most +carefully cut gutters and trenches in all places. And for the better +enriching of their ploughing lands they cut up, cast, and carry in the +unplowed headlands and places of no use. Their hearts, hands, eyes, +and all their powers concurre in one to force the earth to yield her +utmost fruit; and the crops of wheat that rewarded this industry were +sometimes 8 and 10 quarters to an acre. + +A short pamphlet called the _Fruiterer's Secrets_, published in London +in 1604, imparts some interesting and curious information about fruit +growing.[292] There were then four sorts of cherries in England, +Flemish,[293] English, Gascoyne, and black, and the preserving of them +from birds, always a burden on the grower, the author says can be done +by a gun or a sling; the worst enemies being jays and bullfinches, who +ate stones and all. Stone fruit should be gathered in dry weather, and +after the dew is off, for if gathered wet it loses colour and becomes +mildewed. If nettles newly gathered are laid at the bottom of the +basket and on the top of the fruit, they will hasten the ripening of +fruit picked unripe, and make it keep its colour. + +Those English farmers who still shake their apples from the trees to +fall and be bruised on the ground had better listen to the careful +directions for placing the ladder on the trees where it will do no +damage, as to the use of the gathering hook so that the branches can +be brought within easy reach of the picker on his ladder, the wearing +of a gathering apron, and the emptying of it gently into the baskets. +Green fern has the same effect on pears packed for carriage as nettles +on stone fruit; while apples should be packed in wheat, or better +still in rye straw. For long journeys the American system of packing +in barrels is anticipated, the apples being carefully put in by hand, +and the barrels lined at both ends with straw, but not at the sides to +avoid heating, while holes should be bored at either end to prevent +heat. Pippins, John Apples, Pearmains, and other 'keepers' need not be +turned until the week before Christmas, and again at the end of March, +when they must be turned oftener; but never touch fruit during a frost +or a thaw, or in rainy weather, or it will turn black. + +Hartlib, a few years after, reckoned no less than 500 sorts of apples +in England, though doubtless many of these were identical, since the +same apple often has two or three names in one parish. The best for +the table were the Jennetings, Harvey Apple, Golden Pippin, Summer and +Winter Pearmains, John Apple, &c.; for cider the Red Streak (the great +favourite), Jennet Moyle, Eliot, Stocking Apple, &c. He was told that +in Herefordshire a tenant bought the farm he rented with the fruit +crop of one year; £10 to £15 having been given per acre for cherries +and more for apples and pears. Pears for the table were the Windsor, +'Burgamet,' 'Boon Christians'! Greenfield, and others; and for perry, +which John Beale, a well-known writer of the day considered 'a weak +drink, fit for our hindes and generally refused by our gentry as +breeding wind in the stomack', the Horse Pear, Bosbury, Choak, +&c.[294] There were many kinds of plums, among them the Mistle Plum, +Damazene, Violet, and Premorden. + +Four kinds of grafting were practised: in the cleft, and in the bark, +the two most usual ways; shoulder or whip grafting, and grafting by +approach,[295] the last 'where the stock you intend to graft on and the +tree from which you take your graft stand so near together that they +may be joined, then take the sprig you intend to graft and pare away +about three inches in length of the rind and wood near unto the very +pith, and cut also the stock on which you intend to graft the same +after the same manner that they may evenly join each other, and so +bind them and cover them with clay or wax.' Inoculation was also +practised, 'when the sap is at the fullest in the summer, the buds you +intend to inoculate being not too young but sufficiently grown.' For +transplanting the middle of October is recommended, and the wise +advice added, 'plant not too deep,' and in clay plant as near the +surface as possible, for the roots will seek their way downward but +rarely upward; and in transplanting 'you may prune the branches as +well as the roots of apples and pears, but not of plums.' The best +distance apart in an orchard for apples and pears was considered to be +from 20 to 30 feet, the further apart the more they benefit from the +sun and air, a piece of advice which many a subsequent planter has +neglected. For cherries and plums 15 to 20 feet was thought right. +Worlidge's directions for pruning are minute and careful, and should +be well hammered into many slovenly farmers to-day. + +Cider-making was performed much as it is in old-fashioned farms +to-day, by mashing the apples in a trough by means of a millstone set +edgeways, and then pressing the juice out through hair mats, the +juice, says Hartlib, 'having been let stand a day or two and the black +scum that ariseth in that time taken off they tunne it, and in the +barrels it continueth to work some days longer, just as beer useth to +do.[296] Another method was to put the fruit in a clean vessel or +trough, and bruise or crush it with beetles, then put the crushed +fruit in a bag of hair-cloth and press it.[297] After the cider was in +the barrels there was placed in them a linen bag containing cloves, +mace, cinnamon, ginger, and lemon peel which was said to make the +cider taste as pleasantly as Rhenish wine. + +Worlidge gives us what is perhaps the first mention of a poultry farm, +and strangely enough it seems to have paid. 'I have been credibly +informed that a good farm hath been wholly stocked with poultry, +spending the whole crop upon them and keeping severall to attend them, +and that it hath redounded to a very considerable improvement'.[298] +Incubators of a very rude sort were used, three or four dozen eggs +being placed in a 'lamp furnace made of a few boards', and hatched by +the heat of a lamp or candle. + +It must strike the reader that the accusation levelled against the +English farmer, of having made little progress in his art from the +Middle Ages to the commencement of the reign of George III is hardly +warranted. Their knowledge and skill in their business were evidently +such as to make considerable progress inevitable, and then as now they +were in some cases assisted by their landlords, as in Herefordshire, +where Lord Scudamore, after the assassination of his friend the Duke +of Buckingham, devoted his energies to the culture of fruit, and with +other public-spirited gentlemen turned that county into 'one entire +orchard', besides improving the pastures and woods[299]; though +Hartlib laments that gentlemen try so few experiments for the +advancement of agriculture, and that both landowners and farmers +instead of communicating their knowledge to each other kept it +jealously to themselves.[300] The chief hindrance to landlord and +tenant was that the heavy hand of ancient custom lay upon them, with +its antiquated communistic system of farming, which still in the +greater part of the land of England utterly prevented good husbandry +and stifled individual effort. It was one of these Herefordshire +gentlemen. Rowland Vaughan, who in 1610 wrote what is probably the +first account of irrigation in England, though the art was mentioned +by Fitzherbert and must have been known in Devon and Hampshire long +before his time; indeed, it is another instance of the then isolation +of country districts that he speaks as if he had made a new discovery. +He tells us that 'having sojourned two years in his father's house, +wearied in doing nothing and fearing his fortunes had been overthrown, +he cast about what was best to be done to retrieve his reputation'. +And one day he saw from a mole-hill on the side of a brook on his +property a little stream of water issuing down the working of the +mole, which made the ground 'pleasing green', and from this he was led +on to what he calls 'the drowning of his lands'. This was so +successful that he improved the value of his estate from £40 to £300 a +year, and his neighbours, who of course had first scoffed at him, came +to learn from him. Not many years after 'drowning' was said to have +become one of the most universal and advantageous improvements in +England.[301] Vaughan says that he had counted as many as 300 persons +gleaning in one field after harvest, and that in the mountains near +eggs were 20 a penny, and a good bullock 26s. 3d., but this was a +backward region.[302] + +Between 1617 and 1621 the price of wheat fell from 43s. 3d. to 21s. a +quarter, and immediately affected the payment of rent.[303] Mr. John +Chamberlain, in February, 1620, wrote to Sir Dudley Carleton, 'We are +here in a strange state to complain of plenty, but so it is that corn +beareth so low a price that farmers are very backward to pay their +rents and in many places plead disability: for remedy whereof the +Council have written letters into every shire to provide a granary +with a stock to buy corn and keep it for a dear year.' Sir Symonds +D'Ewes notes in his diary that 'at this time (1621) the rates of all +sorts of corn were so extremely low as it made the very prices of land +fall from twenty years' purchase to sixteen or seventeen. For the best +wheat was sold for 2s. 8d. and 2s. 6d. the bushel, the ordinary at 2s. +Barley and rye at 1s. 4d. and 1s. 3d. the bushel, and the worser of +those grains at a meaner rate, the poorer sort that would have been +glad but a few years before of coarse rye bread, did now usually +traverse the markets to find out the finer wheats as if nothing else +would please their palates'. Instead of being glad that they were for +once having a small share of the good things of this world, he +rejoices that their unthankfulness and daintiness was soon punished by +high prices and dearness of all sorts of grain.[304] The year 1630 was +the commencement of a series of dear seasons, when for nine +consecutive years the price of wheat did not fall below 40s. a quarter +and actually touched 86s. The restraints laid on corn-dealers had, +since the principles of commerce were being better understood, been +modified in 1624, but the high prices revived the old hatred against +them, and we find Sir John Wingfield writing from Rutland that he has +'taken order that ingrossers of corne shall be carefullie seen unto +and that there is no Badger (corn-dealer) licensed to carry corne out +of this countrye nor any starch made of any kind of graine'. He adds +that he had 'refrayned the maulsters from excessive making of mault, +and had suppressed 20 alehouses'.[305] However, the senseless policy +of preventing trade in corn received a severe blow from the statute 15 +Car. II, c. 7, which enacted that when corn was under 48s. persons +were to be allowed to buy and store corn and sell the same again +without penalty, provided they did not sell it in the same market +within three months of buying it, a statute which Adam Smith said +contributed more to the progress of agriculture than any previous law +in the statute book. + +Gervase Markham, who was born about 1568 and died in 1637, gives us a +description of the day's work of the English farmer. He is to rise at +four in the morning, feed his cattle and clean his stable. While they +are feeding he is to get his harness ready, which will take him two +hours. Then he is to have his breakfast, for which half an hour is +allowed. Getting the harness on his horses or cattle, he is to start +by seven to his work and keep at it till between two and three in the +afternoon. Then he shall bring his team home, clean them and give them +their food, dine himself, and at four go back to his cattle and give +them more fodder, and getting into his barn make ready their food for +next day, not forgetting to see them again before going to his own +supper at six. After supper he is to mend shoes by the fireside for +himself and his family, or beat and knock hemp and flax, or pitch and +stamp apples or crabs for cider or verjuice, or else grind malt, pick +candle-rushes, or 'do some husbandry office within doors till it +befall eight o'clock'. Then he shall take his lantern, visit his +cattle once more, and go with all his household to rest. The farm +roller of this time, according to Markham, was made of a round piece +of wood 30 inches in circumference, 6 feet long, having at each end a +strong pin of iron to which shafts were made fast.[306] He mentions +wooden and iron harrows, but this refers only to the tines, the wooden +ones being made of ash. From an illustration of a harrow which he +gives, it appears it was much like Fitzherbert's and many used to-day: +a wooden frame, with the teeth set perhaps more closely than ours; the +single harrow 4 feet square drawn by one horse, the double harrow 7 +feet square by two oxen at least. Wheat he says, when the land is dug +15 inches deep, and the seed dibbled in, will produce twelve times as +much as when ploughed; but he admits the 'intricacy and trouble' of +this method.[307] As to the question of mowing or reaping corn, he is +of opinion that though 'it is a custom in many countries of this +kingdom not to sheare the wheat but to mow it, in my conceit it is not +so good, for it both maketh the wheate foule and full of weede'. +Barley, however, should be mown close to the ground, though many reap +it; oats too were to be mown. His directions for planting an +orchard[308] are interesting, both as showing the kinds of fruit then +grown, the number of different sorts planted together, and the growth +of the olive in England.[309] The orchard, he says, should be a +square, divided into four quarters by alleys, and in the first quarter +should be apples of all sorts, in the second pears and wardens of all +sorts, in the third quinces and chestnuts, in the fourth medlars and +services. A wall is the best fence, and on the north wall, 'against +which the sunne reflects, you shall plant the abricot, verdochio, +peache, and damaske plumbe; against the east side the white muskadine +grape, the pescod plumbe, and the Emperiale plumbe; against the west, +the grafted cherries and the olive tree; and against the south side +the almond and the figge tree.' As if this extraordinary mixture were +not enough, 'round about the skirts of the alleys' were to be planted +plums, damsons, cherries, filberts and nuts of all sorts, and the +'horse clog' and 'bulleye', the two latter being inferior wild plums. +Plums were to be 5 feet apart, apples and other large fruit 12 feet. + +Young trees should be watered morning and evening in dry summers, and +old ones should have the earth dug away from the upper part of the +roots from November to March, then the earth, mixed with dung or soap +ashes, replaced. Moss was carefully to be scraped off the trees with +the back of an old knife, and, to prevent it, the trees manured with +swine's dung. Minute distinctions are given as to pruning and washing +the trees with strong brine of water and salt, either with a garden +pump placed in a tub or with 'squirtes which have many hoales', the +forerunner of modern spraying. + +Cider was then mostly made in the west, as in Devonshire and Cornwall, +and perry in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire; but he leaves out +Herefordshire, where it was certainly made at this time.[310] + +A curious help to fattening beasts, says Markham, is a lean horse or +two kept with them, for the beasts delight to feed with them. +Fattening cattle were to have first bite at the pastures, then draught +cattle, and then sheep; after Midsummer, when there is an +extraordinary sweetness in the grass, suffer the cattle to eat the +grass closer till Lammas (August 1). Though some do not hold with him, +he thinks reading and writing not unprofitable to a husbandman, but +not much material 'to his bailiff'; for there is more trust in an +honest score chalked on a trencher than 'in a commen writen scrowle'. +Landowners derived a good income from their woods and coppices. An +acre of underwood of twenty-one years' growth, was at this time worth +from £20 to £30; of twelve years' growth, £5 to £6; but on many of the +best lands it was only cut every thirty years.[311] + +In 1742-3 oak timber was worth from 15d. to 18d. per cubic foot and +ash about 10d. During the Napoleonic war oak sold for 4s. 6d. a foot. + +In Blyth's _Improver Improved_ we have one of the first accounts of +covered drains. The draining trench was to be made deep enough to go +the bottom of the 'cold spewing moist water' that feeds the flags and +the rushes; as for the width 'use thine own liberty' but be sure make +it as straight as possible. The bottom was to be filled in with +faggots or stones to a depth of 15 inches, a method in some parts +retained till comparatively modern times, with the top turf laid upon +them grass downward, and the drain filled in with the earth dug out of +it. + +A country gentleman at this date could keep up a good establishment on +an income which to-day would compel him to live economically in a +cottage. From the accounts of Mr. Master, a landowner near +Chiselhurst, it appears that a man with an income of £300 or £400 a +year could live in some luxury, keep a stud of horses, and a +considerable number of servants.[312] Some of them had no scruples +about adding to their incomes by turning corn-dealers, even selling +such small quantities as pecks of peas, bushels of rye, and half pecks +of oatmeal. From the accounts of one of them, Henry Best,[313] of +Elmswell, we learn many valuable details concerning farming in +Yorkshire about 1641. It was the custom to put the ram to the ewes +about October 18, but Best did so about Michaelmas, and generally used +one ram to 30 or 40 ewes, and he considered it necessary that the ewes +should be two-shear. 'Good handsome ewes', he says, could have been +bought at Kilham fair for 3s. 6d. each, a price far below the average +of the time. As for wages, mowers of grass had 10d. a day, and found +their own food and their scythes, which cost them about 2s. 3d. each. +Haymakers got 4d. a day, and had to 'meat themselves' and find their +own forks and rakes. Shearers or reapers were paid from 8d. to 10d., +and found their own sickles; binders and stackers, 8d.; mowers of +'haver', or oats, 10d., a good mower cutting 4 acres a day. In 1641 he +sold oats for 14s. a quarter, best barley for 22s., rye 27s. 6d., +wheat 30s.[314] The roads were dreadful, and produce nearly all sent +to market on pack-horses. 'Wee seldome send fewer than 8 horse loads +to the market at a time, and with them two men, for one man cannot +guide the poakes (sacks) of above four horses. When wee sende oats to +the market wee sack them up in 3 bushel poakes and lay 6 bushels on a +horse; when wee sende wheate, rye, or masseldene (rye and wheat) and +barley to market wee put it into mette poakes (2 bushel sacks), +sometimes into half quarter sacks, and these we lay on horses that are +short coupled and well backed.' When the servants got to market they +were charged a halfpenny a horse for stabling and hay, but if they +dined at the inn they paid nothing for their horses, and their dinners +cost them 4d. a head. Butter was sold by the lb., or the 'cake' of 2 +lb., and in the beginning of Lent was 5d. a lb., by April 20, 3d., in +the middle of May, 2-1/2d. When William Pinder took 50 acres of land +'of my Lord Haye' he paid a fine of £60 and a rent of £40; but this +must have been an extremely choice piece of land, for arable land +rented apparently at less than 3s. an acre.[315] The rent of a cottage +was usually 10s. a year, 'though they have not so much as a yard or +any backe side belonging to them.' There is more evidence, if such +were needed, of the beneficial effect of enclosure, which was said to +treble the value of pasture. Good meadow land fetched a great price: +'The medow Sykes is about 5 acres of grounde, and was letten in the +year 1628 at £6 per annum, and in 1635 at £6 13s. 4d. + +The requirements of a foreman on a farm were that he could sow, mow, +stack peas, go well with 4 horses, and be accustomed to marketing; and +for this when hired by the year he received 5 marks, and perhaps half +a crown as earnest money. The next man got 50s., the next 46s. 6d., +the fourth 35s. 'Christopher Pearson had the first year he dwelt here +£3 5s. 0d. wages per annum and 5s. to a God's penny (earnest money); +next year he had £4 wages, and he was both a good seedsman,' before +the invention of drills a very valuable qualification, 'and did sow +all our seed both the years. When you are about to hire a servant you +are to call them aside and talk privately with them concerning their +wage, and if the servants stand in the churchyard they usually call +them aside and walk to the back side of the church and there treat of +their wage. I heard a servant asked what he could do, who made this +answer: + + "I can sowe, + I can mowe, + And I can stacke; + And I can doe + My master too + When my master turns his backe".' + +If we are to judge by the food provided for the thatchers, who were +little better than ordinary labourers, the Yorkshire farm-hand fared +well on plenty of simple food, his three meals a day consisting of +butter, milk, cheese, and either eggs, pies, or bacon, sometimes +porridge instead of milk. + +Probably, however, few country gentlemen were such industrious farmers +as Best; many of them passed their days mostly in hunting and fowling +and their evenings in drinking, though we know too that there were +exceptions who did not care for this rude existence. Deer hunting, and +we must add deer poaching, was the great sport of the wealthy, but the +smaller gentry had to be content with simpler forms of the chase. For +fox hunting each squire had his own little pack, and hunted only over +his own estate and those of his friends. He had also the otter, the +badger, and the hare to amuse him. Fowling was conducted, as in the +Middle Ages, by hawk or net, for the shot gun had not yet come into +use, and was forbidden by an old law.[316] The partridge and pheasant, +as now, were the chief game birds. After the Restoration the country +gentlemen seem to have been infected by the dissipation of the Court, +and farming was left to the tenant farmer and yeoman: 'our gentry', +says Pepys, 'have grown ignorant of everything in good husbandry.' + +The middle of the seventeenth century was the Golden Age of the +yeoman who owned and farmed his land; even at the end of the Stuart +period, when their decline had already begun, Gregory King estimated +their numbers at 160,000 families, or about one-seventh of the +population. The class included all those between the man who owned +freehold land worth 40s. a year and the wealthier yeoman who was +hardly distinguishable from the small gentleman. Owning their own +land they were a sturdy and independent class, and they 'took a jolly +pride in voting as in fighting on the opposite side of the +neighbouring squire'. 'The yeomanry', wrote Fuller, 'is an estate of +people almost peculiar to England;' he 'wears russet clothes but +makes golden payment, having tin in his buttons and silver in his +pocket He seldom goes abroad, and his credit stretches farther than +his travel.' The tenant farmers were nearly as numerous, King +estimating them at 150,000 families; economically they were about on +a level with the yeoman, their social standing, however, was +considerably inferior. + +The greatest improvement of the seventeenth century, the introduction +from Holland of turnips and clover, was over-estimated by its author, +Sir Richard Weston; for he tells his sons that by sowing flax, +turnips, and clover they might in five years improve 500 acres of poor +land so as to bring in £7,000 a year.[317] To bring about this +desirable consummation, he provides his sons with accounts as to the +cost, one of which shows the cost of growing an acre of flax and the +profit thereon, though this gentleman's estimates are clearly +optimistic: + + DR. £ s. d. + + Devonshiring, i.e. paring and burning 1 0 0 + Lime 0 12 0 + Ploughing and harrowing 0 6 0 + 3 bushels of seed 2 0 0 + Weeding 0 1 0 + Pulling and binding 0 10 0 + Grassing the seed from the flax 0 6 0 + Watering, drying, swinging, and beating 4 10 0 + ---------- + £9 5 0 + ========== + + CR. £ s. d. + + 900 lb. of flax 40 0 0 + 9 5 0 + ----------- + Balance profit £30 15 0 + =========== + +Turnips were to come after flax, and were to be given to the cows as +they did in Flanders; that is, wash them clean, put them in a trough +where they were to be stamped together with a spitter or small spade; +and the turnips were to be followed by clover. All these, says Weston, +were already grown in England, but 'there is as much difference +between what groweth here and there as is between the same thing which +groweth in a garden and that which groweth wild in the fields'. +Worlidge soon after recommended that clover be sown on barley or oats +about the end of March or in April, and harrowed in, or by itself; and +says, with optimism equal to Weston's, one acre of clover will feed +you as many cows as 6 acres of ordinary grass and make the milk +richer.[318] + +It has been noticed that the price of wool altered little during the +century, and from the private accounts of Sir Abel Barker[319] of +Hambleton, in the County of Rutland, we learn that in 1642 he sold his +wool to his 'loving friend Mr. William Gladstone' for £1 a tod, though +by 1648 it had gone up to 29s., a good price for those days. During +the Civil War some of Barker's horses were carried off for the service +of the State, and he values them at £8 a piece, a fair price then. +Some years later, for mowing 44 acres of grass he sets down in his +account £2 7s. 0d., for making the same £2 3s. 0d., and stacking it +3s. + +Simon Hartlib, a Dutchman by birth and a friend of John Milton, +published his _Legacy_ in 1651, containing both rash statements and +useful information. We certainly cannot believe him when he states +that pasture employs more hands than tillage. His estimate of a good +crop of wheat was from 12 to 16 bushels per acre, and he speaks +strongly of the great fluctuations in prices, for he had known barley +sell at Northampton at 6d. a bushel, and within 12 months at 5s., and +wheat in London in one year varied from 3s. 6d. to 15s. a bushel. The +enormous number of dovecotes was still a great nuisance, and the +pigeons were reckoned to eat 6,000,000 quarters of grain annually. +Hartlib recommends his countrymen to sow 'a seed commonly called Saint +Foine, which in England is as much as to say Holy Hay,' as they do in +France: especially on barren lands, advice which some of them +followed, and in Wilts., soon after, sainfoin is said to have so +improved poor land that from a noble (6s. 8d.) per acre, the rent had +increased to 30s.[320] They were also to use 'another sort of fodder +which they call La Lucern at Paris for dry and barren grounds'. So +wasteful were they of labour in some parts that in Kent were to be +seen 12 horses and oxen drawing one plough.[321] + +The use of the spade was long looked askance at by English husbandmen; +old men in Surrey had told Hartlib that they knew the first gardeners +that came into those parts to plant cabbages and 'colleflowers', and +to sow turnips, carrots, and parsnips, and that they gave £8 an acre +for their land. The latter statement must be an exaggeration, as it is +equivalent to a rent of about £40 in our money; but we may give some +credence to him when he says that the owner was anxious lest the spade +should spoil his ground, 'so ignorant were we of gardening in those +days.' Though it was not the case in Elizabeth's time, by now the +licorice, saffron, cherries, apples, pears, hops, and cabbages of +England were the best in the world; but many things were deficient, +for instance, many onions came from Flanders and Spain, madder from +Zealand, and roses from France.[322] 'It is a great deficiency in +England that we have not more orchards planted. It is true that in +Kent, and about London, and in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and +Worcestershire[323] there are many gallant orchards, but in other +country places they are very rare and thin, I know in Kent some +advance their ground from 5s. per acre to £5 by this means', and 30 +acres of cherries near Sittingbourne had realized £1,000 in one year. +His recipe for making old fruit trees bear well savours of a time +when old women were still burnt as witches. 'First split his root, +then apply a compost of pigeon's dung, lees of wine, or stale wine, +and a little brimstone'. The tithes of wine in Gloucestershire were +'in divers parishes considerably great', and wine was then made in +Kent and Surrey, notably by Sir Peter Ricard, who made 6 or 8 +hogsheads yearly.[324] There is no doubt that the vine has been grown +in the open in England from very early times until comparatively +recent ones. The Britons were taught to plant it by the Romans in A.D. +280.[325] In Domesday there are 38 examples of vineyards, chiefly in +the south central counties. Neckham, who wrote in the twelfth century, +says the vineyard was an important adjunct to the mediaeval +mansion.[326] William of Malmesbury praised the vines and wine of +Gloucestershire; and says that the vine was either allowed to trail on +the ground, or trained to small stakes fixed to each plant. Indeed, +the mention of them in mediaeval chronicles is frequent. + +Two bushels of green grapes in 1332 fetched 7s. 6d.[327] Richard II +planted vines in great plenty, according to Stow, within the upper +park of Windsor, and sold some part to his people. The wine made in +England was sweetened with honey, and probably flavoured and coloured +with blackberries.[328] At the dissolution of the monasteries there +was a vineyard at Barking Nunnery. 'We might have a reasonable good +wine growing in many places of this realme', says Barnaby Googe, about +1577, 'as doubtless we had immediately after the Conquest, tyll, +partly by slothfulnesse, partly by civil discord long continued, it +was left, and so with time lost.... There is besides Nottingham an +ancient house called Chylwel in which remaineth yet as an ancient +monument in a great wyndowe of glasse, the whole order of planting, +proyning, stamping, and pressing of vines. Upon many cliffes and hills +are yet to be seen the rootes and old remaines of vines.' Plot, in his +_Natural History of Staffordshire_,[329] says 'the vine has been +improved by Sir Henry Lyttelton at Over (Upper) Arley, which is +situate low and warm, so that he has made wine there undistinguishable +from the best French by the most judicious palates, but this I suppose +was done only in some over hot summer, and Dr. Bathurst made very good +claret at Oxon in 1685, a very mean year for the purpose.' In 1720 the +famous vineyard at Bath of 6 acres, planted with the 'white muscadene' +and the 'black Chester grape,' produced 66 hogsheads of wine worth £10 +a hogshead, but in unfavourable years grew very little.'[330] Mr. +Peter Collinson, writing from Middlesex in 1747, says, 'the vineyards +turn to good profit, much wine being made this year in England;' and +again in 1748, 'my vineyards are very ripe; a considerable quantity of +wine will this year be made in England.'[331] However, the attempt +made to grow vines on the undercliff at Ventnor at the end of the +eighteenth century by Sir Richard Worsley ended in dismal failure, and +it is probable that the English climate in its normal years seldom +produced good grapes out of doors whatever it may have done in +exceptionally hot ones, unless we assume that it has changed +considerably, for which there is little ground. + +Hartlib was no friend of commons; they made the poor idle and trained +them for the gallows or beggary, and there were fewest poor where +there were fewest commons,[332] as in Kent--a statement re-echoed by +many observant writers; he also recommends enclosures, because they +gave warmth and consequent fertility to the soil. He tells us that an +effort had been made by James I to encourage the growth of mulberry +trees and the breeding of silkworms, the lords-lieutenant of the +different counties being urged to see to it, but it had little +effect.[333] + +The number of different sorts of wheat was by this time considerable. +Hartlib gives the white, red, bearded ('which is not subject to +mildews as others'); some sorts with two rows, others with four and +six; some with one ear on a stalk, others with two; the red stalk +wheat of Bucks; winter wheat and summer wheat. There were also twenty +varieties of peas that he knew, and the white, black, naked. Scotch, +and Poland oats. Markham adds the whole straw wheat, the great brown +pollard, the white pollard, the organ, the flaxen, and the chilter +wheat. + +There was a sad lack of enterprise in the breeding of stock now and +for many generations before; indeed, it may be doubted if this +important branch of farming, except perhaps in the case of sheep, was +much attended to until the time of Bakewell and the Collings. In +Elizabeth's time a Frenchman had twitted England with having only +3,000 or 4,000 horses worth anything, which was one of the reasons +that induced the Spaniards to invade us.[334] 'We are negligent, too, +in our kine, that we advance not the best species.' + +The size of cattle at this date, however, seems to have been greater +than is often stated. The Report of the Select Committee on the +Cultivation of Waste Lands in 1795, states that the average weight, +dressed, of cattle at Smithfield in 1710 was only 370 lb.,[335] yet +the Household Book of Prince Henry at the commencement of the +seventeenth century says that an ox should weigh 600 lb. the four +quarters, and cost about £9 10s., a sheep about 45 lb., so that the +latter were apparently relatively smaller than the oxen. In 1603 oxen +were sold at Tostock in Suffolk weighing 1,000 lb. apiece, dead +weight.[336] According to the records of Winchester College, the oxen +sold there in the middle of the century averaged, dressed, about 575 +lb.; in 1677, 35 oxen sold there averaged 730 lb. 'Some kine,' it was +said at the end of the century, 'have grown to be very bulky and a +great many are sold for £10 or £12 apiece; there was lately sold near +Bury a beast for £30, and 'twas fatted with cabbage leaves. An ox near +Ripon weighed, dressed, 13-1/4 cwt.'[337] They were, of course, +chiefly valued as beasts of draught, and no doubt the one Evelyn saw +in 1649, 'bred in Kent, 17 foot in length, and much higher than I +could reach,' was a powerful animal for this purpose. The young ones +were taught to draw by yoking two of them, together with two old ones +before and two behind, with a man on each side the young ones, 'to +keep them in order and speak them fair,' for if much beaten they +seldom did well: for the first two or three days they were worked only +three or four hours a day, but soon they worked as long as the older +ones, that is from 6 to 11, then a bait of hay and rest till 1, with +work again till 5, at least in Lancashire. They were kept in the yoke +till nine or ten years old, then turned on to the best grass in May, +and sold to the butcher.[338] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[286] _Surveyor's Dialogue_ (ed. 1608), p. 2. + +[287] _Surveyor's Dialogue_, p. 188. + +[288] Ibid. p. 207. + +[289] _Victoria County History: Devon, Agriculture_. + +[290] _Herefordshire Orchards a Pattern for All England_ (ed. 1724). + +[291] See infra, p. 136. + +[292] These extracts are from the original edition in the Bodleian +Library. + +[293] 'The Flanders cherry excels', says Worlidge, _Syst. Agr._, p. +97. + +[294] Bradley, in 1726, gives a long list of pears all with French +names, hardly any of which are now known in England. + +[295] Worlidge, _Systema Agriculturae_, p. 107. + +[296] _Annotation upon the Legacie of Husbandry_, 1651, p. 105. + +[297] Markham, i. 174 (ed. 1635). + +[298] _Systema Agriculturae_, p. 152. + +[299] Evelyn, _Pomona_ (ed. 1664), p. 2. + +[300] _Compleat Husbandman_ (ed. 1659), p. 75. + +[301] _Most Approved and Long Experienced Waterworks_. London, 1610. + +[302] See Worlidge, _Systema Agriculturae_ (ed. 1669), p. 155. + +[303] Tooke, _History of Prices_, i. 23. + +[304] _Life of Sir S. D'Ewes_, i. 180. + +[305] _Calendar of State Papers, Domestic_, 1629-31, p. 414. + +[306] _Whole Art of Husbandry_ (ed. 1635), i. 50. + +[307] Ibid. i. 100. + +[308] Ibid. i. 121. + +[309] An astonishing statement; cf. Denton, _England in the Fifteenth +Century_, p. 56, Neckham, _De Natura Rerum_, cap. clxvi. and above, p. +93. + +[310] _Whole Art of Husbandry_ (ed. 1635), i. 173. + +[311] _Whole Art of Husbandry_ (ed. 1635), ii. 144. and MS. accounts +of Mr. Chevallier of Aspall Hall, Suffolk. + +[312] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, v. 28. + +[313] _Farming and Account Books of Henry Best of Elmswell_, 1641, +Surtees Society, xxxiii. 157. + +[314] Ibid. p. 99. + +[315] _Farming and Account Books of Henry Best of Elmswell_, 1641. +Surtees Society, xxxiii. 124. Many districts in the north of England +were still much behind the rest of the country. + +[316] Trevelyan, _England under the Stuarts_, 8 sq. Though, as we have +seen, p. 157, the writer of the _Fruiterer's Secrets_ recommends the +gun for scaring birds in 1604. + +[317] _The Husbandry of Brabant and Flanders_ (ed. 1652), p. 18. + +[318] _Systema Agriculturae_, p. 26. + +[319] MS. accounts of Sir Abel Barker, in the possession of G.W.P. +Conant, Esq. + +[320] Worlidge, _Systema Agriculturae_, p. 28. + +[321] _Compleat Husbandman_ (1659), p. 5. + +[322] Ibid. p. 9. + +[323] Cf. supra, p. 136. + +[324] _Compleat Husbandman_ (1659), p. 23. + +[325] _Archaeologia_, i. 324; iii. 53. + +[326] _De Natura Rerum_, Rolls Ser., lxi. + +[327] Denton, _England in the Fifteenth Century_, 57 n. + +[328] Ibid. + +[329] Ed. 1686, p. 380. + +[330] R. Bradley, _A General Treatise of Husbandry_ (ed. 1726), ii. +52. + +[331] Tooke, _History of Prices_ i. 44. Brandy was made in the +eighteenth century from grapes grown in the Beaulieu vineyards in +Hampshire, and a bottle of it long kept at the abbey.--_Hampshire +Notes and Queries_, vi. 62. There are two vineyards to-day, of 2-3/4 +and 4 acres respectively, on the estates of the Marquis of Bute in +Glamorganshire; but a vintage is only obtained once in four or five +years from them, and they are not profitable. + +[332] _Compleat Husbandman_, 1659, p, 42. + +[333] _Compleat Husbandman_, 1659, p. 57. + +[334] Ibid. p. 73. + +[335] In this apparently repeating Davenant's statement. See +McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_, 1852, p. 271. + +[336] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, v. 332. + +[337] Houghton, _Collections for Improvement of Husbandry_, i. 294. + +[338] Ibid., _Collections for Husbandry and Trade_ (ed. 1728), iv. +336. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE EVILS OF COMMON FIELDS.--HOPS.--IMPLEMENTS.--MANURES.--GREGORY +KING--CORN LAWS + + +From what has been said in the preceding pages, it will be gathered +that a vast amount of compassion has been wasted on the enclosure of +commons, for it is abundantly evident from contemporary writers that +there were a large number of people dragging out a miserable existence +on them, by living on the produce of a cow or two, or some sheep and a +few poultry, with what game they could sometimes catch, and refusing +regular work. Dymock, Hartlib's contemporary, questions 'whether +commons do not rather make poore by causing idlenesse than maintaine +them;' and he also asks how it is that there are fewest poor where +there are fewest commons. + +In the common fields, too, there was continual strife and contention +caused by the infinite number of trespasses that they were subject +to.[339] The absence of hedges, too, in these great open fields was +bad for the crops, for there was nothing to mitigate drying and +scorching winds, while in the open waste and meadows the live stock +must have sadly needed shelter and shade, 'losing more flesh in one +hot day than they gained in three cool days.' Worlidge, a Hampshire +man, joins in the chorus of praise of enclosures, for they brought +employment to the poor, and maintained treble 'the number of +inhabitants' that the open fields did; and he gives further proof of +the enclosure of land in the seventeenth century, when he mentions +'the great quantities of land that have within our memories lain open, +and in common of little value, yet when enclosed have proved excellent +good land.' Why then was this most obvious improvement not more +generally effected? Because there was a great impediment to it in the +numerous interests and diversity of titles and claims to almost every +common field and piece of waste land in England, whereby one or more +envious or ignorant persons could thwart the will of the +majority.[340] Another hindrance, he says, was that many roads passed +over the commons and wastes, which a statute was needed to stop. + +In the seventeenth century hop growing was not nearly so common in +England as in the preceding, when Harrison had said, in his +_Description of Britain_, 'there are few farmers or occupiers in the +country which have not gardens and hops growing of their own, and +those far better than do come from Flanders.' There seems, indeed, to +have been a prejudice against the hop; Worlidge[341] says it was +esteemed an unwholesome herb for the use it was usually put to, 'which +may also be supplied with several other wholesome and better herbs.' +John Evelyn was very much against them, probably because he was such +an advocate of cider: 'It is little more than an age,' he says, 'since +hopps transmuted our wholesome ale into beer, which doubtless much +altered our constitutions. That one ingredient, by some not unworthily +suspected, preserving drink indeed, and so by custom made agreeable, +yet repaying the pleasure with tormenting diseases, and a shorter +life, may deservedly abate our fondness for it, especially if with +this be considered likewise the casualties in planting it, as seldom +succeeding more than once in three years.'[342] The City of London +petitioned against hops as spoiling the taste of drink. + +Yet its cultivation is said to have advanced the price of land to £40, +£50, and sometimes £100 an acre, the latter an almost incredible price +if we consider the value of money then. There were not enough planted +to serve the kingdom, and Flemish hops had to be imported, though not +nearly so good as English. A great deal of dishonesty, moreover, was +shown by the foreign importers, so that in 1603 a statute (1 Jac. I, +c. 18) was passed against the 'false packinge of forreine hops,' by +which it appears that the sacks were filled up with leaves, stalks, +powder, sand, straw, wood, and even soil, for increasing the weight, +by which English growers it is said lost £20,000 a year. Such hops +were to be forfeited, and brewers using them were to forfeit their +value. The chief cause of their decrease was that few farmers would +take the trouble and care required to grow them, in spite of the often +excellent prices, which at Winchester at this date averaged from 50s. +to 80s. a cwt., sometimes, however, reaching over 200s., as in 1665 +and 1687, though then as now they were subject to great fluctuations, +and in 1691 were only 31s. Many, too, were discouraged by the fact +'they are the most of any plant that grows subject to the various +mutations of the air, mildews sometimes totally destroying them,' no +doubt an allusion to the aphis blight. Hop yards were often protected +at this early date by hedges of tall trees, usually ash or poplar, the +elm being disapproved of as contracting mildews. Markham[343] says +that Hertfordshire then contained as good hops as he had seen +anywhere, and there the custom was 250 hills to every rood, 'and every +hill will bear 2-1/2 lb., worth on an average 4 nobles a cwt. (a noble += 6s. 8d.);' hills were to be 6 ft. apart at least, poles 16 to 18 ft. +long and 9 or 10 inches in circumference at the butt, of ash, oak, +beech, alder, maple or willow. + +Some planted the hills in 'plain squares chequerwise, which is the +best way if you intend to plough with horses between the hills. Others +plant them in form of a quincunx, which is better for the hop, and +will do very well where your ground is but small that you may overcome +it with either the breast plough or spade.' The manure recommended by +Worlidge was good mould, or dung and earth mixed. The hills were like +mole-hills 3 feet high, and sometimes were large enough to have as +many as 20 poles, so that some hop yards must have looked very +different then from what they do now, even when poles are retained; +but from two to five poles per hill was the more usual number. +Cultivation was much the same as in Reynold Scott's time, and picking +was still done on a 'floor' prepared by levelling the hills, watering, +treading, and sweeping the ground, round which the pickers sat and +picked into baskets, but the hop crib was also used. + +It was considered better not to let the hops get too ripe, as the +growers were aware of the value of a fresh, green-looking sample; and +Worlidge advises the careful exclusion of leaves and stalks, though +Markham does not agree with him. Kilns were of two sorts: the English +kiln made of wood, lath, and clay; the French of brick, lime, and +sand, not so liable to burn as the former and therefore better.[344] +One method of drying was finely to bed the kiln with wheat straw laid +on the hair-cloth, the hops being spread 8 inches thick over this, +'and then you shall keepe a fire a little more fervent than for the +drying of a kiln full of malt,' the fire not to be of wood, for that +made the hops smoky and tasted the beer, but of straw! Worlidge, +strangely, recommended the bed of the kiln to be covered with tin, as +much better than hair-cloth, for then any sort of fuel would do as +well as charcoal, since the smoke did not pass through the hops. + +Besides Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Leicestershire, +and Rutlandshire; Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire were recommended by +Markham for hop growing, the great hop counties of to-day being passed +over by him. + +The growth of hemp and flax had by this time considerably decayed, +owing to the want of encouragement to trade in these commodities, the +lack of experience in growing them, and the tithes which in some years +amounted to more than the profits.[345] An acre of good flax was worth +from £7 to £12; but if 'wrought up fit to sell in the market' from £15 +to £20. + +Woad was considered a 'very rich commodity', but according to Blyth it +robbed the land if long continued upon it, although if moderately used +it prepared land for corn, drawing a 'different juice from what the +corn requires'. It more than doubled the rent of land, and had been +sold at from £6 to £20 a ton, the produce of an acre. John Lawrence, +who wrote in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, says woad +was in his time cultivated by companies of people, men, women, and +children, who hired the land, built huts, and grew and prepared the +crop for the dyer's use, then moved on to another place.[346] + +There were proofs that man's inventive genius was at work among farm +implements. Worlidge mentions[347] an engine for setting corn, +invented by Gabriel Plat, made of two boards bored with wide holes 4 +in. apart, set in a frame, with a funnel to each hole. It was fitted +with iron pins 5 in. long to 'play up and down', and dibble holes into +which the corn was to go from the funnels. This machine was so +intricate and clumsy that Worlidge found no use for it. However, he +recommends another instrument which certainly seems to anticipate +Tull's drill, though Tull is said to have stated when Bradley showed +him a cut of it that it was only a proposal and it never got farther +than the cut.[348] It consisted of a frame of small square pieces of +timber 2 inches thick; the breadth of the frame 2 feet, the height 18 +inches, length 4 feet, placed on four good-sized wheels. In the middle +of the frame a coulter was fixed to make a furrow for the corn, which +fell through a wooden pipe behind, that dropped the corn out of a +hopper containing about a bushel, the fall of the corn from the hopper +being regulated by a wooden wheel in its neck. The same frame might +contain two coulters, pipes, and hoppers, and the instrument could be +worked with one horse and one man. It was considered a great advance +on sowing broadcast, and by the use of it 'you may also cover your +grain with any rich compost you shall prepare for that purpose, either +with pigeon dung, dry or granulated, or any other saline or lixirial +(alkaline, or of potash) substance, which may drop after the corn from +another hopper behind the one that drops the corn, or from a separate +drill'. The corn thus sown in rows was found easier to weed and hoe, +so that it is clear that this advantage was well understood before +Tull's time. + +There was a great diversity of ploughs at this date, almost every +county having some variation.[349] The principal sorts were the +double-wheel plough, useful upon hard land, usually drawn with horses +or oxen two abreast, the wheels 18 in. to 20 in. high. The one-wheel +plough, which could be used on almost any sort of land; it was very +'light and nimble', so that it could be drawn by one horse and held by +one man, and thus ploughed an acre a day. + +Then there was a 'plain plough without either wheel or foot', very +easy to work and fit for any lands; a double plough worked by four +horses and two men, of two kinds, one ploughing a double furrow, the +other a double depth. + +There were also ploughs with a harrow attached, others constructed to +plough, sow, and harrow, but not of much value; and a turfing plough +for burning sod. Carts and waggons were of many sorts, according to +the locality, the greater wheels of the waggon being usually 18 feet +in circumference the lesser 9 feet. A useful implement was the +trenching plough used on grass land to cut out the sides of trenches +or drains, with a long handle and beam and with a coulter or knife +fixed in it and sometimes a wheel or wheels. The following is a list +of other implements then considered necessary for a farm. + + _For the field._ + + Harrows Mole spear Beetles + Forks Mole traps Roller + Sickles Weedhooks Cradle scythe + Reaphooks Pitchforks Seedlip[350] + Sledds Rakes + + _For the barn and stable._ + + Flails Pannels (pillions) Pails + Winnowing fan Pack-saddles Mane combs + Sieves Cart lines Goads + Sacks Ladders Yokes + Bins Corn measures Wanteyes[351] + Curry combs Brooms Suffingles (surcingles?) + Whips Skeps (baskets) Screens for corn. + Harness + + _For the meadows and pastures._ + + Scythes Pitchforks Cutting spade for hayrick + Rakes Fetters and clogs Horse-locks. + Besides many tools. + +A considerable variety of manures were in use, chalk, lime, marl, +fuller's earth, clay, sand, sea-weed, river-weed, oyster shells, fish, +dung, ashes, soot, salt, rags, hair, malt dust, bones, horns, and the +bark of trees. Of the oyster shells Worlidge says, 'I am credibly +informed that an ingenious gentleman living near the seaside laid on +his lands great quantities, which made his neighbours laugh at him (as +usually they do at anything besides their own clownish road or custom +of ignorance),' and after a year or two's exposure to the weather +'they exceedingly enriched his land for many years after.' The bones +then used were marrow-bones and fish bones, or 'whatever hath any +oiliness or fatness in it', but the bones of horses and other animals +were also used, burnt before being applied to the land, crushing not +being thought of till many years after. + +In 1688 Gregory King,[352] who was much more accurate than most +statisticians of his time, gave the following estimate of the land of +England and Wales:-- + + Acres. Per acre. + + Arable 9,000,000 worth to rent 5s. 6d. + Pasture and meadow 12,000,000 " " 8s. 8d. + Woods and coppices 3,000,000 " " 5s. + Forests and parks 3,000,000 " " 3s. 8d. + Barren land 10,000,000 " " 1s. + Houses, gardens, churches, &c. 1,000,000 + Water and roads 1,000,000 + ---------- + Total: 39,000,000 + +He valued the live stock of England and Wales at £18-1/4 millions, and +estimated the produce of the arable land in England at: + + Million Value + bushels. per bushel. + + Wheat 14 3s. 6d. + Rye 10 2s. 6d. + Barley 27 2s. 0d. + Oats 16 1s. 6d. + Peas 7 2s. 6d. + Beans 4 2s. 6d. + Vetches 1 2s. 6d. + +The same statistician drew up a scheme of the income and expenditure +of the 'several families' in England in 1688, the population being +5-1/2 millions[353]:-- + + No. of + families Class. Income. + in class. + + 160 Temporal lords £3,200 0 0 + 800 Baronets 880 0 0 + 600 Knights 650 0 0 + 3,000 Esquires 450 0 0 + 11,000 Gentlemen 280 0 0 + 2,000 Eminent merchants 400 0 0 + 8,000 Lesser merchants 198 0 0 + 10,000 Lawyers 154 0 0 + 2,000 Eminent clergy 72 0 0 + 8,000 Lesser clergy 50 0 0 + Yeoman: + 40,000 Freeholders of the better sort 91 0 0 + 120,000 Freeholders of the lesser sort 55 0 0 + 120,000 (Tenant) farmers 42 10 0 + 50,000 Shopkeepers and tradesmen 45 0 0 + 60,000 Artisans 38 0 0 + 364,000 Labouring people and outservants 15 0 0 + 400,000 Cottagers and paupers 6 10 0 + +He calculated that the freeholder of the better sort saved on an +average £8 15s. 0d. a year per family of 7; and the lesser sort £2 +15s. 0d. a year with a family of 5-1/2. The tenant farmer with a +family of 5, only saved 25s. a year, while labouring families who, he +said, averaged 3-1/2 (certainly an under estimate), lost annually 7s., +and cottagers and paupers with families of 3-1/4 (also an under +estimate) lost 16s. 3d. a year. It will thus be seen that the tenant +farmers, labourers, and cottagers, the bulk of those who worked on the +land, were very badly off; the tenant farmer saved considerably less +than the artisan. It will also be noticed that the rural population of +England was about three-quarters of the whole.[354] + +The winter of 1683-4 was marked by one of the severest frosts that +have ever visited England. Ice on the Thames is said to have been +eleven inches thick; by Jan. 9 there were streets of booths on it; and +by the 24th, the frost continuing more and more severe, all sorts of +shops and trades flourished on the river, 'even to a printing press, +where the people and ladies took a fancy to have their names printed +and the day and year set down when printed on the Thames.' Coaches +plied, there was bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet plays and +interludes, tippling 'and other lewd places'--a regular carnival on +the water.[355] Altogether the frost which began at Christmas lasted +ninety-one days and did much damage on land, many of the trees were +split as if struck by lightning, and men and cattle perished in some +parts. Poultry and other birds and many plants and vegetables also +perished. Wheat, however, was little affected, as the average price +was under 40s. a quarter. In 1692 a series of very bad seasons +commenced, lasting, with a break in 1694, until 1698, always known as +the 'ill' or 'barren' seasons, and the cause was the usual one in +England, excessive cold and wet. In 1693 wheat was over 60s. a +quarter, and in Kent turnips were made into bread for the poor.[356] +The difference in the price of farm produce in various localities was +striking, and an eloquent testimony to the wretched means of +communication. At Newark, for instance, in 1692-3 wheat was from 36s. +to 40s. a quarter, while at Brentford it touched 76s.; next year in +the same two places it was 32s. and 86s. respectively. In 1695-6 hay +at Newark was 13s. 4d. a ton, at Northampton it was from 35s. to 40s. + +In 1662 was passed the famous statute of parochial settlement, 14 Car. +II, c. 12, which forged cruel fetters for the poor, and is said to +have caused the iron of slavery to enter into the soul of the English +labourer.[357] The Act states, that the reason for passing it was the +continual increase of the poor throughout the kingdom, which had +become exceeding burdensome owing to the defects in the law. Poor +people, moreover, wandered from one parish to another in order 'to +settle where there is the best Stocke, the largest commons or wastes +to build cotages, and the most woods for them to burn and +destroy.'[358] It was therefore determined to stop these wanderings, +and most effectually was it done. Two justices were empowered to +remove any person who settled in any tenement under the yearly value +of £10 within forty days to the place where he was last legally +settled, unless he gave sufficient security for the discharge of the +parish in case he became a pauper. + +It is true that certain relaxations were subsequently made. The Act of +1691, 3 W. & M., c. 2, allowed derivative settlements on payment of +taxes for one year, serving an annual office, hiring for a year, and +apprenticeship; while the Act of 1696, 8 & 9 Wm. III, c. 30, allowed +the grant of a certificate of settlement, under which safeguard the +holder could migrate to a district where his labour was required, the +new parish being assured he would not become chargeable to it, and +therefore not troubling to remove him till there was actual need: but +the statute acted as an effectual check on migration and prevented the +labourer carrying his work where it was wanted.[359] It became the +object of parishes to have as few cottages and therefore as few poor +as possible. In 'close' parishes, i.e. where all the land belonged to +one owner, as distinguished from 'open' ones where it belonged to +several, all the cottages were often pulled down so that labourers +coming to work in it had to travel long distances in all weathers. We +shall see further relaxation in the law in 1795, but it was not until +modern times that this abominable system was destroyed. The +agricultural labourer's difficulty in building a house was aggravated +by the statute 31 Eliz., c. 7, before noticed, which in order to +restrain the building of cottages enacted that none, except in towns +and certain other places, were to be built unless 4 acres of land were +attached to them, under a penalty of £10, and 40s. a month for +continuing to maintain it. This Act was not repealed until the reign +of George III. However, it seems to have been frequently winked at. In +Shropshire, for instance, the fine often was only nominal; in the +seventeenth century orders authorizing the building of cottages on the +waste were freely given by the Court of Quarter Sessions, and orders +were also made by the Court for the erection of cottages +elsewhere.[360] + +At the restoration of Charles II the corn laws had practically been +unaltered since 1571,[361] when it had been enacted that corn might be +exported from certain ports in certain ships at all times when +proclamation was not made to the contrary, on a payment of 12d. a +quarter on wheat and 8d. a quarter on other grain. Now both export and +import were subjected to heavy duties, but these caused such high +prices in corn that they were reduced in 1663; yet high duties were +again imposed in 1673, which continued until the revolution. Then, +owing to good crops and low prices, which brought distress on the +landed interest, a new policy was introduced: export duties were +abolished and the other extreme resorted to, viz. a bounty on export +of 5s. in the quarter as long as the home price did not exceed 48s. At +the same time import duties remained high, and this system lasted till +1773. Never had the corn-growers of England been so thoroughly +protected, yet, owing to causes over which the legislators had no +control, namely bountiful seasons, the prices of wheat for the next +seventy years was from 15 to 20 per cent. cheaper than in the previous +forty. Modern economists have described this system as one of the +worst instances of a class using their legislative power to subsidize +themselves at the expense of the community. As a matter of fact it was +the firm conviction of the statesmen and economists of the time, that +husbandry, being the main industry and prop of England, and the +foundation on which the whole political power of the country was +based, should receive every encouragement. At all events, in many ways +the policy was successful.[362] It encouraged investment in land, and +materially assisted the agricultural improvement for which the +eighteenth century was noted, the export too employed English +shipping, and thus aided industry. Arthur Young said it was the +singular felicity of this country to have devised a plan which +accomplished the strange paradox of at once lowering the price of corn +and encouraging agriculture, for by the system in vogue till 1773 if +corn was scarce it was imported, while if there was a glut at home +export was assisted so that great fluctuations in price were +prevented.[363] It seemed of the utmost importance to men of that time +that England should be self-supporting and independent of possible +adversaries for the necessaries of life; the wisdom of the policy was +never questioned, and was accepted by statesmen of every party.[364] +To blame the landowners for adopting what seemed the wisest course to +every sensible person is merely an instance of partisan spite. + +At the Peace of Paris in 1763 the question as to whether England or +France was to be the great colonizing country of the world was finally +settled, and a great development of English trade ensued. It was +accompanied by a great increase of population, exports of corn were +largely reduced, and the balance began to incline the other way, so +that the next Act of importance was that of 1773 which permitted the +import of foreign wheat at a nominal duty of 6d. a quarter when it was +over 48s., but prohibited export and the bounty on export when wheat +was at or above 44s. This was the nearest approach to free trade +before 1846. + +The time, however, was not yet ripe for this, and the nominal duty on +imports was too small for landlords and farmers, so that in 1791 the +price when the same nominal duty was to come into force was raised to +54s., while between 50s. and 54s. a duty of 2s. 6d. was imposed, and +under 50s. a duty of 24s. 3d.; and export was allowed without bounty +when wheat was under 46s. Export of corn, however, by this time had +become a matter of little moment, England having definitely ceased to +be an exporting country after 1789. + +Not only were English landowners after the Restoration anxious to +protect their corn, but they also took alarm at the imports of Irish +cattle which they said lowered English rents, so that in 1665 and 1680 +(18 Car. II, c. 2, and 32 Car. II, c. 2) laws were framed absolutely +prohibiting the import of Irish cattle, sheep, and swine, as well as +of beef, pork, bacon, and mutton, and even butter and cheese. The +statute 12 Car. II, c. 4, also virtually excluded Irish wool from +England by duties amounting to prohibition. It was not until 1759 that +free imports of cattle from Ireland were allowed for five years,[365] +a period prolonged by 5 Geo. III, c. 10, and a statute of 1772. + +In 1699 wool was allowed to be shipped from six specified ports in +Ireland to eight specified ports in England,[366] and by 16 Geo. II, +c. 11, wool might be sent from Ireland to any port in England under +certain restrictions. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[339] Worlidge, _Systema Agriculturae_ (ed. 1669), p. 10. + +[340] Ibid. p. 124. + +[341] Ibid. p. 124. + +[342] _Pomona_ (ed. 1664), p. 1. + +[343] Ed. 1635, Book i, p. 175. + +[344] Markham, _op. cit._ i. 188. + +[345] Worlidge, _Systema Agriculturae_, p. 38. Plot, however, in his +_Natural History of Staffordshire_, 1686, says hemp and flax were sown +in small quantities all over the county, p. 109. + +[346] _New System of Agriculture_ (ed. 1726), p. 113. Woad is still +grown 'in some districts in England' (Morton, _Cyclopaedia of +Agriculture_, ii. 1159), but in the Agricultural Returns of 1907 +apparently occupies too small an acreage to entitle it to a separate +mention. + +[347] Worlidge, _Systema Agriculturae_, p. 43. + +[348] Tull, in his _Horseshoeing Husbandry_ (p. 147), speaks of the +drill as if already in use. + +[349] Worlidge, _Systema Agriculturae_, p. 205. + +[350] The seedlip was a long-shaped basket suspended from the sower's +shoulder and was usually made of wood. + +[351] Horse-girths for securing pack-saddles. + +[352] Houghton, about the same time, said England contained 28 to 29 +million acres, of which 12 millions lay waste (_Collections_, iv. II). +In 1907 the Board of Agriculture returned the total area of England +and Wales, excluding water, at 37,130,344 acres. + +[353] Eden, _State of the Poor_, i. 228. + +[354] If we allow that most of the two last classes enumerated were +country folk. For the decline of the yeoman class, see chap. xviii. + +[355] Evelyn's _Diary_. + +[356] Tooke, _History of Prices_, i. 23. + +[357] Fowle, _Poor Law_, p. 63. + +[358] Hasbach, _op. cit._ p. 66, says, 'the abuses complained of in +the preamble (of the Act) did actually exist.' + +[359] Hasbach, _op. cit._ pp. 67, 134, says the statute of 1662 did +not entail so much evil by hindering migration as is generally +supposed. + +[360] _Shropshire County Records_: Abstracts of the orders made by the +Court of Quarter Sessions, 1638-1782, pp. xxiv, xxv. + +[361] See above, p. 70. 13 Eliz., c. 13. McCulloch, _Commercial +Dictionary_ (1852), p. 412. + +[362] Cunningham, _English Industry and Commerce_, ii. 371. + +[363] _Political Arithmetic_, pp. 27-34, 193, 276. + +[364] Lecky, _England in the Eighteenth Century_, vi. 192. + +[365] McPherson, _Annals of Commerce_, iii. 311. + +[366] Ibid. ii. 706; iii. 221, 293. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +1700-1765 + +GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.--CROPS.--CATTLE.-- +DAIRYING.--POULTRY.--TULL AND THE NEW HUSBANDRY.--BAD TIMES. +--FRUIT-GROWING + + +The history of agriculture in the eighteenth century is remarkable for +several features of great importance. It first saw the application of +capital in large quantities to farming, the improvements of the time +being largely initiated by rich landowners whom Young praises rightly +as public-spirited men who deserved well of their country, though +Thorold Rogers attributes a meaner motive for the improvement of their +estates, namely, their desire not to be outshone by the wealthy +merchants.[367] They were often ably assisted by tenant farmers, many +of whom were now men with considerable capital, for whom the smaller +farms were amalgamated into large ones. After the agricultural +revolution of the latter half of the century, the tendency to +consolidate small holdings into large farms grew apace and was looked +on as a decided mark of progress. This agricultural revolution was +largely a result of the industrial revolution that then took place in +England. Owing to mechanical inventions and the consequent growth of +the factory system, the great manufacturing towns arose, whence came a +great demand for food, and, to supply this demand, farms, instead of +being small self-sufficing holdings just growing enough for the +farmer and his family and servants, grew larger, and became +manufactories of corn and meat. The century was also remarkable for +another great change. England, hitherto an exporting country, became +an importing one. The progress of the century was furthered by a band +of men whose names are, or ought to be, household words with English +farmers: Jethro Tull, Lord Townshend, Arthur Young, Bakewell, Coke of +Holkham, and the Collings. Further the century witnessed a great +number of enclosures, especially when it was drawing to its close. +According to the Report of the Committee on Waste Lands in 1797, the +number of Enclosure Acts was: under Anne, 2 Acts, enclosing 1,439 +acres; under Geo. I, 16 Acts, enclosing 17,960 acres; under Geo. II, +226 Acts, enclosing 318,778 acres; from 1760 to 1797, 1,532 Acts, +enclosing 2,804,197 acres. + +The period from 1700 to 1765 has been called the golden age of the +agricultural classes, as the fifteenth century has been called the +golden age of the labourer, but the farmer and landlord were often +hard pressed; rates were low, wages were fair, and the demand for the +produce of the farm constant owing to the growth of the population, +yet prices for wheat, stock, and wool were often unremunerative to the +farmer, and we are told in 1734, 'necessity has compelled our farmers +to more carefulness and frugality in laying out their money than they +were accustomed to in better times.'[368] The labourer's wages varied +according to locality. The assessment of wages by the magistrates in +Lancashire for 1725 remains, and according to that the ordinary +labourer earned 10d. a day in the summer and 9d. in the winter months, +with extras in harvest, and this may be taken as the average pay at +that date. Threshing and winnowing wheat by piece-work cost 2s. a +quarter, oats 1s. a quarter. Making a ditch 4 feet wide at the top, 18 +inches wide at the bottom, and 3 feet deep, double set with quicks, +cost 1s. a rood (8 yards), 10d. if without the quick.[369] The +magistrates remarked in their proclamation on the plenty of the times +and were afraid that for the northern part of the county, which was +then very backward, the wages were too liberal. Wheat was, +unfortunately, that year 46s. 1d. a quarter, but a few years before +and after that date it was cheap--20s., 24s., 28s. a quarter--and +fresh meat was only 3d. a lb., so that their wages went a long +way.[370] A considerable portion of the wages was paid in kind, not +only in drink but in food, though this custom became less frequent as +the century went on.[371] + +As for his food, Eden tells us[372] that the diet of Bedford workhouse +in 1730 was much better than that of the most industrious labourer in +his own home, and this was the diet: bread and cheese or broth for +breakfast, boiled beef hot or cold, sometimes with suet pudding for +dinner, and bread and cheese or broth for supper. This must have been +sufficiently monotonous, and we may be sure the labourer at home very +seldom had boiled beef for dinner; but in the north he was much +cleverer than his southern brother in cooking cereal foods such as +oatmeal porridge, crowdie (also of oatmeal), frumenty or barley milk, +barley broth, &c.[373] + +The village of the first half of the eighteenth century contained a +much better graded society than the village of to-day. It had few +gaps, so that there was a ladder from the lowest to the highest ranks, +owing to the existence of many small holders of various degree, soon +to be diminished by enclosure and consolidation.[374] + +There was a great increase in the number of live stock owing to the +spread, gradual though it was, of roots and clover, which increased +the winter food; 'of late years,' it was said in 1739, 'there have +been improvements made in the breed of sheep by changing of rams, and +sowing of turnips, grass seeds, &c.'[375] Crops, too, were improving; +and enclosed lands about 1726 were said to produce over 20 bushels of +wheat to the acre.[376] + +Though the number of Enclosure Acts at the beginning of the century +was nothing like the number at the end, the process was steadily going +on, often by non-parliamentary enclosure, and was approved by nearly +every one. Some, however, were opposed to it. John Cowper, who wrote +an essay on 'Enclosing Commons' in 1732, said, a common was often the +chief support of forty or fifty poor families, and even though their +rights were bought out they were under the necessity of leaving their +old homes, for their occupation was gone; but he says nothing of the +well-known increased demand for labour on the enclosed lands. The +force of his arguments may be gauged from his answer to Lawrence's +statement that enclosure is the greatest benefit to good husbandry, +and a remedy for idleness. On the contrary, says he, who among the +country people live lazier lives than the grazier and the dairyman? +All the dairyman has to do is to call his cows together to be milked! + +Worlidge in 1669 had lamented that turnips were so little grown by +English farmers in the field, and that it was a plant 'usually +nourished in gardens',[377] and in a letter to Houghton in 1684, he is +the first to mention the feeding of turnips to sheep.[378] However, in +1726 it was said that nothing of late years had turned to greater +profit to the farmer, who now found it one of his chief treasures; and +there were then three sorts: the round which was most common, the +yellow, and the long.[379] For winter use they were to be sown from +the beginning of June to the middle of August, on fallow which had +been brought to a good tilth, the seed harrowed in with a bush harrow, +and if necessary rolled. When the plants had two or three leaves each +they were to be hoed out, leaving them five or six inches apart, +though some slovenly farmers did not trouble to do this; but there is +no mention of hoeing between the rows. The fly was already recognized +as a pest, and soot and common salt were used to fight it. Folding +sheep in winter on turnips was then little practised, though Lawrence +strongly recommends it. According to Defoe,[380] Suffolk was +remarkable for being the first county where the feeding and fattening +of sheep and other cattle with turnips was first practised in England, +to the great improvement of the land, 'whence', he says, 'the practice +is spread over most of the east and south, to the great enriching of +farmers and increase of fat cattle.' There were great disputes as to +collecting the tithe, always a sore subject, on turnips; and the +custom seems to have been that if they were eaten off by store sheep +they went tithe free, if sheep were fattened on them the tithe was +paid.[381] + +Clover, the other great novelty of the seventeenth century, was now +generally sown with barley, oats, or rye grass, about 15 lb. per acre. +This amount, sown on 2 acres of barley, would next year produce 2 +loads worth about £5. The next crop stood for seed, which was cut in +August, the hay being worth £9, and the seed out of it, 300 lb., was +sold much of it for 16d. a lb., the sum realized in that year from the +2 acres being £30, without counting the aftermath. At this time most +of the seed was still imported from Flanders.[382] Much of the common +and waste land of England, not previously worth 6d. an acre, had been +by 1732 vastly improved through sowing artificial grasses on it, so +that various people had gained considerable estates.[383] + +Carrots were also now grown as a field crop in places, especially near +London, two sorts being known, the yellow and red, used chiefly by +farmers for feeding their hogs.[384] Of wheat the names were many, but +there were apparently only seven distinct sorts, the Double-eared, +Eggshell, Red or Kentish, Great-bearded, Pollard, Grey, and Flaxen or +Lammas.[385] The growth of saffron had declined, though the English +variety was the best in the world, according to Lawrence, and except +in Cambridgeshire and about Saffron Walden it was little known. + +Though it was still some time before the days of Bakewell, increased +attention was given to cattle-breeding; it was urged that a +well-shaped bull be put to cows, one that had 'a broad and curled +forehead, long horns, fleshy neck, and a belly long and large.'[386] +Such in 1726 was the ideal type of the long-horns of the Midland and +the north, but it was noticed that of late years and especially in the +north the Dutch breed was much sought after, which had short horns and +long necks, the breed with which the Collings were to work such +wonders. The then great price of £20 had been given for a cow of this +breed. Bradley, Professor of Botany at Cambridge, and a well-known +writer on agriculture, divided the cattle of England into three sorts +according to their colour: the black, white, and red.[387] The black, +commonly the smallest, was the strongest for labour, chiefly found in +mountainous countries; also bred chiefly in Cheshire, Yorkshire, +Lancashire, and Derbyshire, sixty years before this, and in those days +Cheshire cheese came from these cattle, apparently very much like the +modern Welsh breed.[388] The white were much larger, and very common +in Lincolnshire at the end of the seventeenth century. They gave more +milk than the black sort but went dry sooner. They were also found in +Suffolk and Surrey. + +The red cattle were the largest in England, their milk rich and +nourishing, so much so that it was given specially to consumptives. +They were first bred in Somerset, where in Bradley's time particular +attention was paid to their breeding, and were evidently the ancestors +of the modern Devons. About London these cows were often fed on +turnips, given them tops and all, which made their milk bitter. They +were also found in Lincolnshire and some other counties, where 'they +were fed on the marshes', and Defoe saw, in the Weald of Kent, 'large +Kentish bullocks, generally all red with their horns crooked inward.' +Bradley gives the following balance sheet for a dairy of nine cows:[389] + + DR. £ s. d. + + 6 months' grass keep at 1s. 6d. per week per head 17 11 0 + 6 months' winter keep (straw, hay, turnips, and + grains) at 2s. per week per head 23 8 0 + --------- + £40 19 0 + ========= + CR. + 13,140 gallons of milk 136 17 6 + 40 19 0 + --------- + Balance (profit) £95 18 6 + ========= + +A correspondent, however, pointed out to Bradley that this yield and +profit was far above the average, which was about £5 a cow, on whom +Bradley retorted that it could be made, though it was exceptional. + +In the eighteenth century the great trade of driving Scottish cattle +to London began, Walter Scott's grandfather being the pioneer. The +route followed diverged from the Great North Road in Yorkshire in +order to avoid turnpikes, and the cattle, grazing leisurely on the +strips of grass by the roadside, generally arrived at Smithfield in +good condition.[390] + +Defoe tells us that most of the Scottish cattle which came yearly +into England were brought to the village of S. Faiths, north of +Norwich, 'where the Norfolk graziers go and buy them. These Scots +runts, coming out of the cold and barren highlands, feed so eagerly on +the rich pasture in these marshes that they grow very fat. There are +above 40,000 of these Scots cattle fed in this county every year. The +gentlemen of Galloway go to England with their droves of cattle and +take the money themselves.'[391] It was no uncommon thing for a +Galloway nobleman to send 4,000 black cattle and 4,000 sheep to +England in a year, and altogether from 50,000 to 60,000 cattle were +said to come to England from Galloway yearly. Gentlemen on the Border +before the Union got a very pretty living by tolls from these cattle; +and the Earl of Carlisle made a good income in this way. + +Cattle were sometimes of a great size. In 1697, in the park of Sir +John Fagg near Steyning, Defoe saw four bullocks of Sir John's own +breeding for which was refused in Defoe's hearing £26 apiece. They +were driven to Smithfield and realized £25 each, having probably sunk +on the way, but dressed they weighed 80 stone a quarter![392] These +weights must have been very exceptional, but go to prove that cattle +then could be grown to much greater size than is generally credited. A +good price for a bullock in the first half of the eighteenth century +was from £7 to £10. + +The best poultry at the same date (1736) were said to be 'the +white-feathered sort', especially those that had short and white legs, +which were esteemed for the whiteness of their flesh; but those that +had long yellow legs and yellow beaks were considered good for +nothing.[393] Care was to be used in the choice of a cock, for those +of the game kind were to be avoided as unprofitable. Bradley gives a +balance sheet for 12 hens and 2 cocks who had a free run in a farmyard +and an orchard:[394] + + DR. £ s. d. + + 39 bushels of barley 3 5 0 + Balance, profit 16 0 + ---------- + £4 1 0 + ========== + + CR. £ s. d. + + Eggs (number unfortunately not given) 1 5 0 + 20 early chickens at 1s. 1 0 0 + 72 late chickens at 6d. 1 16 0 + ---------- + £4 1 0 + ========== + +He also recommends that in stocking a farm of £200 a year the +following poultry should be purchased: + + £ s. d. + + 24 chickens at 4d. 8 0 + 20 geese 1 0 0 + 20 turkeys 1 0 0 + 24 ducks 12 0 + 6 pair of pigeons 12 0 + +The best way to fatten chickens, according to Bradley, was to put them +in coops and feed them with barley meal, being careful to put a small +quantity of brickdust in their water to give them an appetite.[395] + +On this farm were 20 acres of cow pasture besides common, and this +with some turnips kept 9 cows, which gave about three gallons of milk +a day at least, the milk being worth 1d. a quart. His pigs were of the +'Black Bantham' breed, which were better than the large sort common in +England, for the flesh was much more delicate. + +Suffolk was famous for supplying London with turkeys.[396] Three +hundred droves of turkeys, each numbering from 300 to 1000, had in one +season passed over Stratford Bridge on the road from Ipswich to +London. Geese also travelled on foot to London in prodigious numbers +from Norfolk, Suffolk, and the Fen country, often 1,000 to 3,000 in a +drove, starting in August when harvest was nearly over, so that the +geese might feed on the stubble by the way; 'and thus they hold on to +the end of October, when the roads begin to be too stiff and deep for +their broad feet and short legs to march on.' There was, however, a +more rapid method of getting poultry to the great market, by means of +carts of four stages or stories, one above another, to carry the birds +in, drawn by two horses, which by means of relays travelled night and +day, and covered as much as 100 miles in two days and one night, the +driver sitting on the topmost stage. + +Hop growing in 1729, according to Richard Bradley, paid well; he says, +'ground never esteemed before worth a shilling an acre per annum, is +rendered worth forty, fifty, or sometimes more pounds a year by +planting hops judiciously. An acre of hops shall bring to the owner +clear profit about £30 yearly; but I have known hop grounds that have +cleared above £50 yearly per acre.' At this date 12,000 acres in +England were planted with hops. + +The great market for hops was Stourbridge Fair, once the greatest mart +in England and still preserving much of its former importance: 'there +is scarce any price fixed for hops in England till they know how they +sell in Stourbridge Fair.'[397] Thither they came from Chelmsford, +Canterbury, Maidstone, and Farnham, where the bulk of the hops in +England were then grown, though some were to be found at Wilton near +Salisbury, in Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. Round Canterbury +Defoe says there were 6,000 acres of hops, all planted within living +memory[398]; but the Maidstone district was called 'the mother of hop +grounds', and with the country round Feversham was famous for apples +and cherries. + +The finest wool still, it seems, came from near Leominster, where the +sheep in Markham's time were described as small-boned and black-faced, +with a light fleece, and apparently they still had the same appearance +at the beginning of the eighteenth century[399]; and large-boned +sheep with coarser wool were to be found in the counties of Warwick, +Leicester, Buckingham, Northampton, and Nottingham; in the north of +England too were big-boned sheep with inferior wool, the largest with +coarse wool being found in the marshes of Lincolnshire. + +About this time wool had fallen much in price: 'Has nobody told you,' +writes a west country farmer to his absentee landlord in 1737, 'that +wool has fallen to near half its price, and that we cannot find +purchasers for a great part of it at any price whatsoever. When most +of our estates (farms) were taken wool was generally 7d., 8d., or more +by the pound; the same is now 4d. and still falling.'[400] But the +latter price was exceptionally low; Smith[401] gives the following +average prices per tod of 28 lb.: + + 1706 17s. 6d. + 1717-8 23s. to 27s. + 1737-42 11s. to 14s. + 1743 20s. + 1743-53 24s. + +After 1753 it fell again, largely owing to the great plague among +cattle, which brought about a 'prodigious increase of sheep'[402]; +and about 1770 Young[403] favoured corn rather than wool, for there +was always a market for the former, but the foreign demand for cloth +was diminishing, especially in the case of France, besides prohibition +of export kept down the price.[404] Yet although wool was being +deserted for corn it had in Young's time 'been so long supposed the +staple and foundation of all our wealth, that it is somewhat dangerous +to hazard an opinion not consonant to its encouragement'. + +At the end of the century, however, there was a rapid increase in the +price, partly due to increased demand by spinners and weavers who, +owing to machinery, were working more economically; and partly to the +enclosure of commons, and the ploughing up of land for corn.[405] + +Cheshire had long been famous for cheese. Barnaby Googe, in the last +quarter of the sixteenth century, says, 'in England the best cheese is +the Cheshyre and the Shropshyre, then the Banbury cheese, next the +Suffolk and the Essex, and the very worst the Kentish cheese.' Camden, +who died in 1623, tells us that 'the grasse and fodder (in Cheshire) +is of that goodness and vertue that cheeses be made here in great +number, and of a most pleasing and delicate taste such as all England +again affordeth not the like, no though the best dairywomen otherwise +and skillfullest in cheese making be had from hence;' and a little +later it was said no other county in the realm could compare with +Cheshire, not even that wonderful agricultural country Holland from +which England learnt so much.[406] In Lawrence's time Cheddar cheese +was also famous, and there it had long been a custom for several +neighbours to join their milk together to make cheeses, which were of +a large size, weighing from 30 lb. to 100 lb. Good cheese came also +from Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. The Cheshire men sent great +quantities by sea to London, a long and tedious voyage, or else by +land to Burton-on-Trent, and down that river to Hull and then by sea +to London. The Gloucestershire men took it to Lechlade and sent it +down the Thames; from Warwickshire it went by land all the way, or to +Oxford and thence down the Thames to London. Stilton, too, had lately +become famous, and was considered the best of all, selling for the +then great price of 1s. a lb. on the farm, and 2s. 6d. at the Bell +Inn, Stilton, where it seems to have first been sold in large +quantities, though Leicestershire perhaps claims the honour of first +making it.[407] + +The eastern side of Suffolk was, in Defoe's time, famous for the best +butter and perhaps the worst cheese in England, the butter being +'barrelled and sometimes pickled up in small casks'.[408] + +Rabbits were occasionally kept in large numbers for profit; at Auborne +Chase in Wilts, there was a warren of 700 acres surrounded by a +wall--a most effective way of preventing escape, but somewhat +expensive. In winter time they were fed on hay, and hazel branches +from which they ate the bark. They were never allowed to get below +8,000 head, and from these, after deducting losses by poachers, +weazles, polecats, foxes, &c., 24,000 were sold annually. These +rabbits, owing to the quality of the grass, were famous for the +sweetness of their flesh. The proprietor, Mr. Gilbert, began to kill +them at Bartholomewtide, Aug. 24, and from then to Michaelmas obtained +9s. a dozen for them delivered free in London; but those from +Michaelmas to Christmas realized 10s. 6d. a dozen. + +The difference in price at the two periods is accounted for by the +fact that their skins were much better in the latter, and the rabbits +kept longer when killed; they must also have been larger. A skin +before Michaelmas was only worth 1d., but soon after nearly 6d.; and +in Hertfordshire was a warren where rabbit skins with silvery hair +fetched 1s. each.[409] + +We have now reached the period when the result of Jethro Tull's +labours was given to the world, his _Horse-hoeing Husbandry_ appearing +in 1733. It is no exaggeration to say that agriculture owes more to +Tull than to any other man; the principles formulated in his famous +book revolutionized British agriculture, though we shall see that it +took a long time to do it. He has indeed been described as 'the +greatest individual improver agriculture ever knew'. He first realized +that deep and perfect pulverization is the great secret of vegetable +nutrition, and was thus led on to perfect the system of drilling seed +wide enough apart to admit of tillage in the intervals, and abandoning +the wide ridges in vogue, laid the land into narrow ridges 5 feet or 6 +feet wide. He was born at Basildon in Berkshire, heir to a good +estate, and was called to the bar in 1699, but on his marriage in the +same year settled on the paternal farm of Howberry in Oxfordshire. In +his preface to his book he throws a flash of light on country life at +a time when the roads were nearly as bad as in the Middle Ages, so +that they effectually isolated different parts of England, when he +speaks of 'a long confinement within the limits of a lonely farm, in a +country where I am a stranger, having debarred me from all +conversation'.[410] + +He took to agriculture more by necessity than by choice, for he knew +too much 'the inconveniency and slavery attending the exorbitant power +of husbandry servants', and he further gives this extraordinary +character of the farm labourer of his day: ''Tis the most formidable +objection against our agriculture that the defection of labourers is +such that few gentlemen can keep their land in their own hands, but +let them for a little to tenants who can bear to be insulted, +assaulted, kicked, cuffed, and Bridewelled, with more patience than +gentlemen are endowed with.'[411] Tull wrote just before it became the +fashion for gentlemen to go into farming, and laments that the lands +of the country were all, or mostly, in the hands of rack-renters, +whose supposed interest it was that they should never be improved for +fear of fines and increased rents. Gentlemen then knew so little of +farming that they were unable to manage their estates. No doubt his +scathing remarks helped to initiate the well-known change in this +respect, and soon, over all England, gentlemen of education and +position were engaged in removing this reproach from their class. The +same complaint as to their ignorance of matters connected with their +land crops up again during the great French war, but they then had a +good excuse, as they were busy fighting the French. + +Tull invented his drill about 1701 at Howberry. The first occasion for +making it, he says, was that it 'was very difficult to find a man that +could sow clover tolerably; they had a habit to throw it once with the +hand to two large strides and go twice in each cast; thus, with 9 or +10 lb. of seed to an acre, two-thirds of the ground was unplanted. To +remedy this I made a hopper, to be drawn by a boy, that planted an +acre sufficiently with 6 lb. of seed; but when I added to this hopper +an exceeding light plough that made 6 channels eight inches asunder, +into which 2 lb. to an acre being drilled the ground was as well +planted. This drill was easily drawn by a man, and sometimes by a +boy.' + +His invention was largely prompted by his desire to do without the +insolent farm servant whom he has described above, and the year after +it was invented he certainly had his wish, for they struck in a body +and were dismissed: 'it were more easy to teach the beasts of the +field than to drive the ploughman out of his way.' + +His ideas were largely derived from the mechanism of the organ which, +being fond of music, he had mastered in his youth--a rotary mechanism, +which is the foundation of all agricultural sowing implements. His +first invention may be described as a drill plough to sow wheat and +turnip seed in drills three rows at a time, a harrow to cover the seed +being attached. Afterwards he invented a turnip drill, so arranged as +regards dropping the seed and its subsequent covering with soil that +half the seed should come up earlier than the rest, to enable a +portion at least to escape the dreaded fly. He was a great believer in +doing everything himself, and worked so hard at his drill that he had +to go abroad for his health. He was somewhat carried away by his +invention, and asserts that the expense of a drilled crop of wheat was +one-ninth of that sown in the old way, giving the following figures to +prove his assertion: + + _The Old Way_ + £ s. d. + + Seed, 2-1/2 bushels, at 3s. 7 6 + Three ploughings, harrrowing, and sowing 16 0 + Weeding 2 0 + Rent of preceding fallow 10 0 + Manure 2 10 0 + Reaping 4 6 + --------- + £ 4 10 0[412] + ========= + + _The New Way_ + + + Seed, 3 pecks 2 3 + Tillage 4 0 + Drilling 6 + Weeding 6 + Uncovering (removing clods fallen on the wheat) 2 + Brine and lime 1 + Reaping 2 6 + ----- + 10 0 + ===== + +It should be noted that he has omitted to charge rent for the year in +which the crop was grown in both cases. + +He considered fallowing and manure unnecessary, and grew without +manure 13 successive wheat crops on the same piece of ground, getting +better crops than his neighbours who pursued the ordinary course of +farming. His three great principles, indeed, were drilling, reduction +of seed, and absence of weeds, and he saw that dung was a great +carrier of the latter but lacked a due appreciation of its chemical +action. Of course, like all _improvers_, he was met with unlimited +opposition, and on the publication of his book he was assailed with +abuse, which, being a sensitive man, caused him extreme annoyance. His +health was bad, his troubles with his labourers unending, his son a +spendthrift, and he died at his now famous home, Prosperous Farm, near +Hungerford, in 1741, having said not long before his death, 'Some, +allowed as good judges, have upon a full view and examination of my +practice declared their opinion that it would one day become the +general husbandry of England.'[413] Scotland was the first to perceive +the merits of the system, and it gradually worked southwards into +England, but for many years had to fight against ignorance and +prejudice, even so intelligent a man as Arthur Young being opposed to +it. + +Farm leases had by this time assumed their modern form, and +cultivation clauses were numerous. In one of 1732, at Hawsted, the +tenant was to keep the hedges in repair, being allowed bushes and +stakes for so doing. He was also to bestow on some part of the lands +one load of good rotten muck over and above what was made on the farm +for every load of hay, straw, or stover (fodder) which he should carry +off.[414] In another of 1740, he was to leave in the last year of the +tenancy one-third of the arable land summer tilled, ploughed, and +fallowed, for which he was to be paid according to the custom of the +country. In 1753, in the lease of Pinford End Farm, there was a +penalty of £10 an acre for breaking up pasture; a great increase in +the amount of the penalty. All compost, dung, soil, and ashes arising +on the farm were to be bestowed upon it. + +Only two crops successively were to be taken on any of the arable +land, but land sown with clover and rye-grass, if fed off, or with +turnips which were fed on some part of the farm, were not to count as +crops. + +The ashes mentioned were those from wood, which were now carefully +looked after, as it had become the custom to sell them to the +soap-boilers, who came round to every farm collecting them. This is +the earliest mention in a Hawsted lease of rye-grass, clover, and +turnips, though clover and turnips had been first cultivated there +about 1700, and soon spread. + +The winter of 1708-9 was very severe, a great frost lasting from +October until the spring; wheat was 81s. 9d. a quarter, and high +prices lasted until 1715.[415] + +From 1715 to 1765 was an era of good seasons and low prices generally; +in that half-century Tooke says there were only five bad seasons. In +1732 prices of corn were very low, wheat being about 24s. a quarter, +so that we are not surprised to find that its cultivation often did +not pay at all.[416] + +At Little Gadsden in Hertfordshire, in that year a fair season, and on +enclosed land, the following is the balance sheet for an acre: + + DR. £ s. d. + + Rent 12 0 + Dressing (manuring) 1 0 0 + 2-1/2 bushels of seed 7 6 + Ploughing first time 6 0 + " twice more 8 0 + Harrowing 6 + Reaping and carrying 6 6 + Threshing 3 9 + -------- + 3 4 3 + ======== + + CR. £ s. d. + + 15 bushels of wheat (a poor crop, as + 20 bushels was now about the average) 2 2 0 + Straw 11 6 + + 2 13 6 + -------- + _LOSS_ 10 9 + ======== + +On barley, worth about £1 a quarter, the loss was 3s. 6d. an acre; on +oats, worth 13s. a quarter, however, the profit was 21s.; on beans, +26s. 6d., these being that year exceptionally good and worth 20s. a +quarter.[417] Ellis objected to the new mode of drilling wheat +because, he said, the rows are more exposed to the violence of the +winds, rains, &c., by growing apart, than if close together, when the +stalks support each other.[418] This estimate may be compared to that +of Tull for the 'old way' of sowing wheat,[419] and to the following +estimate of fifty years later in Surrey, when wheat was a much better +price:-- + + DR. £ s. d. + + Rent, tithe, taxes 1 0 0 + Team, &c. 1 0 0 + 2 bushels of seed 10 0 + Carting and spreading manure and water furrowing 2 6 + Brining 6 + Weeding 1 6 + Reaping and carrying 9 0 + Threshing and cleaning 7 6 + Binding straw 1 6 + --------- + £3 12 6[420] + ========= + + CR. + 20 bushels at 5s. 5 0 0 + 1-1/2 loads of straw 1 2 6 + --------- + £6 2 6 + ========= + +The profit was thus £2 10s. 0d. an acre, and for barley it was £3 3s. +6d., for oats £1 19s. 10d., for beans £1 13s. 0d.[421] + +This crop of wheat was not very good, as the average in that district +was from 20 to 25 bushels per acre, and Young before this saw crops of +30 bushels per acre growing. The over frequent use of fallows, which +had so long marked agriculture, was in the early half of the +eighteenth century beginning to be strongly disapproved of. Bradley +advocated the continuous cultivation of the ground with different +kinds of crops, 'for I find', he said, 'by experience that if such +crops are sown as are full of fibrous roots, such roots greatly help +to open the parts of grounds inclining to too much stiffness.'[422] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[367] _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_, p. 472. + +[368] See Baker, _Record of Seasons and Prices_, p. 185. + +[369] Eden, _State of the Poor_, iii p. cvii; Thorold Rogers, _Work +and Wages_, p. 396. + +[370] In Herefordshire at this time it was 1-1/2d. per lb. + +[371] Hasbach, _op. cit._ p. 86. + +[372] Eden, _op. cit._ i. 286. + +[373] Ibid. i. 498. + +[374] Hasbach, _op. cit._ p. 71. + +[375] Smith, _Memoirs of Wool_, ii. 93. + +[376] John Lawrence, _New System of Agriculture_, p. 45. In 1712, a +normal season, 48 acres of wheat at Southwick in Hants produced 16 +bushels per acre, 45 acres of barley 12 bushels per acre, 30 acres of +oats 24 bushels per acre; at the same place 240 sheep realized 8s. +each, cows 65s., calves £1, horses £6, hay 25s. a ton (_Hampshire +Notes and Queries_, iii. 120). + +[377] Worlidge, _Systema Agriculturae_, p. 42. + +[378] _Collections_, iv. 142. + +[379] Lawrence, _New System of Agriculture_, p. 109. + +[380] _Tour_ (ed. 1724), i. 87. + +[381] Ellis, _Chiltern and Vale Farming_, p. 353. + +[382] Bradley, _General Treatise_, i. 175. + +[383] Ellis, _Chiltern and Vale Farming_, p. 260. + +[384] J. Lawrence, _New System of Agriculture_, p. 112. + +[385] Ibid. p. 92. About 1757 Lucerne, hitherto little grown in +England, took its place in the rotation of crops. + +[386] Ibid. p. 130. + +[387] _A General Treatise on Husbandry_ (1726), i. 72; cf. c. + +[388] The black cattle seem to have been spread very generally over +England, according to previous writers and to Defoe, who often +mentions them. He saw a 'prodigious quantity' in the meadows by the +Waveney in Norfolk.--_Tour_, i. 97. + +[389] Bradley, _General Treatise_, i. 76. + +[390] Slater, _English Peasantry_, p. 52. + +[391] _Tour_ (ed. 1724), i. (1) 97, and iii. (2) 73. + +[392] Ibid. i. 63. + +[393] J. Lawrence, _New System of Agriculture_, p. 151. + +[394] Bradley, _General Treatise_, i. 110. + +[395] _Country Gentleman and Farmer's Director_ (1726), p. 7. + +[396] Defoe, _Tour_, i. 87. + +[397] Defoe, _Tour_ (3rd ed.), i. 81. + +[398] Defoe, _Tour_ (ed. 1724), ii. 1, 134. + +[399] Bradley, _General Treatise_, i. 160; see also Smith, _Memoirs of +Wool_, ii. 169, where the sheep of Leominster, of Cotteswold, and of +the Isle of Wight are said to be the best in 1719. The great market +for sheep was Weyhill Fair, and Stourbridge Fair was a great wool +market. + +[400] _The West Country Farmer, a Representation of the Decay of +Trade_, 1737. + +[401] _Memoirs of Wool_, ii. 243. + +[402] Ibid. ii. 399. + +[403] _Farmer's Letters_ (3rd ed.), p. 27. + +[404] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, ii. 384. + +[405] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, ii. 458. + +[406] Ormerod, _Cheshire_, i. 129. These words were written about +1656. + +[407] See _Victoria County History: Rutland, Agriculture_. Stilton was +eaten in the same condition as many prefer it now, 'with the mites +round it so thick that they bring a spoon for you to eat them.' + +[408] Defoe, _Tour_, i. (1) 78. Cheshire cheese was 2d. to 2-1/2d. per +lb., Cheddar 6d. to 8d. in 1724, an extraordinary difference. + +[409] Bradley, i. 172. + +[410] Preface to _Horse-hoeing Husbandry_, (ed. 1733). + +[411] _Horse-hoeing Husbandry_, p. vi. + +[412] _The West Country Farmer_, above quoted, says wheat growing (in +1737) paid little. Before a bushel can be sold it costs £4 an acre, +and the crop probably fetches half the money. + +[413] _R.A.S.E. Journ._ (3rd Ser.), ii. 20. + +[414] Cullum, _Hawsted_, p. 216. + +[415] Tooke, _History of Prices_, i. 35. + +[416] Wheat averaged: + +1718-22 about 27s. 1730 about 30s. 1750 about 30s. 1724 " 36s. 1732 " +24s. 1755 " 35s. 1725 " 46s. 1736 " 30s. 1760 " 38s. 1726 " 35s. 1740 +" 42s. 1765 " 42s. 1728 " 52s. 1744 " 23s. + + +[417] Ellis, _Chiltern and Vale Farming_, p. 209. Nothing is charged +for tithe and taxes. + +[418] Ibid. p. 352. + +[419] See above, p. 177, also p. 199 for Young's estimate in 1770. + +[420] Nothing is charged for the manure which was carted and spread. + +[421] John Trusler, _Practical Husbandry_, p. 28. + +[422] _Country Gentleman and Farmer's Director_ (1726), p. xiii. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +1700-1765 + +TOWNSHEND.--SHEEP-ROT.--CATTLE PLAGUE. FRUIT-GROWING + + +In 1730 Charles, second Viscount Townshend, retired from politics, on +his quarrel with his brother-in-law Walpole, who remarked that 'as +long as the firm was Townshend and Walpole the utmost harmony +prevailed, but it no sooner became Walpole and Townshend than things +went wrong'. He devoted himself to the management of his Norfolk +estates and set an example to English landlords in wisely and +diligently experimenting in farm practice which was soon followed on +all sides, the names of Lords Ducie, Peterborough, and Bolingbroke +being the best known of his fellow-labourers. A generation afterwards +Young wrote, 'half the County of Norfolk within the memory of man +yielded nothing but sheep feed, whereas those very tracts of land are +now covered with as fine barley and rye as any in the world and great +quantities of wheat besides.'[423] There can be no doubt from this +statement, made by an eyewitness of exceptional capacity, that he +commenced the work so nobly carried on by Coke. The same authority +tells us that when Townshend began his improvements near Norwich much +of the land was an extensive heath without either tree or shrub, only +a sheepwalk to another farm; so many carriages crossed it that they +would sometimes be a mile abreast of each other in pursuit of the best +track. By 1760 there was an excellent turnpike road, enclosed on each +side with a good quickset hedge, and all the land let out in +enclosures and cultivated on the Norfolk system in superior style; the +whole being let at 15s. an acre, or ten times its original value. +Townshend's two special hobbies were the field cultivation of turnips, +and improvement in the rotation of crops. Pope says his conversation +was largely of turnips, and he was so zealous in advocating them that +he was nicknamed 'Turnip Townsend'.[424] He initiated the Norfolk or +four-course system of cropping, in which roots, grasses, and cereals +were wisely blended, viz. turnips, barley, clover and rye grass, +wheat. He also reintroduced marling to the light lands of Norfolk, and +followed Tull's system of drilling and horse-hoeing turnips, with the +result that the poor land of which his estate was largely composed was +converted into good corn and cattle-growing farms. Like all the +progressive agriculturists of the day, he was an advocate of +enclosures, and he had no small share in the growth of the movement by +which, in the reigns of Anne and the first two Georges, 244 enclosure +Acts were passed and 338,177 acres enclosed. The progress of enclosure +was alleged as a proof that England was never more prosperous than +under Walpole; the number of private gentlemen in Britain of ample +estates was said to exceed that of any country in the world +proportionately, and was far greater than in the reign of Charles II. +The value of land at twenty-six or twenty-seven years' purchase was a +conclusive proof of the wealth of England.[425] + +Though, however, the first half of the century was generally +prosperous there were bad times for farmer and landlord. We have seen +that wheat-growing paid little, although from 1689 to 1773 the farmer +was protected against imports and aided by a bounty on exports. In +1738 Lord Lyttelton wrote: 'In most parts of England, gentlemen's +rents are so ill paid and the weight of taxes lies so heavy upon them +that those who have nothing from the Court can scarce support their +families.'[426] Sheep in the damp climate of England have always been +subject to rot, and in 1735 there was, according to Ellis, the most +general rot in the memory of man owing to a very wet season; and, as +in the disastrous year of 1879, which must be fresh in many farmers' +memories, other animals, deer, hares, and rabbits, were affected also; +and the dead bodies of rotten sheep were so numerous in road and field +that the stench was offensive to every one. Another bad outbreak +occurred in 1747. It is well known that farmers are always grumblers, +probably with an eye to the rent; but even in these much praised times +they apparently made small profits. The west country farmer quoted +before, who had been fifty years on the same estate, and writes with +the stamp of sincerity, admits in 1737 that 'with all the skill and +diligence in the world he can hardly keep the cart upon the wheels. +Wool had gone down, wheat didn't pay and graziers were doing badly; +tho' formerly our cattle and wool was always a sure card'. He says +that the profits of grazing were reckoned at one-third of the +improvement that ensued from the grazing, but the grazier was not now +getting this. He attributed much of the distress, however, to the +extravagance of the times. Landlords, including his own, preferred +London to the country, and spent their money there. How different was +the behaviour of his landlord's grandfather. 'Many a time would his +worship send for me to go a-hunting or shooting with him; often would +he take me with him on his visits and would introduce me as his +friend. The country gentlewoman and the parson's wife, that used to +stitch for themselves, are now so hurried with dressings and visits +and other attractions that they hire an Abigail to do it.' + +He thought, too, the labourers were getting too high wages; 'they are +so puffed up by our provender as to offer us their heels and threaten +on any occasion to leave us to do our work ourselves.' One would like +to hear the labourers' opinion on this point, but they were dumb. In +spite of higher wages the young men and young women flocked to the +cities, and those who remain were lazy and extravagant, even the +country wenches contending about 'double caps, huge petticoats, clock +stockings, and other trumpery'.[427] + +The bounty now paid on the export of wheat was naturally resented by +the common people, as it raised the price of their bread. In 1737 a +load belonging to Farmer Waters of Burford, travelling along the road +to Redbridge for exportation, was stopped near White parish by a crowd +of people who knocked down the leading horse, broke the wagon in +pieces, cut the sacks, and strewed about the corn, with threats that +they would do the like to all who sold wheat to export.[428] While +England was paying farmers to export wheat she was also importing, +though in plentiful years importers had a very bad time. In 1730 there +were lying at Liverpool 33,000 windles (a windle--220 lb.) of imported +corn, unsaleable owing to the great crop in England.[429] The year +1740 was distinguished by one of the severest winters on record. From +January 1 to February 5 the thermometer seldom reached 32°, and the +cold was so intense that hens and ducks, even cattle in their stalls +died of it, trees were split asunder, crows and other birds fell to +the ground frozen in their flight. This extraordinary winter was +followed by a cold and late spring; no verdure had appeared by May; in +July it was still cold, and thousands of acres of turnips rotted in +the ground. Among minor misfortunes may be noticed the swarms of +grasshoppers who devastated the pastures near Bristol at the end of +August 1742,[430] and the swarms of locusts who came to England in +1748 and consumed the vegetables.[431] + +The cattle plague of 1745[432] was so severe that owing to the +scarcity of stock great quantities of grass land were ploughed up, +which helped to account for the fact that in 1750 the export of corn +from England reached its maximum; though the main cause of this was +the long series of excellent seasons that set in after 1740.[433] The +cattle plague also raged in 1754 in spite of an Order in Council that +all infected cattle should be shot and buried 4 ft. deep, and pitch, +tar, rosin, and gunpowder burnt where infected cattle had died, and +cow-houses washed with vinegar and water. Such were the sanitary +precautions of the time.[434] In 1756 came another bad year, corn was +so scarce that there were many riots; the king expressed to Parliament +his concern at the suffering of the poor, and the export of corn was +temporarily prohibited. The fluctuations in price are remarkable: in +1756, before the deficiency of the harvest was realized, wheat was +22s. and it went up at the following rate: Jan., 1757, 49s.; Feb., +51s.; March, 54s.; April, 64s.; June, 72s. + +About the middle of the century, if we may judge from the _Compleat +Cyderman_ written in 1754 by experienced hands living in Devon, +Cornwall, Herefordshire, and elsewhere, fruit-growing received an +amount of attention which diminished greatly in after years. The +authors fully realized that an orchard under tillage causes apple +trees to grow as fast again as under grass, and this was well +understood and practised in Kent, where crops of corn were grown +between the trees. + +A Devonshire 'cyderist' urged that orchards should be well sheltered +from the east winds, which 'bring over the narrow sea swarms of +imperceptible eggs, or insects in the air, from the vast tracts of +Tartarian and other lands, from which proceeded infinite numbers of +lice, flies, bugs, caterpillars, cobwebs, &c.' The best protection +was a screen of trees, and the best tree for the purpose, a perry pear +tree. In the hard frosts of 1709, 1716, and 1740 great numbers of +fruit and other trees had been destroyed. In Devon what was called the +'Southams method' was used for top-dressing the roots of old apple +trees, which was done in November with soil from the roads and +ditches, or lime or chalk, laid on furze sometimes, 6 inches thick, +for 4 or 5 ft. all round the trees. Great attention was paid there to +keeping the heads of fruit trees in good order, so that branches did +not interfere with each other,[435] and the heads were made to spread +as much as possible. Many of the trees were grown with the first +branches commencing 4 ft. 6 in. from the ground. It was claimed that +Devon excelled all other parts of England in the management of fruit +trees, a reputation that was not maintained, according to the works of +half a century later. The best cider apple In the county then was the +White-sour, white in colour, of a middling size, and early ripe; other +good ones were the 'Deux-Anns, Jersey, French Longtail, Royal Wilding, +Culvering, Russet, Holland Pippin, and Cowley Crab.' In Herefordshire +it was the custom to open the earth about the roots of the apple trees +and lay them bare and exposed for the 'twelve days of the Christmas +holidays', that the wind might loosen them. Then they were covered +with a compost of dung, mould, and a little lime. 'The best way' to +plant was to take off the turf and lay it by itself, then the next +earth or virgin mould, to be laid also by itself. Next put horse +litter over the bottom of the hole with some of the virgin mould on +that, on which place the tree, scattering some more virgin mould over +the roots, then spread some old horse-dung over this and upon that the +turf, leaving it in a basin shape. The ground between the trees in +Devonshire in young orchards was first planted with cabbage plants, +next year with potatoes, next with beans, and so on until the heads of +the trees became large enough, when the land was allowed to return to +pasture, a proceeding which was quite contrary to their previously +quoted assertion that tillage was best for fruit trees. The +cider-makers were quite convinced, as many are to-day, that rotten +apples were invaluable for cider, and the lady who was famous for the +best cider in the county never allowed one to be thrown away. A +generation later than this Marshall[436] noted that in Herefordshire +the management of orchards and their produce was far from being well +understood, though 'it has ever borne the name of the first cider +county'. All the old fruits were lost or declining in quality, the +famous Red Streak Apple was given up and the Squash Pear no longer +made to flourish. + +As for prices, in 1707 apples were selling at Liverpool for 2s. 6d. a +bushel,[437] a very good price if we allow for the difference in the +value of money, but prices then were entirely dependent on the English +seasons; no foreign apples were imported, and a night's frost would +treble prices in a day. In 1742 at Aspall Hall, Suffolk, apples, +apparently for cider, were 10d. a bushel, in 1745 1s. a bushel, in +1746 only 4d., and in 1747 cider there was worth 6d. a gallon.[438] At +the end of the century, in 'the great hit' of 1784, common apples were +less than 6d. a bushel, the best about 2s. in 1786 the price was twice +as high, owing to a short crop. Incidentally there is mentioned in the +_Compleat Cyderman_ a novel implement, 'a most profitable new invented +five-hoe plough, that after the ground has been once ploughed with a +common plough will plough four or five acres in one day with only four +horses, and by a little alteration is fitted to hoe turnips or rape +crops as it is now practised by the ordinary farmers'; much too +favourable an estimate of the ordinary farmer, as Young found +horse-hoeing rare. + +An acre of good orchard land at this time was let at £2 an acre; and +this is a fair balance sheet for an acre[439]:-- + + DR. £ s. d. + + Rent of one acre 2 0 0 + Tithe on 10 hogsheads, @ 6d. 5 0 + Gathering, making, and carriage to and + from the pound, @ 3s. 6d. a hogshead 1 15 0 + Racking twice, @ 6d. 5 0 + Casks and cooperage 8 0 + --------- + £4 13 0 + ========= + + CR. £ s. d. + + 10 hogsheads diminished by racking + and waste to 8, @ 12s. 6d. 5 0 0 + ======== + +Leaving a balance of 7s. for spoiling, &c., so there was not much +profit in cider-making then. The same authority sets down the cost of +planting an acre of apples as:-- + + £ s. d. + + 132 trees, @ 2s. 13 4 0 + (The custom had been to plant 160 trees to + the acre, but this was considered too close.) + Carriage per tree, @ 2d.; manure per tree, @ 3d.; + planting per tree, @ 3d. 4 8 0 + Interest on £17 12s. 0d. for fifteen years before + orchard is profitable, @ 5 per cent. 13 2 6 + Loss of half the rent of the land for + the same period, @ 10s. an acre 7 10 0 + Building cellarage for product per acre 5 0 0 + --------- + £43 4 6 + ========= + +For this outlay the landowner would gain an additional rent of £1 a +year, so that, according to this authority, growing cider fruit at +that time paid neither landlord nor tenant. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[423] _Farmer's Letters_, i. 10. + +[424] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (3rd Series), iii. 1. + +[425] See the _Hyp Doctor_, No. 49. + +[426] Tooke, _History of Prices_, i. 42. + +[427] Cf. this and Tull's character of servants with Defoe's +accusation of their laziness. + +[428] Salisbury newspaper, quoted by Baker, _Seasons and Prices_, p. +187. + +[429] See _Autobiography of Wm. Stout_, ed. by J. Harland. + +[430] _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1742. + +[431] Baker, _op. cit._ p. 194. + +[432] _A Defence of the Farmers of Great Britain_ (1814), p. 30. + +[433] Tooke, _History of Prices_, i. 42. + +[434] See a curious pamphlet called _An Exhortation to all People to +Consider the Afflicting Hand of God_ (1754), p. 6. The plague lasted +from 1745 to 1756. + +[435] _The Compleat Cyderman_, p. 46. + +[436] _Rural Economy of Gloucestershire_ (1788), ii. 206. + +[437] Blundell's _Diary_, p. 55. + +[438] MS. accounts of Mr. Chevallier, of Aspall Hall. + +[439] _The Case with the County of Devon with respect to the New +Excise Duty on Cider_ (1763). The duty was 4s. a hogshead, but the +opposition was so strong it was taken off. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +1765-1793 + +ARTHUR YOUNG.--CROPS AND THEIR COST.--THE LABOURERS' WAGES AND DIET.--THE +PROSPERITY OF FARMERS.--THE COUNTRY SQUIRE.--ELKINGTON.--BAKEWELL.--THE +ROADS.--COKE OF HOLKHAM. + + +The history of English agriculture in the latter half of the +eighteenth century has been so well described by Arthur Young that any +account of it at that time must largely be an epitome of his writings. +The greatest of English writers on agriculture was born in 1741, and +began farming early; but, as he confesses himself, was a complete +failure. When he was twenty-six he took a farm of 300 acres at Samford +Hall in Essex, and after five years of it paid a farmer £100 to take +it off his hands, who thereupon made a fortune out of it. He had +already begun writing on agriculture, and it must be confessed that he +began to advise people concerning the art of agriculture on a very +limited experience. It paid him, however, much better than farming, +for between 1766 and 1775 he realized £3,000 on his works, among which +were _The Farmer's Letters_, _The Southern_, _Northern_, and _Eastern +Tours_. These are his qualifications for writing on agriculture, from +his own pen: 'I have been a farmer these many years' (he was not yet +thirty), 'and that not in a single field or two but upon a tract of +near 300 acres most part of the time. I have cultivated on various +soils most of the vegetables common in England and many never +introduced into field husbandry. I have always kept a minute register +of my business in every detail of culture, expenses, and produce, and +an accurate comparison of the old and new husbandry.'[440] It is said +that though he really understood the theory and practice of farming he +failed utterly in small economies. He was also far too vivacious and +fond of society for the monotonous work of the plain farmer. At the +same time his failures gave his observant mind a clear insight into +the principles of agriculture. He was indefatigable in inquiries, +researches, and experiments; and the best proof of the value of his +works is that they were translated into Russian, German, and French. +He tells us in the preface to _Rural Economy_ that his constant +employment for the previous seven years, 'when out of my fields, has +been registering experiments.' His pet aversions were absentee +landlords, obsolete methods of cultivation, wastes and commons, and +small holdings (though towards the end of his life he changed his +opinion as to the last); and the following, according to him, were the +especially needed improvements of the time:-- + +The knowledge of good rotations of crops so as to do away with +fallows, which was to be effected by the general use of turnips, +beans, peas, tares, clover, &c., as preparation for white corn; +covered drains; marling, chalking, and claying; irrigation of meadows; +cultivation of carrots, cabbages, potatoes, sainfoin, and lucerne; +ploughing, &c., with as few cattle as possible; the use of harness for +oxen; cultivation of madden liquorice, hemp, and flax where +suitable.[441] Above all, the cultivation of waste lands, which he was +to live to see so largely effected. + +There was little knowledge of the various sorts of grasses at this +time, and to Young is due the credit of introducing the cocksfoot, and +crested dog's tail. + +In 1790 he contemplated retiring to France or America, so heavy was +taxation in England. 'Men of large fortune and the poor', he said, in +words which many to-day will heartily endorse, 'have reason to think +the government of this country the first in the world; the middle +classes bear the brunt.' Perhaps to-day 'men of large fortune' have +altered their opinion and only 'the poor' are satisfied. However, he +only visited France, and gave us his vivid picture of that country +before the great revolution. + +In 1793 the Board of Agriculture was formed, and Young was made +secretary with a salary of £400 a year. + +About 1810 he wrote that the preceding half-century had been by far +the most interesting in the progress of agriculture, and ascribes the +increase of interest in it to the publication of his _Tours_. George +III told him he always took with him the _Farmer's Letters_. The +improvement, Young said, had been largely due to individual effort, +for commerce had been predominant in Parliament and agriculture had +begun to be neglected; a statement which, seeing that Parliament was +then almost entirely composed of landowners, must be accepted with +some reserve. + +Young died in 1820, having been totally blind for some time, a +misfortune which did not prevent him working hard. In his well-known +_Tours_ he often had much difficulty in obtaining information, and +confesses that he was forced to make more than one farmer drunk before +he got anything out of him. + +The exodus from the country to the towns then, as so often in history, +was noted by thinking people, but Young says it was merely a natural +consequence of the demand for profitable employment and was not to be +regretted; but he wrote in a time when the country population was +still numerous, and there was little danger of England becoming, what +she is to-day, a country without a solid foundation, with no reservoir +of good country blood to supply the waste of the towns. + +When Young began to write, the example of Townshend and his +contemporaries was being followed on all sides, and this good movement +was stimulated by Young's writings. Farming was the reigning taste of +the day. There was scarce a nobleman without his farm, most of the +country gentlemen were farmers, and attended closely to their business +instead of leaving it to stewards, 'who governed in matters of wheat +and barley as absolutely as in covenants of leases,' and the squire +delighted in setting the country a staring at the novelties he +introduced. Even the stable and the kennel were ousted by farming from +rural talk,[442] and citizens who breathed the smoke of London five +days a week were farmers the other two, and many young fellows of +small fortune who had been brought up in the country took farms, and +the fashion was followed by doctors, lawyers, clergymen, soldiers, +sailors, and merchants. The American and French War of 1775-83 and the +great conflict with France from 1793 to 1815 were, however, to divert +many of the upper classes from agriculture, for they very properly +thought their duty was then to fight for their country; so that we +again have numerous complaints of agents and stewards managing estates +who knew nothing whatever about their business. It was not to be +wondered at that all this activity brought about considerable +progress. 'There have been,' said Young about 1770, 'more experiments, +more discoveries, and more general good sense displayed within these +ten years than in a hundred preceding ones,' a statement which perhaps +did not attach sufficient importance to the work of Townshend and his +contemporaries, and to the 'new husbandry' of Tull, which Young did +not appreciate at its full value.[443] + +The place subsequently taken by the Board of Agriculture, and in our +time by the Royal Agricultural Society, was then occupied by the +Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, +which offered premiums for such objects as the cultivation of carrots +in the field for stock, then little practised; for gathering the +different sorts of grass seeds and keeping them clean and free from +all mixture with other grasses, a very rare thing at that time; for +experiments in the comparative merits of the old and new husbandry; +for the growth of madder; £20 for a turnip-slicing machine, then +apparently unknown, and for experiments whether rolling or harrowing +grass land was better, 'at present one of the most disputed points of +husbandry.' + +In spite of this progress, many crops introduced years before were +unknown to many farmers. Sainfoin, cabbages, potatoes, carrots, were +not common crops in every part of England, though every one of them +was well known in some part or other; not more than half, or at most +two-thirds, of the nation cultivated clover. Many, however, of the +nobility and gentry in the north had grown cabbages with amazing +success, lately, 30 guineas an acre being sometimes the value of the +crop. + +Half the cultivated lands, in spite of the progress of enclosure for +centuries, were still farmed on the old common-field system. When +anything out of the common was to be done on common farms, all common +work came to a standstill. 'To carry out corn stops the ploughs, +perhaps at a critical season; the fallows are frequently seen overrun +with weeds because it is seed time; in a word, some business is ever +neglected.'[444] As for the outcry against enclosing commons and +wastes, people forgot that the farmers as well as the poor had a right +of common and took special care by their large number of stock to +starve every animal the poor put on the common.[445] + +About the same time that Young wrote these words there appeared a +pamphlet written by 'A Country Gentleman' on the advantages and +disadvantages of enclosing waste lands and common fields, which puts +the arguments against enclosure very forcibly.[446] The writer's +opinion was that it was clearly to the landowner's gain to promote +enclosures, but that the impropriator of tithes reaped most benefit +and the small freeholder least, because his expenses increased +inversely to the smallness of his allotment. As to diminution of +employment, he reckoned that enclosed arable employed about ten +families per 1,000 acres, open field arable twenty families, a +statement opposed to the opinion of nearly all the agricultural +writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is surely an +incontestable fact that enclosed land meant much better tillage, and +better tillage meant more labour, the excessive amount of fallow +necessary under the common-field system, from the inability to grow +roots except by special arrangement, is alone enough to prove this. +The same writer admitted that common pastures, wastes, &c., employed +only one family per 2,000 acres, but enclosed pasture five families +per 1,000 acres, and enclosed wastes sixteen families. + +A 'Country Farmer', who wrote in 1786, states that many of the small +farmers displaced by enclosures sold their few possessions and +emigrated to America.[447] The growing manufacturing towns also +absorbed a considerable number. That there was a considerable amount +of hardship inflicted on small holders and commoners is certain, but +industrial progress is frequently attended by the dislocation of +industry and consequent distress; the introduction of machinery, for +instance, often causing great suffering to hand-workers, but +eventually benefiting the whole community. How many men has the +self-binding reaping machine thrown for a time out of work? So +enclosure caused distress to many individuals, but was for the good of +the whole nation. The history of enclosure is really the history of +progress in farming; the conversion of land badly tilled in the old +common fields, and of waste land little more valuable than the +prairies; into well-managed fruitful farms. That much of the +common-field land when enclosed was laid down to grass is certainly +true, and certainly inevitable if it paid best under grass.[448] No +one can expect the holders of land naturally best suited for grass to +keep it under tillage for philanthropic purposes. A vast number of the +commoners too were idle thriftless beings, whose rights on a few acres +enabled them to live a life of pilfering and poaching; and it was a +very good thing when such people were induced to lead a more regular +and respectable existence. The great blot on the process was that it +made the English labourer a landless man. Compensation was given him +at the time of enclosure in the shape of allotments or sums of money, +but the former he was generally compelled to give up owing to the +expense he had been put to at allotment, and the latter he often spent +in the public-house. + +At this date the proprietors of large estates who wished to enclose by +Act of Parliament, generally settled all the particulars among +themselves before calling any meeting of the rest of the proprietors. +The small proprietor had very little say either in regulating the +clauses of the Act, or in the choice of commissioners. Any owner of +one-fifth of the land, however, could negative the measure and often +used his right to impose unreasonable clauses. It is well known that +the legal expenses and fencing were very costly. The enclosure +commissioners too often divided the land in an arbitrary and ignorant +manner, and there was no appeal from them except by filing a bill in +Chancery. Accounts were hardly ever shown by the commissioners, and if +a proprietor refused to pay the sums levied they were empowered to +distrain immediately. All these evils attending enclosure made many +who were eager to benefit by it very chary in commencing it.[449] + +Then, as now, one of the commonest errors of farmers was that of +taking too much land for their capital; Young considered £6 an acre +necessary on an average, equal to more than £12 to-day; a sum which +few farmers at any time have in hand when they take a farm. As for +gentlemen farmers, who were then rushing into the business, they were +warned that they had no chance of success if they kept any company or +amused themselves with anything but their own business, unless perhaps +they had a good bailiff. + +Lime, one of the most ancient of manures, was then the most commonly +used in England, 80 to 100 loads an acre being a common dressing, but +many farmers were very ignorant of its proper use. Marl, which to-day +is seldom used, was considered to last for twenty years, though for +the first year no benefit was observable, and very little the second +and the third, its value then becoming very apparent. In the last five +years, however, its value was nearly worn out. But it was much to be +questioned whether marl in its best state anywhere yields an increase +of produce equal to that which a good manuring of dung will give.[450] +Marl was applied in huge quantities on arable and grass, and often +made the latter look like arable land so thickly was it spread. + +At this date (1770) the average crops on poor, and on good land were[451]: + + On land worth 5s. an acre: + + Wheat 12 bushels per acre. + Rye 16 " " + Barley 16 " " + Oats 20 " " + Turnips, to the value of £1. + Clover " " + + On land worth 20s. an acre: + + Wheat 28 bushels per acre. + Barley 40 " " + Oats 48 " " + Beans 40 " " + Turnips, to the value of £3. + Clover " " + +The cost of cultivating the latter, which may be given in full, as it +affords an excellent example of the price of growing various crops, +and the methods of their cultivation at this period, was as follows: + + First year, turnips: £ s. d. + + Rent 1 0 0 + Tithe and 'town charges' 8 0 + Five ploughings, @ 4s. 1 0 0 + Three harrowings 1 0 + Seed 6 + Sowing 3 + Twice hand-hoeing 7 0 + ----------- + £2 16 9 + =========== + +It will be noticed there was no horse-hoeing. + + Second year, barley: £ s. d. + + Rent, tithe, &c. 1 8 0 + Three ploughings 12 0 + Three harrowings 1 0 + Seed 8 0 + Sowing 3 + Mowing and harvesting 3 0 + Water furrowing 6 + Threshing, @ 1s. a quarter 5 0 + ----------- + £2 17 9 + =========== + + Third year, clover: £ s. d. + + Rent, &c. 1 8 0 + Seed 5 0 + Sowing 3 + ---------- + £1 13 3 + ========== + + Fourth year,[452] wheat: £ s. d. + + Rent, &c. 1 8 0 + One ploughing 4 0 + Three harrowings 1 0 + Seed 10 0 + Sowing 3 + Water furrowing 9 + Thistling 1 6 + Reaping and harvesting 7 0 + Threshing, @ 2s. a quarter 7 0 + ---------- + £2 19 6 + ========== + + Fifth year, beans: £ s. d. + + Rent, &c. 1 8 0 + Two ploughings 8 0 + Seed, 2 bushels 8 0 + Sowing 6 + Twice hand-hoeing 12 0 + Twice horse-hoeing 3 0 + Reaping and harvesting 8 0 + Threshing 5 0 + ---------- + £3 12 6 + ========== + + Sixth year, oats: £ s. d. + + Rent, &c. 1 8 0 + Once ploughing 4 0 + Two harrowings 8 + Four bushels of seed 6 0 + Sowing 3 + Mowing and harvesting 3 0 + Threshing, @ 1s. a quarter 6 0 + ---------- + £2 7 11 + ========== + +Good land at a high rent is always better than poor land at a low +rent; the average profit per acre on 5s. land was then about 8s. 8d., +on 20s. land, 29s. + +Grass was much more profitable than tillage, the profit on 20 acres of +arable in nine years amounted to £88, whereas on grass it was £212, or +9s. 9d. an acre per annum for the former and 23s. for the latter.[453] +Yet dairying, at all events, was then on the whole badly managed and +unprofitable. The average cow ate 2-1/2 acres of grass, and the rent +of this with labour and other expenses made the cost £5 a year per +cow, and its average produce was not worth more than £5 6s. 3d.[454] +This scanty profit was due to the fact that few farmers used roots, +cabbages, &c., for their cows, and to their wrong management of pigs, +kept on the surplus dairy food. By good management the nett return +could be made as much as £4 15s. 0d. per cow. + +The management of sheep in the north of England was wretched. In +Northumberland the profit was reckoned at 1s. a head, partly derived +from cheese made from ewes' milk. The fleeces averaged 2 lb., and the +wool was so bad as not to be worth more than 3d. or 4d. per lb.[455] + +Pigs could be made to pay well, as the following account testifies: + +Food and produce of a sow in one year (1763), which produced seven +pigs in April and eleven in October: + + DR. £ s. d. + + Grains 10 4 + Cutting a litter 1 6 + 5 quarters peas 5 2 0 + 10 bushels barley 1 0 0 + Expenses in selling[456] 11 6 + 10 bushels peas 1 6 3 + ---------- + £8 11 7 + ========== + + CR. £ s. d. + + A pig 2 3 + A fat hog 1 9 0 + Another, 110 lb. wt. 1 12 9 + Another, 116 lb. wt. 2 0 0 + Heads 5 3 + 3 fat hogs 6 7 0 + 1 fat hog 2 0 0 + 10 young pigs 4 16 6 + ----------- + £18 12 9 + 8 11 7 + ----------- + Profit £10 1 2 + =========== + +We have seen that Young thought little of the 'new husbandry'; he does +not even give Tull the credit of inventing the drill: 'Mr. Tull +perhaps _again_ invented it. He practised it upon an extent of ground +far beyond that of any person preceding him: the spirit of drilling +died with Mr. Tull and was not revived till within a few years.'[457] +It was doubtful if 50 acres of corn were then annually drilled in +England. Lately drilling had been revived and there were keen disputes +as to the old and new methods of husbandry, the efficacy of the new +being far from decided. The cause of the slow adoption of drill +husbandry was the inferiority of the drills hitherto invented. They +were complex in construction, expensive, and hard to procure. It +seemed impossible to make a drill or drill plough as it was called, +for such it then was--a combination of drill, plough, and +harrow--capable of sowing at various depths and widths, and at the +same time light enough for ordinary use. All the drills hitherto made +were too light to stand the rough use of farm labourers: 'common +ploughs and harrows the fellows tumble about in so violent a manner +that if they were not strength itself they would drop to pieces. In +drawing such instruments into the field the men generally mount the +horses, and drag them after them; in passing gateways twenty to one +they draw them against the gate post.' Some of 'these fellows' are +still to be seen! + +Another defect in drilling was that the drill plough filled up all the +water furrows, which, at a time when drainage was often neglected, +were deemed of especial importance, and they all had to be opened +again. + +Further, said the advocates of the old husbandry, it was a question +whether all the horse-hoeings, hand-hoeings, and weedings of the new +husbandry, though undoubtedly beneficial, really paid. It was very +hard to get enough labourers for these operations. With more reason +they objected to the principles of discarding manure and sowing a +large number of white straw crops in succession, but admitted the new +system was admirably adapted for beans, turnips, cabbages, and +lucerne. + +However, there were many followers of Tull. The Author of +_Dissertations on Rural Subjects_[458] thought the drill plough an +excellent invention, as it saved seed and facilitated hoeing; but he +said Tull's drill was defective in that the distances between the rows +could not be altered, a defect which the writer claims to have +remedied. Young's desire for a stronger drill seems to have been soon +answered, as the same writer says the barrel drill invented by +Du-Hamel and improved by Craik was strong, cheap, and easily managed. + +The tendency of the latter half of the century was decidedly in favour +of larger farms; it was a bad thing for the small holders, but it was +an economic tendency which could not be resisted. The larger farmers +had more capital, were more able and ready to execute improvements; +they drained their land, others often did not; having sufficient +capital they were able both to buy and sell to the best advantage and +not sacrifice their produce at a low price to meet the rent, as the +small farmer so often did and does. They could pay better wages and so +get better men, kept more stock and better, and more efficient +implements. They also had a great advantage in being able by their +good teams to haul home plenty of purchased manure, which the small +farmer often could not do. The small tenants, who had no by-industry, +then, as now, had to work and live harder than the ordinary labourer +to pay their way. + +Young calculated as early as 1768 that the average size of farms over +the greater part of England was slightly under 300 acres.[459] In his +_Tour in France_ Young, speaking of the smallness of French farms as +compared with English ones, and of the consequent great inferiority of +French farming, says, 'Where is the little farmer to be found who will +cover his whole farm with marl at the rate of 100 to 150 tons per +acre; who will drain his land at the expense of £2 to £3 an acre; who +will, to improve the breed of his sheep, give 1,000 guineas for the +use of a single ram for a single season; who will send across the +kingdom to distant provinces for new implements and for men to use +them? Deduct from agriculture all the practices that have made it +flourishing in this island, and you have precisely the management of +small farms.' In 1868 the _Report of the Commission on the Agriculture +of France_[460] agreed with Young, noting the grave consequences of +the excessive subdivision of land, loss of time, waste of labour, +difficulties in rotation of crops, and of liberty of cultivation. + +For stocking an arable farm of 70 acres Young considered the following +expenditure necessary, the items of which give us interesting +information as to prices about 1770:-- + + £ s. d. + + Rent, tithe, and town charges for first year 70 0 0 + Household furniture 30 0 0 + Wagon 25 0 0 + Cart with ladders 12 0 0 + Tumbril 10 0 0 + Roller for broad lands (of wood) 2 0 0 + " narrow " " 1 15 0 + Cart harness for 4 horses 8 17 0 + Plough " " 2 16 0 + 2 ploughs 3 0 0 + A pair of harrows 1 15 0 + Screen, bushel, fan, sieves, forks, rakes, &c. 8 0 0 + Dairy furniture 3 0 0 + 20 sacks 2 10 0 + 4 horses 32 0 0 + Wear and tear, and shoeing one year 13 0 0 + Keep of 4 horses from Michaelmas to May Day, @ + 2s. 6d. each a week 14 0 0 + 5 cows 20 0 0 + 20 sheep 5 10 0 + One sow 15 0 + One servant's board and wages for one year 15 0 0 + A labourer's wages for one year 20 0 0 + Seed for first year, 42 acres, @ 11s. 6d. 24 3 0 + Harvest labour 1 10 0 + ------------ + £326 11 0 + ============ + +Or nearly £5 an acre. + +About the same date the _Complete English Farmer_ reckoned that the +occupier of a farm of 500 acres (300 arable, 200 pasture), ought to +have a capital of £1,500, and estimated that, after paying expenses +and maintaining his family, he could put by £50 a year; 'but this +capital was much beyond what farmers in general can attain to.'[461] + +The controversy of horses versus oxen for working purposes was still +raging, and Young favoured the use of oxen; for the food of horses +cost more, so did their harness and their shoeing, they are much more +liable to disease, and oxen when done with could be sold for beef. One +stout lad, moreover, could attend to 8 or 10 oxen, for all he had to +do was to put their fodder in the racks and clean the shed; no +rubbing, no currying or dressing being necessary. No beasts fattened +better than oxen that had been worked. A yoke of oxen would plough as +much as a pair of horses and carry a deeper and truer furrow, while +they were just as handy as horses in wagons, carts, rollers, &c. +William Marshall, the other great agricultural writer of the end of +the eighteenth century, agreed with Young, yet in spite of all these +advantages horses were continually supplanting oxen. + +Among the improvements in agriculture was the introduction of +broad-wheeled wagons; narrow-wheeled ones were usual, and these on the +turnpikes were only allowed to be drawn by 4 horses so that the load +was small, but broad-wheeled wagons might use 8 horses. The cost of +the latter was £50 against £25 for the former.[462] + +Young's opinion of the labouring man, like Tull's, was not a high one. +'I never yet knew', he says, 'one instance of any poor man's working +diligently while young and in health to escape coming to the parish +when ill or old.' This is doubtless too sweeping. There must have been +others like George Barwell, whom Marshall tells of in his _Rural +Economy of the Midlands_, who had brought up a family of five or six +sons and daughters on a wage of 5s. to 7s. a week, and after they were +out in the world saved enough to support him in his old age. The +majority, however, long before the crushing times of the French War, +seem to have been thoroughly demoralized by indiscriminate parish +relief, and habitually looked to the parish to maintain them in +sickness and old age. Cullum[463] a few years later, remarks on the +poor demanding assistance without the scruple and delicacy they used +to have, and says 'the present age seems to aim at abolishing all +subordination and dependence and reducing all ranks as near a level as +possible.'! Idleness, drunkenness, and what was then often looked on +with disgust and contempt, excessive tea-drinking, were rife. Tea then +was very expensive, 8s. or 10s. a lb. being an ordinary price, so that +the poor had to put up with a very much adulterated article, most +pernicious to health. The immoderate use of this was stated to have +worse effects than the immoderate use of spirits. The consumption of +it was largely caused by the deficiency of the milk supply, owing to +the decrease of small farms; the large farmers did not retail such +small commodities as milk and butter, but sent them to the towns so +that the poor often went without.[464] + +In 1767 Young found wages differing according to the distance from +London[465]:-- + + s. d. + + 20 miles from London they were per week 10 9 + From 20 to 60 " " " 7 8 + " 60 to 110 " " " 6 4 + " 110 to 170 " " " 6 3 + +Giving an average of 7s. 9d. which, however, was often exceeded as +there was much piece-work which enabled the men to earn more. + +Young drew up a dietary for a labourer, his wife, and a family of +three children, which he declared to be sufficient:-- + + £ s. d. + + Food, 6s. per week[466]; per year 15 12 0 + Rent 1 10 0 + Clothes 2 10 0 + Soap and candles 1 5 0 + Loss of time through illness, and medicine 1 0 0 + Fuel 2 0 0 + ---------- + £23 17 0 + ========== + + £ s. d. + + The man's wages were, @ 1s. 3d. a day, for the year 19 10 0 + The woman's, @ 3-3/4d. a day, for the year 4 17 6 + The boy of fifteen could earn 9 0 0 + The boy of ten could earn 4 7 6 + ---------- + £37 15 0 + ========== + +Which would give the family a surplus of £13 18s. 0d. a year. + +What the man's food should consist of is shown by a list of 'seven +days' messes for a stout man':-- + + s. d. + + 1st day. 2 lb. of bread made of wheat, rye, and + potatoes--'no bread exceeds it' 2 + Cheese, 2 oz. @ 4d. a lb 1/2 + Beer, 2 quarts 1 + 2nd day. Three messes of soup 2 + 3rd day. Rice pudding 2-1/2 + 4th day. 1/4 lb. of fat meat and potatoes baked together 2-3/4 + Beer 1 + 5th day. Rice milk 2 + 6th day. Same as first day 3-1/2 + 7th day. Potatoes, fat meat, cheese, and beer 4 + --------- + 1 9-1/4 + ========= + +As Young was a man of large practical experience we may assume that +this, though it seems a very insufficient diet, was not unlike the +food of some labourers at that date. However, the bread he recommends +was not that eaten by a large number of them. Eden[467] states that in +1764 about half the people of England were estimated to be using +wheaten bread, and at the end of the century, although prices had +risen greatly, he says that in the Home Counties wheaten bread was +universal among the peasant class. Young, indeed, acknowledges that +many insisted on wheaten bread.[468] In Suffolk, according to +Cullum,[469] pork and bacon were the labourer's delicacies, bread and +cheese his ordinary diet. + +The north of England was more thrifty than the south. At the end of +the eighteenth century barley and oaten bread were much used there. +Lancashire people fed largely on oat bread, leavened and unleavened; +the 33rd Regiment, which went by the name of the 'Havercake lads', was +usually recruited from the West Riding where oat bread was in common +use, and was famous for having fine men in its ranks.[470] The +labourers of the north were also noted for their skill in making soups +in which barley was an important ingredient. In many of the southern +counties tea was drunk at breakfast, dinner, and supper by the poor, +often without milk or sugar; but alcoholic liquors were also consumed +in great quantities, the southerner apparently always drinking a +considerable amount, the northerner at rare intervals drinking deep. +The drinking in cider counties seems always to have been worse as far +as quantity goes than elsewhere, and the drink bills on farms were +enormous. Marshall says that in Gloucestershire drinking a gallon +'bottle', generally a little wooden barrel, at a draught was no +uncommon feat; and in the Vale of Evesham a labourer who wanted to be +even with his master for short payment emptied a two-gallon bottle +without taking it from his lips. Even this feat was excelled by 'four +well-seasoned yeomen, who resolved to have a fresh hogshead tapped, +and setting foot to foot emptied it at one sitting.'[471] Yet in the +beer-drinking counties great quantities were consumed; a gallon a day +per man all the year round being no uncommon allowance.[472] + +The superior thrift of the north was shown in clothes as well as food, +the midland and southern labourer at the end of the century buying all +his clothes, the northerner making them almost all at home; there were +many respectable families in the north who had never bought a pair of +stockings, coat, or waistcoat in their lives, and a purchased coat was +considered a mark of extravagance and pride. + +Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Young's dietary is that green +vegetables are absolutely ignored. The peasant was supposed to need +them as little as in the Middle Ages. + +However, Young admits that very few labourers lived as cheaply as +this, and he found the actual ordinary budget for the same family to +be:-- + + £ s. d. + + Food, per week, 7s. 6d.; per year 19 10 0 + Beer " 1s. 6d. " 3 18 0 + Soap and candles 1 5 0 + Rent 1 10 0 + Clothes 2 10 0 + Fuel 2 0 0 + Illness, &c. 1 0 0 + Infant 2 12 0 + ---------- + £34 5 0 + ========== + +This, with the same Income as before, left him with a surplus of £3 +10s. 0d.; but as it was not likely his wife could work all the year +round, or that both his eldest children should be boys, it appears +that his expenses must often have exceeded his income. This being so, +it is not surprising that he was often drunken and reckless, and ready +to come on the parish for relief. To labour incessantly, often with +wife and boys, to live very poorly, yet not even make both ends meet, +was enough to kill all spirit in any one. + +A great evil from which the labourer suffered was the restrictions +thrown on him of settling in another parish. If he desired to take his +labour to a better market he often found it closed to him. His +marriage was discouraged,[473] because a single man did not want a +cottage and a married one did. To ease the rates there was open war +against cottages, and many were pulled down.[474] If a labourer in a +parish to which he did not legally belong signified his intention of +marrying, he immediately had notice to quit the parish and retire to +his own, unless he could procure a certificate that neither he nor his +would be chargeable. If he went to his own parish he came off very +badly, for they didn't want him, and cottages being scarce he probably +had to put up with sharing one with one or more families. Sensible men +cried out for the total abolition of the poor laws, the worst effects +of which were still to be felt. + +Yet there was a considerable migration of labour at harvest time when +additional hands were needed. Labourers came from neighbouring +counties, artisans left their workshops in the towns, Scots came to +the Northern counties, Welshmen to the western, and Irishmen appeared +in many parts; and they were as a rule supplied by a contractor.[475] + +London was regarded as a source of great evil to the country by +attracting the young and energetic thither. It used, men said, to be +no such easy matter to get there when a stage coach was four or five +days creeping 100 miles and fares were high; but in 1770 a country +fellow 100 miles from London jumped on a coach in the morning and for +8s. or 10s. got to town by night, 'and ten times the boasts are +sounded in the ears of country fools by those who have seen London to +induce them to quit their healthy clean fields for a region of dirt, +stink, and noise.' A prejudice might well have been entertained +against the metropolis at this time, for it literally devoured the +people of England, the deaths exceeding the births by 8,000 a year. +One of the causes that had hitherto kept people from London was the +dread of the small-pox, but that was now said to be removed by +inoculation. Among the troubles farmers had to contend with were the +audacious depredations caused by poachers, generally labourers, who +swarmed in many villages. They took the farmer's horses out of his +fields after they had done a hard day's work and rode them all night +to drive the game into their nets, blundering over the hedges, +sometimes staking the horses, riding over standing corn, or anything +that was cover for partridges, and when they had sold their ill-gotten +game spent the money openly at the nearest alehouse. Then they would +go back and work for the farmers they had robbed, drunk, asleep, or +idle the whole day. The subscription packs of foxhounds were also a +great nuisance, many of the followers being townsmen who bored through +hedges and smashed the gates and stiles, conduct not unknown to-day. +In spite of these drawbacks the long period of great abundance from +1715 to 1765 and the consequent cheapness of food with an increase of +wages was attended with a great improvement in the condition and habits +of the people. Adam Smith refers to 'the peculiarly happy circumstances +of the country'; Hallam described the reign of George II as 'the most +prosperous period that England has ever experienced'[476]; and it was +Young's opinion about 1770 that England was in a most rich and +flourishing situation, 'her agriculture is upon the whole good and +spirited and every day improving, her industrious poor are well fed, +clothed, and lodged at reasonable rates, the prices of all necessaries +being moderate, our population increasing, the price of labour +generally high.'[477] The great degree of luxury to which the country +had arrived within a few years 'is not only astonishing but almost +dreadful to think of. Time was when those articles of indulgence which +now every mechanic aims at the possession of were enjoyed only by the +baron or lord.'[478] Great towns became the winter residence of those +who could not afford London, and the country was said to be everywhere +deserted, an evil largely attributed to the improvement of posting and +coaches. The true country gentleman was seldom to be found, the +luxuries of the age had softened down the hardy roughness of former +times and the 'country, like the capital, is one scene of dissipation.' +The private gentleman of £300 or £400 a year must have his horses, +dogs, carriages, pictures, and parties, and thus goes to ruin. The +articles of living, says the same writer, were 100 per cent. dearer +than some time back. This is a very different picture from that in +which Young represents every one rushing into farming, but no doubt +depicts one phase of national life. + +An excellent observer[479] noticed in 1792 that the preceding forty or +fifty years had witnessed the total destruction in England of the once +common type of the small country squire. He was:-- + + 'An independent gentleman of £300 per annum who commonly + appeared in a plain drab or plush coat, large silver buttons, a + jockey cap, and rarely without boots. His travels never + exceeded the distance of the county town, and that only at + assize or session time, or to attend an election. Once a week + he commonly dined at the next market town with the attorneys + and justices. He went to church regularly, read the weekly + journal, settled the parochial disputes, and afterwards + adjourned to the neighbouring alehouse, where he generally got + drunk for the good of his country. He was commonly followed by + a couple of greyhounds and a pointer, and announced his arrival + at a neighbour's house by smacking his whip and giving a view + halloo. His drink was generally ale, except on Christmas Day, + the Fifth of November, or some other gala day, when he would + make a bowl of strong brandy. The mansion of one of these + squires was of plaster striped with timber, not unaptly called + callimanco work, or of red brick with large casemented bow + windows; a porch with seats in it and over it a study: the + eaves of the house well inhabited by swallows, and the court + set round with hollyhocks; near the gate a horse-block for + mounting. The hall was furnished with flitches of bacon, and + the mantelpiece with guns and fishing-rods of different + dimensions, accompanied by the broadsword, partisan, and dagger + borne by his ancestor in the Civil Wars. Against the wall was + posted King Charles's _Golden Rules_, Vincent Wing's _Almanac_ + and a portrait of the Duke of Marlborough; in his window lay + Baker's _Chronicle_, Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_, Glanvill _On + Apparitions_, Quincey's _Dispensatory_, _The Complete Justice_, + and a _Book of Farriery_. In a corner by the fireside stood a + large wooden two-armed chair with a cushion, and within the + chimney corner were a couple of seats. Here at Christmas he + entertained his tenants, assembled round a glowing fire made of + the roots of trees; and told and heard the traditionary tales + of the village about ghosts and witches while a jorum of ale + went round. These men and their houses are no more.' + +The farmer, in some parts at all events, was becoming a more civilized +individual; the late race had lived in the midst of their enlightened +neighbours like beings of another order[480]; in their personal labour +they were indefatigable, in their fare hard, in their dress homely, in +their manners rude. The French and American War of 1775-83 was a very +prosperous time, and the farmer's mode of living greatly improved. +Farmhouses in England, it was noticed, were in general well furnished +with every convenient accommodation. Into many of them a 'barometer +had of late years been introduced'. The teapot and the mug of ale +jointly possessed the breakfast table, and meat and pudding smoked on +the board every noon. Formerly one might see at church what was the +cut of a coat half a century ago, now dress was spruce and +modern.[481] As a proof of the spirit of improvement among farmers, +Marshall instances the custom in the Midlands of placing their sons as +pupils on other farms to widen their experience. 'Their entertainments +are as expensive as they are elegant, for it is no uncommon thing for +one of these new-created farmers to spend £10 or £12, at one +entertainment, and to have the most expensive wines; to set off the +entertainment in the greatest splendour an elegant sideboard of plate +is provided in the newest fashion.'[482] As to dress, no one could +tell the farmer's daughter from the duke's. Marshall noticed that in +Warwickshire the harness of the farmer's teams was often ridiculously +ornamented, and the horses were overfed and underworked to save their +looks. Before enclosure the farmer entertained his friends with bacon +fed by himself, washed down with ale brewed from his own malt, in a +brown jug, or a glass if he was extravagant. He wore a coat of woollen +stuff, the growth of his own flock, spun by his wife and daughters, +his stockings came from the same quarter, so did the clothes of his +family. + +Some of these farmers were doing their share in helping the progress +of agriculture. In 1764 Joseph Elkington, of Princethorpe in +Warwickshire, was the first to practise the under drainage of sloping +land that was drowned by the bursting of springs. He drained some +fields at Princethorpe which were very wet, and dug a trench 4 or 5 +feet deep for this purpose; but finding this did not reach the +principal body of subjacent water, he drove an iron bar 4 feet below +the bottom of his trench and on withdrawing it the water gushed out. +He was thus led to combine the system of cutting drains, aided when +necessary by auger holes. His main principles were three: (1) Finding +the main spring, or cause of the mischief. (2) Taking the level of +that spring and ascertaining its subterranean bearings, for if the +drain is cut a yard below the line of the spring the water issuing +from it cannot be reached, but on ascertaining the line by levelling +the spring can be cut effectually. (3) Using the auger to tap the +spring when the drain was not deep enough for the purpose.[483] It was +owing to the Board of Agriculture at the end of the century that he +obtained the vote of £1,000 from Parliament, and a skilful surveyor +was appointed to observe his methods and give them to the public, for +he was too ignorant himself to give an intelligible account of his +system. After the publication of the report his system was followed +generally until Smith of Deanston in 1835 gave the method now in use +to his country. + +Robert Bakewell, who did more to improve live stock than any other +man, was born at Dishley, Leicestershire, in 1735, and succeeding to +the management of his father's farm in 1760 began to make experiments +in breeding.[484] He scorned the old idea that the blood must be +constantly varied by the mixture of different breeds, and his new +system differed from the old in two chief points: (1) small versus +large bone, and consequently a greater proportion of flesh and a +greater tendency to fatten; (2) permissible in-breeding versus +perpetual crossing with strange breeds. He took immense pains in +selecting the best animals to breed from, and had at Dishley a museum +of skeletons and pickled specimens for the comparison of one +generation with another, and he conducted careful post-mortem +examinations on his stock. His great production was the new Leicester +breed of sheep,[485] which in half a century spread over every part of +the United Kingdom, as well as to Europe and America, and gave England +2 lb. of meat where she had one before. Sheep at this time were +divided into two main classes: (1) short-woolled or field sheep, fed +in the open fields; (2) long-woolled or pasture sheep, fed in +enclosures. That they were not at a very high state of perfection may +be gathered from this description of the chief variety of the latter, +the 'Warwickshire' breed: 'his frame large and loose, his bones heavy, +his legs long and thick, his chine as well as his rump as sharp as a +hatchet, his skin rattling on his ribs like a skeleton covered with +parchments.' The origin of the new Leicester sheep is uncertain, but +apparently the old Lincoln breed was the basis of it, though this, +like other large breeds of English sheep, was itself an introduction +of the last half century. The new sheep was described as having a +clean head, straight broad flat back, barrel-like body, fine small +eyes, thin feet, mutton fat, fine-grained and of good flavour, wool 8 +lb. to the fleece, and wethers at two years old weighed from 20 to 30 +lb. a quarter. + +By 1770 his rams were hired for 25 guineas a season, and soon after he +made £3,000 a year by their hire, one named 'Two-pounder' bringing him +1,200 guineas in one year. + +One of his theories was that the poorer the land the more it demanded +well-made sheep, which is no doubt true to a certain extent; but it +has been proved conclusively since that the quality of the breed +gradually drops to the level of the land unless artificially assisted. +At his death he left two distinct breeds of sheep, for he improved on +his own new Leicester, so that the improved became the 'New Leicester' +and the former the 'Old Leicester.' However, at the time and, +afterwards, his sheep were generally called 'New Leicesters', and +sometimes the 'Dishley breed'. There was much prejudice among farmers +against the new breed; in the Midlands most of the farmers would have +nothing to do with them, and 'their grounds were stocked with +creatures that would disgrace the meanest lands in the kingdom.' Yet +in April, 1786, yearling wethers of the new breed were sold for 28s. +while those of the old were 16s. + +The cattle which he set to work to improve were the famous old longhorn +breed, the prevailing breed of the Midlands, which had already been +considerably improved by Webster of Canley in Warwickshire, and +others, especially in Lancashire and the north. The kind of cattle +esteemed hitherto had been 'the large, long-bodied, big-boned, coarse, +flat-sided kind, and often lyery or black-fleshed.'[486] He founded +his herd upon two heifers of Webster's and a bull from Westmoreland, +and from these bred all his cattle. The celebrated bull 'Twopenny' was +a son of the Westmoreland bull and one of these heifers, who came to +be celebrated in agricultural history as 'Old Comely', for she was +slaughtered at the age of twenty-six. He bred his cattle so that they +produced an enormous amount of fat, as hitherto there had been a +difficulty in producing animals to fatten readily; but this he pushed +to too great an extreme, so that there has been a reaction. The +following is a description of a six-year-old bull, got by 'Twopenny' +out of a Canley cow: 'His head, chest, and neck remarkably fine and +clean; his chest extraordinarily deep; his brisket bearing down to his +knees; his chine thin, loin narrow at the chine, but remarkably wide +at the hips. Quarters long, round bones snug, but thighs rather full +and remarkably let down. The carcase throughout, chine excepted, +large, roomy, deep, and well spread.'[487] The new longhorn, however +good for the grazier, was not a good milker. Bakewell was a great +believer in straw as a food, and strongly objected to having it +trodden into manure; his beasts were largely fed on it, in such small +quantities that they greedily ate what was before them and wasted +little. His activity was not confined to the breeding of cattle and +sheep, for he also produced a breed of black horses, thick and short +in the body, with very short legs and very powerful, two ploughing 4 +acres a day, a statement which seems much exaggerated; and was famous +for his skill in irrigating meadows, by which he could cut grass four +times a year. He was a firm believer in the wisdom of treating stock +gently and kindly, and his sheep were kept as clean as racehorses. A +visitor to Dishley saw a bull of huge proportions, with enormous +horns, led about by a boy of seven. He travelled much, and admired the +farms of Norfolk most in England, and those of Holland and Flanders +abroad, founding his own system on these. It was his opinion that the +Devon breed of cattle were incapable of improvement by a cross of any +other breed, and that from the West Highland heifer the best breed of +cattle might be produced. + +He died in 1795, and apparently did not keep what he made, owing +largely to his boundless hospitality, which had entertained Russian +princes, German royal dukes, English peers, and travellers from all +countries. His breed of cattle has completely disappeared, unless +traces survive in the lately resuscitated longhorn breed, but his +principles are still acted upon, viz. the correlation of form, and the +practice of consanguineous breeding under certain conditions. + +Bakewell's earliest pupil was George Culley, who devoted himself to +improving the breed of cattle, and became one of the most famous +agriculturists at the end of the eighteenth and the commencement of +the nineteenth centuries. Another farmer to whom English agriculture +owes much was John Ellman of Glynde, born in 1753, who by careful +selection firmly established the reputation of the Southdown sheep +which had previously been hardly recognized. He was one of the +founders of the Smithfield Cattle Show in 1793, which helped +materially to improve the live stock of the country. + +The relations between landlord and tenant, judging from the accounts +of contemporary writers, were generally good. Leases were less +frequent than agreements voidable by six months' notice on either +side, and when there was a tenancy-at-will the tenant who entered as a +young man was often expected to hand on the holding to his posterity, +and therefore executed improvements at his own cost, so complete was +the trust between landlord and tenant. Tenants then did much that they +would refuse to do to-day, as the following lease, common in the +Midlands in 1786, shows[488]: + + Tenant agrees to take, &c., and to pay the stipulated rent + within forty days, without any deduction for taxes, and + double rent so long as he continues to hold after notice + given. + + To repair buildings, accidents by fire excepted. + + To repair gates and fences. + + When required, to cut and plash the hedges, and make the + ditches 3 feet by 2 feet, or pay or cause to be paid to + the landlord 1s. per rood for such as shall not be done + after three months' notice has been given in writing. + + Not to break up certain lands specified in the schedule, + 'under £20 an acre.' + + Not to plough more than a specified number of acres of the + rest of the land in any one year, under the same penalty. + + To forfeit the same sum for every acre that shall be ploughed + for any longer time than three crops successively, without + making a clean summer fallow thereof after the third + crop. + + And the like sum for every acre over and above a specified + number (clover excepted) that shall be mown in any one + year. + + At the time of laying down arable lands to grass he shall + manure them with 8 quarters of lime per acre, and sow + the same with 12 lb. of clover seeds, and one bushel of + rye-grass per acre. + + Shall spend on the premises all hay, straw, and manure, or + leave them at the end of the term. + + Tenant on quitting to be allowed for hay left on the premises, + for clover and rye-grass sown in the last year, and for all + fallows made within that time.'[489] + +A striking picture of the conditions prevailing in many parts of +England at this period is given by Mr. Loch in his account of the +estates of the Marquis of Stafford.[490] When this nobleman inherited +his property in Staffordshire and Shropshire, much of the land, as in +other parts of England, was held on leases for three lives, a system +said to have been ruinous in its effects. Although the farms were held +at one-third of their value, nothing could be worse than the course of +cultivation pursued, no improvements were carried out, and all that +could be hoped for was that the land would not be entirely run out +when the lease expired. The closes were extremely small and of the +most irregular shape; the straggling fences occupied a large portion +of the land; the crookedness of the ditches, by keeping the water +stagnant, added to, rather than relieved, the wetness of the soil. +Farms were much scattered, and to enable the occupiers to get at their +land, lanes wound backwards and forwards from field to field, covering +a large quantity of ground. + +It is to the great credit of the Marquis of Stafford that this +miserable state of things was swept away. Lands were laid together, +the size of the fields enlarged, hedges and ditches straightened, the +drainage conducted according to a uniform plan, new and substantial +buildings erected, indeed the whole countryside transformed. + +Another evil custom on the estate had been to permit huts of miserable +construction to be erected to the number of several hundreds by the +poorest, and in many instances the most profligate, of the population. +They were not regularly entered in the rental account, but had a +nominal payment fixed upon them which was paid annually at the court +leet. These cottages were built on the sides of the roads and on the +lord's waste, which was gradually absorbed by the encroachment, which +the occupiers of these huts made from time to time by enclosing the +land that lay next them. These wretched holdings gradually fell into +the hands of a body of middlemen, who underlet them at an extravagant +rent to the occupiers; and these men began to consider that they had +an interest independent of the landlord, and had at times actually +mortgaged, sold, and devised it. This abuse was also put an end to, +the cottagers being made immediate tenants of the landlord, to their +great gain, but to this day small aggregations of houses in Shropshire +called 'Heaths' mark the encroachments of these squatters on the +roadside wastes. This class, indeed, has been well known in England +since the Middle Ages. Norden speaks of them in 1602, and so do many +subsequent writers. Numbers of small holdings exist to-day obtained in +this manner, and the custom must to some extent have counteracted the +effect of enclosure.[491] + +The roads of England up to the end of the eighteenth century were +generally in a disgraceful condition. Some improvement was effected in +the latter half of the century, but it was not until the days of +Telford and Macadam that they assumed the appearance with which we are +familiar; and long after that, though the main roads were excellent, +the by-roads were often atrocious, as readers of such books as +_Handley Cross_, written in the middle of the nineteenth century, will +remember. + +Defoe in his tour in 1724 found the road between S. Albans and +Nottingham 'perfectly frightful,' and the great number of horses +killed by the 'labour of these heavy ways a great charge to the +country'. He notes, however, an improvement from turnpikes. Many of +the roads were much worn by the continual passing of droves of heavy +cattle on their way to London. Sheep could not travel in the winter to +London as the roads were too heavy, so that the price of mutton at +that season in town was high. Breeders were often compelled to sell +them cheap before they got to London, because the roads became +impassable for their flocks when the bad weather set in.[492] + +In 1734 Lord Cathcart wrote in his diary: 'All went well until I +arrived within 3 miles of Doncaster, when suddenly my horse fell with +a crash and with me under him. I fancied myself crushed to death. I +slept at Doncaster and had a bad night. I was so bad all day, that I +could get no further than Wetherby. Next day I was all right again. I +had another terrible fall between North Allerton and Darlington, but +was not a bit the worse.'[493] + +It was owing to this defective condition of the roads that the prices +of corn still differed greatly in various localities; there would be a +glut in one place and a deficiency in another, with no means of +equalizing matters. To the same cause must be attributed in great +measure the slow progress made in the improvement of agriculture. New +discoveries travelled very slowly; the expense of procuring manure +beyond that produced on the farm was prohibitive; and the uncertain +returns which arose from such confined markets caused the farmer to +lack both spirit and ability to exert himself in the cultivation of +his land.[494] Therefore farming was limited to procuring the +subsistence of particular farms rather than feeding the public. The +opposition to better roads was due in great measure to the landowners, +who feared that if the markets in their neighbourhood were rendered +accessible to distant farmers their estates would suffer. But they +were not alone in their opposition; in the reign of Queen Anne the +people of Northampton were against any improvement in the navigation +of the Nene, because they feared that corn from Huntingdon and +Cambridge would come up the river and spoil their market.[495] Horner +was very enthusiastic over the improvement recently effected: 'our +very carriages travel with almost winged expedition between every town +of consequence in the kingdom and the metropolis' and inland +navigation was soon likely to be established in every part, in +consequence of which the demand for the produce of the land increased +and the land itself became more valuable and rents rose. 'There never +was a more astonishing revolution accomplished in the internal system +of any country'; and the carriage of grain was effected with half the +former number of horses. + +It is clear, however, that he was easily satisfied, and this opinion +must be compared with the statements of Young and Marshall, who were +continually travelling all over England some time after it was +written, and found the roads, in many parts, in a very bad state. + +Even near London they were often terrible. 'Of all the cursed roads +that ever disgraced this kingdom in the very ages of barbarism, none +ever equalled that from Billericay to the King's Head at Tilbury.[496] +It is for near 12 miles so narrow that a mouse cannot pass by any +carriage. I saw a fellow creep under his wagon to assist me to lift, +if possible, my chaise over a hedge. The ruts are of an incredible +depth, and everywhere chalk wagons were stuck fast till 20 or 30 +horses tacked to each drew them out one by one' Others said that +turnpike roads were the enemies of cheapness; as soon as they opened +up secluded spots, low prices vanished and all tended to one level. +Owing to the work of Telford and Macadam, the high roads by the first +quarter of the nineteenth century attained a high pitch of excellence; +and were thronged with traffic, coaches, postchaises, private +carriages, equestrians, carts and wagons: so animated a sight that our +forefathers built small houses called 'gazebos' on the sides of the +road, where they met to take tea and watch the ever varying stream. It +should not be forgotten, too, that the inns, where numbers of horses +put up, were splendid markets for the farmers' oats, hay, and straw. + +The seasons in the latter part of the eighteenth century were +distinguished for being frequently bad. In 1774 Gilbert White wrote, +'Such a run of wet seasons as we have had the last ten or eleven years +would have produced a famine a century or two ago.' Owing to the +dearness of bread in 1767 riots broke out in many places, many lives +were lost, and the gaols were filled with prisoners.[497] 1779 was, +however, a year of great fertility and prices were low all round: +wheat 33s. 8d., barley 26s., oats 13s. 6d., wool 12s. a tod of 28 lb.: +and there were many complaints of ruined farmers and distressed +landlords. Though England was now becoming an importing country, the +amount of corn imported was insufficient to have any appreciable +effect on prices, which were mainly influenced by the seasons, as the +following instance of the fluctuations caused by a single bad season +(1782) testifies[498]: + + Prices after harvest of 1781. Prices after harvest of 1782. + + £ s. d. £ s. d. + + Wheat, per bushel 5 0 Wheat, per bushel 10 6 + Barley " 2 9 Barley " 7 2 + Dutch oats for seed 1 8 Dutch oats for seed 3 6 + Clover seed, per cwt. 1 11 6 Clover seed, per cwt. 5 10 0 + +The summer of 1783 was amazing and portentous and full of horrible +phenomena, according to White, with a peculiar haze or smoky fog +prevailing for many weeks. 'The sun at noon looked as blank as a +clouded moon, and shed a rust-coloured ferruginous light on the ground +and floors of rooms.' This was succeeded by a very severe winter, the +thermometer on December 10 being 1° below zero; the worst since +1739-40. + +In 1788 occurred a severe drought in the summer, 5,000 horned cattle +perishing for lack of water.[499] In 1791 there was a remarkable +change of temperature in the middle of June, the thermometer in a few +days falling from 75° to 25°, and the hills of Kent and Surrey were +covered with snow. + +We have now to deal with one of those landowners whose great example +is one of the glories of English agriculture. Coke of Holkham began +his great agricultural work about 1776 on an estate where, as old Lady +Townshend said, 'all you will see will be one blade of grass and two +rabbits fighting for that;' in fact it was little better than a rabbit +warren. It has been said that all the wheat consumed in the county of +Norfolk was at this time imported from abroad; but this is in direct +contradiction to Young's assertion, already noted, that there were in +1767 great quantities of wheat besides other crops in the county. +Coke's estate indeed seems to have been considerably behind many parts +of the shire when he began his farming career.[500] When Coke came +into his estate, in five leases which were about to expire the farms +were held at 3s. 6d. an acre; and in the previous leases they had been +1s. 6d. an acre. We may judge of the quality of this land by comparing +it with the average rent of 10s. which Young says prevailed at this +time. With a view to remedy this state of things he studied the +agriculture of other counties, and his observations thereon reveal a +very poor kind of farming in many places: in Cheshire the rich pasture +was wasted and the poor impoverished by sheer ignorance, in Yorkshire +luxuriant grass was understocked, in Shropshire there were hardly any +sheep; in his own part of Norfolk the usual rotation was three white +straw crops and then broadcast turnips.[501] This Coke changed to two +white crops and two years pasture, and he dug up and brought to the +surface the rich marl which lay under the flint and sand, so that +clover and grasses began to grow. So successful was he in this that in +1796 he cut nearly 400 tons of sainfoin from 104 acres of land +previously valued at 12s. an acre. He increased his flock of sheep +from 800 worthless animals with backs as narrow as rabbits, the +description of the Norfolk sheep of the day, to 2,500 good Southdowns. +Encouraged by the Duke of Bedford, another great agriculturist, he +started a herd of North Devons, and, fattening two Devons against one +Shorthorn, found the former weighed 140 stone, the latter 110, and the +Shorthorn had eaten more food than the two Devons. However, a single +experiment of this kind is not very conclusive. + +The ploughs of Norfolk were, as in many other counties, absurdly +over-horsed, from three to five being used when only two were +necessary; so Coke set the example of using two whenever possible, and +won a bet with Sir John Sebright by ploughing an acre of stiff land in +Hertfordshire in a day with a pair of horses. He transformed the bleak +bare countryside by planting 50 acres of trees every year until he had +3,000 acres well covered, and in 1832 had probably the unique +experience of embarking in a ship which was built of oak grown from +the acorns he had himself planted.[502] Between 1776 and 1842 (the +date of his death) he is said to have spent £536,992 on improving his +estate, without reckoning the large sums spent on his house and +demesne, the home farm, and his marsh farm of 459 acres. This +expenditure paid in the long run, but when he entered upon it, it must +have seemed very doubtful if this would be the case. A good +understanding between landlord and tenant was the basis of his policy, +and to further this he let his farms on long leases, at moderate +rents, with few restrictions. When farmers improved their holdings on +his estate the rent was not raised on them, so that the estate +benefited greatly, and good tenants were often rewarded by having +excellent houses built for them; so good, indeed, that his political +opponents the Tories, whom he, as a staunch Whig detested, made it one +of their complaints against him that he built palaces for farmhouses. +At first he met with that stolid opposition to progress which seems +the particular characteristic of the farmer. For sixteen years no one +followed him in the use of the drill, though it was no new thing; and +when it was adopted he reckoned its use spread at the rate of a mile a +year. Yet eventually he had his reward; his estate came to command the +pick of English tenant farmers, who never left it except through old +age, and would never live under any other landlord. Even the Radical +Cobbett, to whom, as to most of his party, landlords were, and are, +the objects of inveterate hatred, said that every one who knew him +spoke of him with affection. Coke was the first to distinguish between +the adaptability of the different kinds of grass seeds to different +soils, and thereby made the hitherto barren lands of his estate better +pasture land than that of many rich counties. Carelessness about the +quality of grasses sown was universal for a long time. The farmer took +his seeds from his own foul hayrick, or sent to his neighbour for a +supply of rubbish; even Bakewell derived his stock from his hayloft. +It was not until the Society for the Encouragement of Arts offered +prizes for clean hay seeds that some improvement was noticeable. In +Norfolk, as in other parts of England, there was at this time a strong +prejudice against potatoes; the villagers of Holkham refused to have +anything to do with them, but Coke's invincible persistency overcame +this unreasoning dislike and soon they refused to do without them. + +Coke was a great advocate for sowing wheat early and very thick in the +rows, and for cutting it when ear and stem were green and the grain +soft, declaring that by so doing he got 2s. a quarter more for it; he +also believed in the early cutting of oats and peas. It was his custom +to drill 4 bushels of wheat per acre, which he said prevented +tillering and mildew. He was the first to grow swedes on a large +scale.[503] The famous Holkham Sheep-shearings, known locally as +'Coke's Clippings', which began in 1778 and lasted till 1821, arose +from his practice of gathering farmers together for consultation on +matters agricultural, and developed into world-famous meetings +attended by all nationalities and all ranks, men journeying from +America especially to attend them, and Lafayette expressed it as one +of his great regrets that he had never attended one. At these +gatherings all were equal, the suggestion of the smallest tenant +farmer was listened to with respect, and the same courtesy and +hospitality were shown to all whether prince or farmer. At the last +meeting in 1821 no less than 7,000 people were present. His skill, +energy, and perseverance worked a revolution in the crops; his own +wheat crops were from 10 to 12 coombs an acre, his barley sometimes +nearly 20. The annual income of timber and underwood was £2,700, and +from 1776 to 1816 he increased the rent roll of his estate from £2,200 +to £20,000, which, even after allowing for the great advance in prices +during that period, is a wonderful rise. It is a very significant fact +that there was not an alehouse on the estate, and in connexion with +this, and with the fact that his improvements made a constant demand +for labour, we are not surprised to learn that the workhouse was +pulled down as useless, for it was always empty, and this at a time +when the working-classes of England were pauperized to an alarming +degree. The year 1818 was one of terrible distress all over England in +country and town, yet at his sheep-shearing of that year Coke was +enabled to say he had trebled the population of his estate and not a +single person was out of employment, though everywhere else farmers +were turning off hands and cutting down wages. Principally through his +agency, between 1804 and 1821, no less than 153 enclosures took place +in Norfolk, while between 1790 and 1810, 2,000,000 acres of waste land +in England were brought under cultivation largely by his efforts. He +is said, indeed, to have transformed agriculture throughout England, +and, but for that, the country would not have been able to grow enough +food for its support during the war with Napoleon, and must have +succumbed. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[440] _Northern Tour_, i. 9. For an interesting account of Young, see +_R.A.S.E. Journal_ (3rd Series), iv. 1. + +[441] In 1726 Bradley had urged the use of liquorice, madder, woad, +and caraway as improvers of the land in the Preface to the _Country +Gentleman_. + +[442] _Rural Economy_ (1771), pp. 173-5. Trusler, who wrote in 1780, +mentions 'the general rage for farming throughout the +kingdom.'--_Practical Husbandry_, p. I. + +[443] In 1780 Sir Thomas Bernard, travelling through Northumberland, +saw 'luxuriant plantations, neat hedges, rich crops of corn, +comfortable farmhouses' in a county whereof the greater part was +barren moor dearly rented at 1s. 6d. an acre thirty years before, and +he said the county had increased in annual value fourfold, +(Contemporary MS., unpublished.) + +[444] _Rural Economy_, p. 26. + +[445] _Farmer's Letters_ (3rd ed.), p. 89. + +[446] Slater, _English Peasantry and Enclosure_, p. 95. + +[447] Ibid. p. 101. + +[448] Young, _Northern Tour_, iv. 340, about 1770 estimates the +cultivated land of England to be half pasture and half arable, and, in +the absence of reliable statistics, his opinion on this point is +certainly the best available. The conversion of a large portion of the +richer land from arable to grass in the eighteenth century was +compensated for, according to Young, by the conversion, on enclosure, +of poor sandy soils and heaths or moors into corn land. Hasbach, _op. +cit._ pp. 370-1. + +[449] Young, _Northern Tour_, i. 222. + +[450] _Rural Economy_, p. 252. + +[451] Ibid. p. 271. + +[452] Cf. above, p. 180. + +[453] _Farmer's Letters_ (3rd ed), p. 372. + +[454] _Northern Tour_, iv. 167. + +[455] Ibid. iv. 186. + +[456] This large item is explained by the fact that a bailiff was +employed to sell, and no bailiff could find customers 'without feeling +the same drought as stage coachmen when they see a sign'.--Young, +_Farmer's Letters_, p. 403. + +[457] _Rural Economy_, p. 314. + +[458] 1775, pp. x-xiii. + +[459] _Northern Tour_, iv. 192-202. + +[460] See _Parliamentary Reports Commission_ (1881), xvi. 260. + +[461] _Dissertations on Rural Subjects_, p. 278. + +[462] _Farmer's Letters_, p. 433. + +[463] _History of Hawsted_, p. 169. + +[464] Hasbach, _op. cit._ p. 127; Kent, _Hints to Gentlemen_, p. 152. + +[465] _Southern Tour_, p. 324. He says nothing of the manufacturing +towns, which had not yet began to influence the wages of farm +labourers near them as they soon afterwards did. + +[466] Some prices at this time were: bread per lb., 2d.; butter, +5-1/2d. to 8d.; cheese, 3-1/2d. to 4d.; beef, 3d. to 5d.; mutton, +3-1/2d. to 5d. + +[467] _State of the Poor_, i. 562. + +[468] According to Walter Harte, though the yeoman in the middle of +the seventeenth century ate bread of rye and barley (maslin), in 1766 +even the poor cottagers looked upon it with horror and demanded best +wheaten bread. Yet in 1766 the quartern loaf in London was 1s. +6d.--Tooke, _History of Prices_, i. 68. + +[469] _History of Hawsted_, p. 184. + +[470] Eden, _State of the Poor_, i. 513. + +[471] _Rural Economy of Gloucestershire_, i. 53. + +[472] Eden, _op. cit._ i. 547. + +[473] _Farmer's Letters_, i. 300 + +[474] The pulling down of cottages began to be complained of in the +seventeenth century; they harboured the poor, who were a charge upon +the parish, and repairs were saved.--_Transactions Royal Historical +Society_ (New Series), xix. 120. + +[475] Hasbach, _op. cit._ 82; Clarke, _General View of Herefordshire_, +p. 29; Marshall, _Review of Northern Department_, p. 375. + +[476] Tooke, _History of Prices_, i. 50; Hallam, _Constitutional +History_, iii. 302. + +[477] _Northern Tour_, iv. 420. The increase in population in the +first half of the eighteenth century was slow; after the Peace of +Paris in 1763, when the commerce and manufactures of the country were +extended in an unprecedented degree, it was rapid. + +[478] _The Way to be Rich and Respectable_, London, 1780. + +[479] Grose, _Olio_, pp. 41-4; Lecky, _History of England in +Eighteenth Century_, vi. 169 et. seq. + +[480] Cullum, _History of Hawsted_, p. 219. + +[481] Cullum, _History of Hawsted_, p. 225. + +[482] _Thoughts on Enclosure, by a Country Farmer_ (1786), p. 21. + +[483] Johnstone, _Account of Elkington's Draining_ (1797), pp. 8-9. + +[484] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (1894), p. 11, from which this account of +Bakewell is mainly taken. + +[485] According to some, Joseph Allom originated the breed, and +Bakewell vastly improved it. We may safely give the chief credit to so +careful and gifted a breeder as Bakewell. + +[486] _Culley on Live Stock_ (1807), p. 56. + +[487] Marshall, _Rural Economy of the Midland Counties_, i. 273. + +[488] _Victoria County History: Warwickshire, Agriculture_. + +[489] In Lancashire at this date it was not uncommon, when a tenant +wished for his farm or a particular field to be improved by draining, +marling, liming, or laying down to grass, to hand it over to the +landlord for the process; who, when completed, returned it to the +tenant with an advanced rent of 10 per cent. upon the +improvements.--Marshall, _Review of Reports to Board of Agriculture_ +(under Lancashire). + +[490] 1820, p. 173 et seq. + +[491] See Hasbach, _op. cit._ pp. 77 sq.; _Annals of Agriculture_, +xxxvi. 497; Scrutton, _Commons and Common Fields_, p. 139. + +[492] Defoe, _Tour_, ii. 178 et seq. + +[493] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (3rd Ser.), ii. 9. + +[494] Horner, _Inquiry into the Means of Preserving the Public Roads_ +(1767), pp. 4 et seq. + +[495] _Victoria County History: Northants._, ii. 250. + +[496] Young, _Southern Tour_ (ed. 2), p. 88. + +[497] Tooke, _History of Prices_, i. 68. It is difficult to understand +the price of the quartern loaf, 1s. 6d. in 1766, as wheat was only +43s. 1d. a quarter. Prices of wheat in these years were: + + s. d. + + 1767 47 4 + 1768 53 9 + 1769 40 7 + 1770 43 6 + 1771 47 2 + 1772 50 8 + 1773 51 0 + 1774 52 8 + 1775 48 4 + 1776 38 2 + 1777 45 6 + 1778 42 0 + 1779 33 8 + +These returns differ from those of the Board of Agriculture; see +Appendix III. + +[498] _Annals of Agriculture_, iii. 366. + +[499] Baker, _Seasons and Prices_, pp. 224 et seq. + +[500] A. Stirling, _Coke of Holkham_, i. 249. + +[501] But in other parts of it the cultivation of turnips was well +understood, for the _Complete Farmer_, s.v. _Turnips_ (ed. 3), says +that about 1750 Norfolk farmers boasted that turnips had doubled the +value of their holdings, and Norfolk men were famous for understanding +hoeing and thinning, which were little practised elsewhere. Further, +Young, _Southern Tour_, p. 273, says: 'the extensive use of turnips is +known but little of except in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. I found no +farmers but in these counties that understood anything of fatting +cattle with them; feeding lean sheep being the only use they put them +to.' + +[502] A. Stirling, _op. cit._ i. 264. + +[503] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (1895), p. 12. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +1793-1815 + +THE GREAT FRENCH WAR.--THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.--HIGH PRICES, AND +HEAVY TAXATION. + + +This period, that of the great war with France, was one generally of +high prices and prosperity for landowners and farmers. It was a +prosperity, however, that was largely fictitious, and when the high +prices of the war time were over, it was succeeded by many disastrous +years. The prosperity, too, was also largely neutralized by a crushing +weight of taxation and rates, while the labourer, although his wages +were increased, found prices grow at a much greater rate, and it was, +as Thorold Rogers has said, the most miserable period in his history. + +Its commencement was marked by the foundation of the Board of +Agriculture. On May 15, 1793, Sir John Sinclair[504] moved in the +House of Commons, 'that His Majesty would take into his consideration +the advantages which might be derived from the establishment of such a +board, for though in some particular districts improved methods of +cultivating the soil were practised, yet in the greatest part of these +kingdoms the principles of agriculture are not sufficiently +understood, nor are the implements of husbandry or the stock of the +farmer brought to that perfection of which they are capable. His +Majesty's faithful Commons were persuaded that if it were founded a +spirit of improvement might be encouraged, which would result in +important national benefits. + +The motion was carried by 101 to 26. By its charter the board +consisted of a president, 16 ex-officio and 30 ordinary members, with +honorary and corresponding members. It was not a Government department +in the modern sense of the term, but a society for the encouragement +of agriculture, as the Royal Society is for the encouragement of +science. It was, indeed, supported by parliamentary grants, receiving +a sum of £3,000 a year, but the Government had only a limited control +over its affairs through the ex-officio members, among whom were the +Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Lord Chancellor, the First +Lord of the Admiralty, and the Speaker. + +The first president was Sir John Sinclair, and the first secretary +Arthur Young, with a salary of £400 a year, which he thought +insufficient.[505] The first task of the new board was that of +preparing statistical accounts of English agriculture, and it was +intended to take in hand the commutation of tithes, which would have +been a great boon to farmers, with whom the prevailing system of +collecting tithes was very unpopular; but the Primate's opposition +stopped this. The board appointed lecturers, procured a reward for +Elkington for his draining system, encouraged Macadam in his plans for +improving roads, and Meikle the inventor of the thrashing machine, and +obtained the removal of taxes on draining tiles, and other taxes +injurious to agriculture. It also recommended the allotment system, +and Sinclair desired 3 acres and a cow for every industrious cottager. +During the abnormally high prices of provisions from 1794-6, the +quartern loaf in London in 1795 being 1s. 6d., though next year it +dropped to 7-3/4d.,[506] the board made experiments in making bread +with substitutes for wheat, which resulted in a public exhibition of +eighty different sorts of bread. Its efforts were generally followed +by increased zeal among agriculturists; but Sinclair, an able but +impetuous man,[507] appears to have taken things too much into his own +hands and pushed them too speedily. + +Financial difficulties came, chiefly owing to the cost of the surveys, +which had been hurried on with undue haste and often with great +carelessness, the surveyors sometimes being men who knew nothing of +the subject. + +Sinclair was deposed from the presidency in 1798, and succeeded by +Lord Somerville. He again was succeeded by Lord Carrington, under +whose presidency the board offered premiums (the first of £200), owing +to the high price of wheat and consequent distress, for essays on the +best means of converting certain portions of grass land into tillage +without exhausting the soil, and of returning the same to grass, after +a certain period, in an improved state, or at least without injury. +The general report, based on the information derived from these +essays, states that no high price of corn or temporary distress would +justify the ploughing up of old meadows or rich pastures, and that on +certain soils well adapted to grass age improves the quality of the +pasture to a degree which no system of management on lands broken up +and laid down can equal. In spite of this, the cupidity of landowners +and farmers, when wheat was a guinea a bushel or at prices near it, +led to the ploughing up of much splendid grass land, which was never +laid down again until, perhaps in recent years, owing to the low price +of grain; so that some of the land at all events has, owing to bad +times, returned to the state best suited to it. + +The board looked upon the enclosure and cultivation of waste lands, +which in England they estimated at 6,000,000 acres,[508] as a panacea +for the prevailing distress, and after much opposition they managed to +pass through both Houses in 1801 a Bill cheapening and facilitating +the process of parliamentary enclosure. This Act, 41 Geo. III, c. 109, +'extracted a number of clauses from various private Acts and enacted +that they should hold good in all cases where the special Act did not +expressly provide to the contrary.' Another benefit rendered to +agriculture was the establishment in 1803 of lectures on agricultural +chemistry, the first lecturer engaged being Mr., afterwards Sir +Humphry, Davy, who may be regarded as the father of agricultural +chemistry. + +In 1806 Sinclair was re-elected president, and his second term was +mainly devoted to completing the agricultural surveys of the different +counties, which, before his retirement in 1813, he had with one or two +exceptions the satisfaction of seeing finished. Though over-impetuous, +he rendered valuable service to agriculture, not only by his own +energy but by stirring up energy in others; as William Wilberforce the +philanthrophist said, 'I have myself seen collected in that small room +several of the noblemen and gentlemen of the greatest properties in +the British Isles, all of them catching and cultivating an +agricultural spirit, and going forth to spend in the employment of +labourers, and I hope in the improvement of land, immense sums which +might otherwise have been lavished on hounds and horses, or squandered +on theatricals.' + +Among the numerous subjects into which the board inquired was the +divining rod for finding water, which was tested in Hyde Park in 1801, +and successfully stood the test. In 1805, Davy the chemist reported on +a substance in South America called 'guana', which he had analysed and +found to contain one-third of ammoniacal salt with other salts and +carbon, but its use was not to come for another generation. From the +time of Sinclair's retirement in 1813 the board declined. Arthur +Young, its secretary, had become blind and his capacity therefore +impaired. One year its lack of energy was shown by the return of +£2,000 of the Government grant to the Treasury because it had nothing +to spend it on. The Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, was against it, +the clergy feared the commutation of tithe which the board advocated, +the legal profession was against the Enclosure Act, the landed +interest thought the surveys were intended for purposes of taxation; +and the grant being withdrawn, an effort to maintain the board by +voluntary subscription failed, so that it dissolved in 1822, after +doing much valuable work for English agriculture. + +Before its extinction it had held in 1821, at Aldridge's Repository, +the first national agricultural show. £685 was given in prizes, and +the entries included 10 bulls, 9 cows and heifers, several fat steers +and cows, 7 pens of Leicester and Cotswold rams and ewes; 12 pens of +Down, and 9 or 10 pens of Merino rams and ewes.[509] Most of the +cattle shown were Shorthorn, or Durham, as they were then called, with +some Herefords, Devons, Longhorns, and Alderneys. There were also +exhibits of grass, turnip-seed, roots, and implements. + +This first national show had been preceded by many local ones.[510] +The end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries +saw the establishment all over England of farmers' clubs, cattle +shows, and ploughing matches. + +The period now before us is marked by the great work of the Collings, +who next to Bakewell did most to improve the cattle of the United +Kingdom. Charles Colling was born in 1751, and the scene of his famous +labours was Ketton near Darlington. He had learnt from Bakewell the +all-importance of quality in cattle, and determined to improve the +local Shorthorn breed near his own home, which had been described in +1744 as 'the most profitable beasts for the dairyman, butcher, and +grazier, with their wide bags, short horns, and large bodies.' He was +to make these 'profitable beasts' the best all-round cattle in the +world, and to succeed where George Culley had failed. The first bull +of merit he possessed was 'Hubback',[511] described as a little +yellow, red, and white five-year-old, which was mated with cows +afterwards to be famous, named Duchess, Daisy, Cherry, and Lady +Maynard. At first Colling was against in-breeding, and not until 1793 +did he adopt it, more by accident than intention, but the experiment +being successful he became an enthusiast. The experiment was the +putting of Phoenix to Lord Bolingbroke, who was both her half-brother +and her nephew, and the result was the famous Favourite. A young +farmer who saw Favourite and his sister at Darlington in 1799, was so +struck by them that he paid Colling the first 100 guineas ever given +for a Shorthorn cow.[512] + +One of Hubback's daughters had in 1795, by Favourite, a roan calf +which grew to be the celebrated Durham Ox, which at five and a half +years weighed 3,024 lb., and was sold for £140. It was sold again for +£250, the second purchaser refusing £2,000 for it, and taking it round +England on show made a profitable business out of it, in one day in +London making £97. A still more famous animal was the bull Comet, born +1804, which at the great sale in 1810 fetched 1,000 guineas. This bull +was the crowning triumph of Colling's career and the result of very +close breeding, being described as the best bull ever seen, with a +fine masculine head, broad and deep chest, shoulders well laid back, +loins good, hind-quarters long, straight and well packed, thighs +thick, with nice straight hocks and hind legs. Perhaps Colling thought +he had pursued in-and-in breeding too far, at all events in 1810 he +dispersed his famous herd. The sale was held at a most propitious +time, for the Durham Ox had advertised the name of Colling far and +wide, and owing to the war prices were very high. Comet fetched 1,000 +guineas, and the other forty-seven lots averaged £151 8s. 5d., an +unheard-of sale, yet all the auctioneer got was 5 guineas, much of the +work of the sale falling on the owner, and the former sold the stock +with a sand-glass. + +After the sale at Ketton, Brampton, the farm of Charles's brother +Robert, became the centre of interest to the Shorthorn world. Robert +obtained excellent prices for his stock, five daughters of his famous +bull George fetching 200 guineas each. Probably he, like his brother, +pursued in-and-in breeding too far, and in 1818 there was another +great sale; but war-prices had gone and agriculture was depressed, so +that the cattle fetched less than at Ketton, but still averaged £128 +14s. 9d. for 61 lots, and 22 rams averaged £39 6s. 4d. Robert died in +1820, his brother in 1836. + +It cannot be said that the Collings were the founders of a new breed +of cattle; they were the collectors and preservers of an ancient breed +that might otherwise have disappeared.[513] The object of good +breeders was now to get their cattle fat at an early age, and they so +far succeeded as to sell three-year-old steers for £20 apiece, +generally fed thus: in the first winter, hay and turnips; the +following summer, coarse pasture; the second winter, straw in the +foldyard and a few turnips; next summer, tolerable good pasture; and +the third winter, as many turnips as they could eat.[514] + +Cattle at this time were classified thus: Shorthorns, Devons, Sussex, +Herefords (the two latter said by Culley to be varieties of the +Devon), Longhorned, Galloway or Polled, Suffolk Duns, Kyloes, and +Alderneys. + +Sheep thus: the Dishley Breed (New Leicesters), Lincolns, Teeswaters, +Devonshire Notts, Exmoor, Dorsetshire, Herefordshire, Southdown, +Norfolk, Heath, Herdwick, Cheviot, Dunfaced, Shetland, Irish.[515] + +With the increased demand for corn and meat from the towns the +necessity of new and better implements became apparent, and many +patents were taken out: by Praed, for drill ploughs, in 1781; by +Horn, for sowing machines, in 1784; by Heaton, for harrows, in 1787; +for sowing machines, by Sandilands, 1788; for reaping machines, by +Boyce, 1799; winnowing machines, by Cooch, 1800; haymakers, by Salmon, +1816; and for scarifiers, chaff-cutters, turnip-slicers, and +food-crushers.[516] But the great innovation was the threshing machine +of Meikle. Like most inventions, it had forerunners. The first +threshing machine is mentioned in the _Select Transactions of the +Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland_, +published in 1743 by Maxwell. It was invented by Michael Menzies, and +by it one man could do the work of six. One machine was worked by a +great water-wheel and triddles, another by a little wheel of 3 feet +diameter, moved by a small quantity of water. The first attempts to +substitute horse or other power for manual in threshing were directed +to the revolution of jointed flails, which should strike the floor on +which the corn was spread, but this proved unsatisfactory, so that +rubbing the grain out of the straw by revolving cylinders was +tried,[517] Young, in his northern tour, met a Mr. Clarke at Belford +in Northumberland, who was famous for mechanics,[518] among his +inventions being a threshing machine worked by one horse, which does +not seem to have effected much. Eventually Mr. A. Meikle, of Houston +Mill near Haddington, in 1798 erected a machine the principles of +which, much modified, are those of to-day; and in 1803 Mr. Aitchison, +of Drumore in East Lothian, first applied steam to threshing. It was +some time, however, before this beneficent invention was generally +used, and when the machines were used they were usually driven by +horse--or water-power until about 1850. In 1883 Messrs. Howard, of +Bedford, adapted a sheaf-binding apparatus to the threshing machine. +With new implements came new crops; the Swede turnip was grown on some +farms in Notts just before 1800, but it is not known who introduced +it.[519] The mangel wurzel was introduced about 1780-5 by Parkyns, and +prickly comfrey in 1811. + +The year 1795 was one of great scarcity owing to the wet and stormy +summer, and in August wheat went up to 108s. a quarter.[520] As usual +many other causes but the right one were put forth, and the old +accusations of monopoly, forestalling, and regrating were heard again. +The war with France, with more reason, was considered to have helped +in raising prices, but the chief cause was the bad season. The members +of both Houses of Parliament bound themselves to reduce the +consumption of bread in their homes by one-third, and recommended +others to a similar reduction. It was a period of terrible distress +for the agricultural labourer. His wages were about 9s. a week, and it +was impossible for him to live on them, so that what is known as 'the +allowance system' came in. At Speenhamland in Berkshire, in this year, +the magistrates agreed that it was not expedient to help the labourer +by regulating his wages according to the statute of Elizabeth, but +recommended the farmers to increase their pay in proportion to the +present price of provisions, and they also granted relief to all poor +and industrious men according to the price of bread. They were merely +giving effect to Gilbert's Act of 1782, which legalized the +supplementing of the wages of able-bodied men from the rates, and the +decision was nicknamed the 'Speenhamland Act' because it was so +generally followed. However well meant, the effect was most +demoralizing and the English labourer, already too prone to look to +the State for help, was induced to depend less on his own exertions. +The real remedy would have been a substantial increase of his scanty +wages. As it was, landowner and farmer were often paying the labourer +in rates money that would far better have come to him in wages, and +the rates in some districts became so burdensome that land was thrown +out of cultivation. In the same year as the Speenhamland Act the +statute 36 Geo. III, c. 23, forbade the removal of persons from any +parish until they were in actual need of support; but although the law +was thus relaxed, the fixed principle which caused the refusal of all +permanent relief to labourers who had no settlement in the parish +acted as a very efficient check on migration, though, as we have seen, +it did not entirely check it. In 1796 the question of regulating the +labourers' wages by Parliament was raised; but Pitt, remembering such +schemes had always failed, was hostile, and the matter dropped.[521] +In the same year Eden made his inquiries concerning the rate of wages +and the cost of living. In Bedford, he found the agricultural labourer +was getting 1s. 2d. a day and beer, with extras in harvest[522]; but +bacon was 10d. a lb. and wheat 12s. a bushel. However, parish +allowances were liberal, a man, his wife, and four children sometimes +receiving 11s. a week from that source. + +In Cumberland the labourer was being paid 10d. to 1s. a day with food, +or 1s. 6d. to 1s. 8d. without; in Hertfordshire, 1s. 6d. a day; in +Suffolk, 1s. 4d. a day and beer. + +Nearly everywhere his expenditure was much in excess of his earnings, +the yearly budgets of fifty-three families in twelve different +counties showed generally large annual deficiencies, amounting in one +case to £21 18s. 4d. In one case in Lindsey, where the deficiency was +small, the family lived on bread alone. The factory system, too, had +already deprived the labourer of many of his by-industries, and thus +helped the pauperism for which landlord and farmer had to pay in +rates. + +About 1788 Sir William Young proposed to send the unemployed labourers +round to the parishioners to get work, their wages being paid by their +employers and by the parish. This method of obtaining work was known +as the 'roundsman system'.[523] + +Landlords, however, and farmers were profiting greatly by the high +prices, which fortunately received a check by the abundant harvest of +1796, which, with large imports,[524] caused the price of wheat to +fall to 57s. 3d., and in 1798 to 47s. 10d. It is difficult to conceive +what instability, speculation, and disaster such fluctuations must +have led to. In 1797 the Bank Restriction Act was passed, suspending +cash payments, and thereby causing a huge growth in credit +transactions, a great factor in the inflated prosperity of this +period. In January, 1799, wool was 2s. a lb., and prices at +Smithfield: + + s. d. s. d. + + Beef, per stone of 8 lb. 3 0 to 3 4 + Mutton " " 3 0 " 4 2 + Pork " " 2 8 " 3 8 + +The summer of that year was uninterruptedly wet; some corn in the +north was uncut in November, so that wheat went up to 94s. 2d., and in +June, 1800, was 134s. 5d., the scarcity being aggravated by the +Russian Government laying an embargo on British shipping.[525] Yet +Pitt denied that the high prices were due to the war.[526] They were +due, indeed, to several causes: + + 1. Frequent years of scarcity. + + 2. Increase of consumption, owing to the great growth of + the manufacturing population, England during the war having + almost a monopoly of the trade of Europe. + + 3. Napoleon's obstructions to importation. + + 4. The unprecedented fall of foreign exchanges. + + 5. The rise in the price of labour, scanty as it was. + + 6. Suspension of cash payments, which produced a medium + of circulation of an unlimited nature, and led to speculation.[527] + +In March, 1801, wheat was 156s.; beef at Smithfield, 5s. to 6s. 6d. a +stone; and mutton, 6s. 6d. to 8s. A rise in wages was allowed on all +sides to be imperative, but the labourer even now got on an average +little more than 9s. a week,[528] a very inadequate pittance, though +generally supplemented by the parish. Arthur Young[529] tells of a +person living near Bury in 1801, who, before the era of high prices, +earned 5s. a week, and with that could purchase: + + A bushel of wheat. + " malt. + 1 lb. of butter. + 1 lb. of cheese. + A pennyworth of tobacco. + +But in 1801 the same articles cost him: + + s. d. + + A bushel of wheat 16 0 + " malt 9 0 + 1 lb. of butter 1 0 + 1 lb. of cheese 4 + Tobacco 1 + -------- + £1 6 5 + ======== + +His wages were now 9s., and his allowance from the rates 6s., so that +there was a deficiency of 11s. 5d. + +The increase in the cost of living in the last thirty years is +further illustrated by the following table: + + 1773. 1793. 1799. 1800. + £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. + + Coomb of malt 12 0 1 3 0 1 3 0 2 0 0 + Chaldron of coals 1 11 6 2 0 6 2 6 0 2 11 0 + Coomb of oats 5 0 13 0 16 0 1 1 0 + Load of hay 2 2 0 4 10 0 5 5 0 7 0 0 + Meat, per lb. 4 5 7 9 + Butter, " 6 11 11 1 4 + Loaf sugar, per lb. 8 1 0 1 3 1 4 + Poor rates, in the £ 1 0 2 6 3 0 5 0 + +It was again proposed by Mr. Whitbread in the House of Commons that +wages should be regulated by the price of provisions, and a minimum +wage fixed; but there was enough sense in the House to reject this +return to obsolete methods. + +After March, 1801, prices commenced to fall, owing to a favourable +season and the reopening of the Baltic ports, which allowed imports to +come in more freely, for most of our foreign corn at this time came +from Germany and Denmark. At the end of the year wheat averaged 75s. +6d., and with fair seasons it came down in the beginning of 1804 to +49s. 6d. Beef at Smithfield was from 4s. to 5s. 4d. a stone, mutton +from 4s. to 4s. 6d.[530] This great drop in prices was accompanied by +an increase in wages, the labourer from 1804 to 1810 getting on an +average 12s. a week[531]; the cost of implements rose, so did the rate +of interest, and the cry of agricultural distress in 1804 was heard +everywhere. More protection was demanded by those interested in the +land, and accordingly a duty of 24s. 3d. was imposed when the price +was 63s. or under; a bounty was paid on export when it was 40s. or +under; and wheat might be exported without bounty up to 54s. + +However, 1804 was a very deficient harvest, owing to blight and +mildew, and by the end of the year wheat was 86s. 2d. The harvests +till 1808 were not as bad as that of 1804, but not good enough to +lower the prices. Also, owing to the Berlin and Milan Decrees of +Napoleon and the Non-intercourse Act of the United States of America, +imports were restricted so that at the end of 1808 wheat was 92s. In +this year the exports of wheat exceeded the imports, but it was due to +the requirements of our army in Spain; and 1789 was the last year when +exports were greater under normal circumstances.[532] 1809 was a bad +harvest, so was 1810; in the former rot being very prevalent among +sheep; and by August, 1810, hay was £11 a load and wheat 116s., only +large imports (1,567,126 quarters) preventing a famine. Down wool was +2s. 1d. per lb., beef and mutton 8-1/2d., cheese 8d.[533] + +In 1811 the whole of July and part of August were wet and cold; and +in August, 1812, wheat averaged 155s., the finest Dantzic selling at +Mark Lane for 180s., and oats reached 84s. As our imports of corn then +chiefly came from the north-west of Europe, which has a climate very +similar to our own, crops there were often deficient from bad seasons +in the same years as our own, and the price consequently high. On the +other hand, it is a proof that produce will find the best market +regardless of hindrances, that much of our corn at this time came from +France. Corn in 1813 was seized on with such avidity that there was no +need to show samples. As high prices had now prevailed for some time +and were still rising, landlords and farmers jumped to the conclusion +that they would be permanent; so that this is the period when rents +experienced their greatest increase, in some cases having increased +fivefold since 1790, and speculations in land were most general. Land +sold for forty years' purchase, many men of spirit and adventure very +different from farmers 'were tempted to risk their property in +agricultural speculations',[534] and large sums were sunk in lands and +improvements in the spirit of mercantile enterprise. The land was +considered as a kind of manufacturing establishment, and 'such powers +of capital and labour were applied as forced almost sterility itself +to become fertile.' Even good pastures were ploughed up to grow wheat +at a guinea a bushel, and much worthless land was sown with corn. +Manure was procured from the most remote quarters, and we are told a +new science rose up, agricultural chemistry, which, 'with much +frivolity and many refinements remote from common sense, was not +without great operation on the productive powers of land.' + +Land jobbing and speculation became general, and credit came to the +aid of capital. The larger farmers, as we have seen, were before the +war inclined to an extravagance that amazed their older +contemporaries; now we are told, some insisted on being called +esquire, and some kept liveried servants.[535] + +It is somewhat curious to learn that one of the drawbacks from which +farmers suffered at this time was the ravages of pigeons, which seem +to have been as numerous as in the Middle Ages, when the lord's +dovecote was the scourge of the villein's crops. In 1813 there was +said to be 20,000 pigeon houses in England and Wales, each on an +average containing 100 pairs of old pigeons.[536] + +Another pest was the large number of 'vermin', whose destruction had +long before been considered important enough to demand the attention +of the legislature.[537] Some parishes devoted large portions of their +funds to this object; in 1786 East Budleigh in Devonshire, out of a +total receipt of £20 1s. 8-1/2d., voted £5 10s. for vermin killing. +That now sacred animal the fox was then treated with scant respect, +farmers and landlords paying for his destruction as 'vermin'[538]; the +parish accounts of Ashburton in Devonshire, for instance, from +1761-1820 include payments for killing 18 foxes and 4 vixens, with no +less than 153 badgers. + +But the edifice of artificial prosperity was already tottering. After +1812 prices fell steadily,[539] the abundant harvest of 1813 and the +opening of the continental ports accelerated this, and by December, +1813, wheat was 73s. 3d. Yet agriculture had made solid progress. The +Committee of the House of Commons which inquired into the state of the +corn trade in 1813 stated that through the extension of, and +improvements in, agriculture the agricultural produce of the kingdom +had increased one-fourth in the preceding ten years.[540] The high +prices had attracted a large amount of capital to the land, so that +there was very rapid and extensive progress, the methods of tillage +were improved, large tracts of inferior pasture converted into arable, +much, however, of which was soon to revert to weeds; there were many +enclosures, and many fens, commons, and wastes reclaimed. But there +was a reverse side to this picture of prosperity, even in the case of +landlord and farmer. The burden of taxation was crushing; a +contemporary writer, a farmer of twenty-five years standing,[541] +wrote that, with the land tax remaining the same, there was a high +property tax, house and window taxes were doubled, poor rates in some +places trebled, highway, church, and constable rates doubled and +trebled, and there were oppressive taxes on malt and horses, both nags +and farm animals. A man renting a farm at £70 and keeping two +farm-horses, a nag, and a dog, would pay taxes for them of £5 0s. 6d., +a fourteenth of his rent.[542] Indeed, poor rates of 16s. and 20s. in +the £ were known,[543] and they were occasionally more than the whole +rent received by the landlord forty years before. A Devonshire +landowner complained that seven-sixteenths out of the annual value of +every estate in the county was taken from owners and occupiers in +direct taxes.[544] And the Committee on Agricultural Depression of +1822 asserted that during the war taxes and rates were quadrupled.[545] +Blacksmiths, whitesmiths, collar makers, ropers, carpenters, and many +other tradesmen with whom the farmer dealt, raised their prices +threefold; and it was openly asserted that the high prices of grain +and stock were not proportionate to the increase of other prices. Much +of the grass land broken up in the earlier years of the war was before +the close in a miserable condition, for it was cropped year after year +without manure, and was worn out. On the whole it may be doubted if +the bulk of the farmers of England made large profits during the war; +many no doubt profited by the extraordinary fluctuations in prices, +and it was those men who 'kept liveried servants'; but there must have +been many who lost heavily by the same means, and the rise of rent, +taxes, rates, labour, and tradesmen's prices largely discounted the +prices of corn and stock. The landowners at this period have generally +been described as flourishing at the expense of the community, but +their increased rents were greatly neutralized by the weight of +taxation and the general rise in prices. A contemporary writer says +that owing to the heavy taxes, even in the war time, he 'often had not +a shilling at the end of the year.'[546] + +The following accounts, drawn up in 1805,[547] do not show that +farmers were making much money with wheat at 10s. a bushel: + +Account of the culture of an acre of wheat on good fallow land: + + Dr. £ s. d. + + Two years' rent 2 0 0 + Hauling dung from fold 10 0 + Four ploughings 2 0 0 + Two harrowings 4 0 + Lime 1 18 0 + Seed, 2-1/2 bushels 1 5 0 + Reaping 5 0 + Threshing 10 0 + Wages 5 0 + Tithes and taxes 15 0 + -------- + £9 12 0 + ======== + + Cr. £ s. d. + + 20 bushels of wheat at 10s 10 0 0 + The straw was set against + the value of the dung. + The tailend wheat was + Eaten by the family! + --------- + £10 0 0 + ========= + +And on a farm on good land in the same county the following would be +the annual balance sheet at the same date: + + Dr. £ s. d. + + Rent 200 0 0 + Tithes 40 0 0 + Wages 58 0 0 + Extra harvestmen 7 0 0 + Tradesmen's bills 50 0 0 + Taxes and rates 58 0 0 + Malt, hops, and cider 60 0 0 + Lime 20 0 0 + Hop poles 10 0 0 + Expenses at fairs and markets 8 0 0 + Clothing, groceries, &c., for the family 45 0 0 + Interest on £1,500 capital, at 5 per cent. 75 0 0 + Sundries 15 0 0 + ---------- + £646 0 0 + ========== + + Cr. £ s. d. + + 360 bushels of wheat, @ 10 s. 180 0 0 + 300 bushels of barley, @ 6s. 90 0 0 + 100 bushels of peas, @ 6s. 30 0 0 + 20 cwt. hops 60 0 0 + Sale of oxen, cows and calves 150 0 0 + Profits from sheep 100 0 0 + " from pigs, poultry, dairy, and sundries 50 0 0 + ---------- + £660 0 0 + ========== + +According to this the farmer did little more than pay rent, interest +on capital, and get a living. Yet prices of what he had to sell had +gone up greatly: wheat in Herefordshire in 1760 was 3s. a bushel, in +1805, 10s.; butcher's meat in 1760 was 1-1/2d. a lb., in 1804, 7d.; +fresh butter 4-1/2d. in 1760, 1s. 3d. in 1804; a fat goose in Hereford +market in 1740, 10d.; 1760, 1s.; 1804, 4s.; a couple of fowls in 1740, +6d.; 1760, 7d.; 1804, 2s. 4d.[548] The winter of 1813-4 was +extraordinarily severe, and the wheat crop was seriously injured, but +the increased breadth of cultivation, a large surplus, and great +importations kept the price down. Many sheep, however, were killed by +the hard winter, which also reduced the quality of the cattle, so that +meat was higher in 1814 than at any previous period.[549] At +Smithfield beef was 6s. to 7s. a stone, mutton 7s. to 8s. 6d. With the +peace of 1814 the fictitious prosperity came to an end, a large amount +of paper was withdrawn from circulation, which lowered the price of +all commodities, and a large number of country banks failed. The first +sufferers were the agricultural classes, who happened at that time to +hold larger supplies than usual, the value of which fell at once; the +incomes of all were diminished, and the capital of many +annihilated.[550] At the same time the demand for our manufactures +from abroad fell off; the towns were impoverished, and bought less +from the farmer. + +The short period of war in 1815 had little effect on prices, and in +January, 1816, wheat was 52s. 6d., and the prices of live stock had +fallen considerably. In 1815 protection reached its highest limit, the +Act of that year prohibiting import of wheat when the price was under +80s. a quarter, and other grain in proportion.[551] However, it was of +no avail; and in the beginning of 1816 the complaints of agricultural +distress were so loud and deep that the Board of Agriculture issued +circular letters to every part of the kingdom, asking for information +on the state of agriculture. + +According to the answers given, rent had already fallen on an average +25 per cent. and agriculture was in a 'deplorable state.'[552] +Bankruptcies, seizures, executions, imprisonments, were rife, many +farmers had become parish paupers. Rent was much in arrear, tithes and +poor rates unpaid, improvements generally discontinued, live stock +diminished; alarming gangs of poachers and other depredators ranged +the country. The loss was greater on arable than on grass land, and +'flock farms' had suffered less than others, though they had begun to +feel it heavily. + +All classes connected with the land suffered severely; the landlords +could not get many of their rents; the farmer's stock had depreciated +40 per cent.[553]; many labourers, who during the war had been getting +from 15s. to 16s. a week and 18s. in summer,[554] were walking the +country searching for employment. Many tenants threw up their farms, +and it was often noticed that landlords, 'knowing very little of +agriculture and taken by surprise,' could not manage the farms thrown +on their hands, and they went uncultivated. Some farmers paid up their +rent to date, sold their stock, and went off without any notice; +others, less scrupulous, drove off their stock and moved their +household furniture in the night without settling.[555] + +Farmers and landowners were asked to state the remedies required. Some +asked for more rent reduction and further prohibition of import, but +the most general cry was for the lessening of taxation. + +A Herefordshire farmer[556] stated that in 1815 the taxes on a farm of +300 acres in that county were: + + £ s. d. + + Property tax, landlord and tenant 95 16 10 + Great tithes 64 17 6 + Lesser tithes 29 15 0 + Land tax 14 0 0 + Window lights 24 1 6 + Poor rates, landlord 10 0 0 + " tenant 40 0 0 + Cart-horse duty, landlord, 3 horses 2 11 0 + Two saddle horses, landlord 9 0 0 + Gig 6 6 0 + Cart-horse duty,[557] tenant 7 2 0 + One saddle horse, tenant 2 13 6 + Landlord's malt duty on 60 bushels of barley 21 0 0 + Tenant's duty for making 120 bushels of + barley into malt 42 0 0 + New rate for building shire hall, paid by landlord 9 0 0 + " " " tenant 3 0 0 + Surcharge 2 8 0 + ------------ + £383 11 4 + ============ + +The parish of Kentchurch, in Herefordshire, paid in direct taxes a +greater sum than the lands of the whole parish could be let for. + +Another very general complaint was of the collection of tithe in kind, +a most awkward and offensive method, causing great expense and waste, +which, however, had given way in many places to compounding. + +Such is the picture of agriculture after twenty years of high prices +and protection.[558] One may naturally ask, if much money had been +made by farmers during these years, where had it all gone to that they +were reduced at the first breath of adversity to such straits? Some +allowance must be made for the fact that these accounts come from +those interested in the land, who were always ready to make the most +of misfortune with a view to further protection, and the farmer is a +notorious grumbler. It seems, however, that most landlords and tenants +believed that the high prices would last for ever, and lived +accordingly, and, as we have seen, many made no profit at all because +of their increased burdens. As a matter of fact, both were grumbling +because prices had come back to their natural level after an unnatural +inflation.[559] + +Hemp at this date was still grown in Lincolnshire and Somerset, and +Marshall tells us that in 1803 there was a considerable quantity of +hemp grown in Shropshire.[560] In that county there was a small plot +of ground, called 'the hemp-yard,' appendant to almost every +farm-house and to many of the best sort of cottages. Whenever a +cottager had 10 or 15 perches of land to his cottage, worth from 1s. +6d. to 2s. 6d. a year, with the aid of his wife's industry it enabled +him to pay his rent. A peck of hempseed, costing 2s., sowed about 10 +perches of land, and this produced from 24 to 36 lb. of tow when +dressed and fit for spinning. A dozen pounds of tow made 10 ells of +cloth, worth generally about 3s. an ell. Thus a good crop on 10 +perches of land brought in £4 10s. 0d., half of which was nett profit. +The hemp was pulled a little before harvest, and immediately spread on +grass land, where it lay for a month or six weeks. The more rain there +was the sooner it was ready to take off the grass. When the rind +peeled easily from the woody part, it was, on a dry day, taken into +the house, and when harvest was over well dried in fine weather and +dressed, being then fit for the tow dresser, who prepared it for +spinning. After the crop of hemp the land was sown with turnips, a +valuable resource for the winter. + +Since 1815 little hemp or flax has been grown in England[561]; in 1907 +there were, according to the Agricultural Returns, 355 acres of flax +grown in England, and hemp was not mentioned. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[504] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1896, p. 1, and 1898, p. 1. + +[505] _Autobiography_, p. 242. + +[506] Eden, _State of the Poor_, i. 18. + +[507] 'Had his industry been under the direction of a better +judgement, he would have been an admirable president.'--Young, +_Autobiography_, p. 316. + +[508] _The Report of the Committee on Waste Lands_, 1795, estimated +wastes and commons at 7,800,000 acres, p. 221. + +[509] The Merino was largely imported into England by the efforts of +George III, and a Merino Society was formed in 1811; but many +circumstances made it of such little profit to cultivate it in +preference to native breeds, that it was diverted to +Australia.--Burnley, _History of Wool_, p. 17. + +[510] The first, the Bath and West of England, was established in +1777. + +[511] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1899, p. 7. + +[512] Higher prices had been realized for the improved Longhorns; in +1791, at the sale of Mr. Fowler of Little Rollright, Sultan a +two-year-old bull fetched 210 guineas, and a cow 260 guineas; and at +Mr. Paget's sale in 1793, a bull of the same breed sold for 400 +guineas.--_Culley on Live Stock_, p. 59. + +[513] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1899, p. 28. + +[514] _Culley on Live Stock_ (1807), pp. 46-7. + +[515] _Culley on Live Stock_, p. vi. + +[516] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1892, p. 27. + +[517] Morton, _Cyclopaedia of Agriculture_, ii. 964. + +[518] _Northern Tour_, iii. 49. Clarke also experimented on the effect +of electricity on vegetables, electrifying turnips in boxes with the +result that growth was quickened and weight increased. + +[519] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1896, p, 93. + +[520] Tooke, _History of Prices_, p. 182. + +[521] _Autobiography of A. Young_, p. 256. + +[522] _State of the Poor_, i. 565 et seq.; Thorold Rogers, _Work and +Wages_, p. 487. It is difficult to calculate the exact income of the +labourer; besides extras in harvest, and relief from the parish, he +might have a small holding, or common rights, also payments in kind +and the earnings of his wife and children. + +[523] Hasbach, _op. cit._ p. 181; Eden, _op. cit._ li. 27. + +[524] Imports of wheat and flour in 1796 were 879,200 quarters. + +[525] Yet imports were comparatively large; 1,264,520 quarters of +wheat, against 463,185 quarters in 1799. + +[526] Tooke, _History of Prices_, p. 219. + +[527] _Farmer's Magazine_, 1817, p. 60. + +[528] Thorold Rogers, _Work and Wages_, c. 18. + +[529] _Annals of Agriculture_, xxxvii. 265. In 1805, in Herefordshire, +the labourer was getting about 6s. 6d. a week--See Duncumb, _General +View of Agriculture of Herefordshire_. Those who lived in the +farm-house often fared best: in 1808 the diet of a Hampshire farm +servant was, for breakfast, bacon, bread, and skim milk; for lunch, +bread and cheese and small beer; for dinner, between 3 p.m. and 4 +p.m., pickled pork or bacon with potatoes, cabbages, turnips, or +greens, and broths of wheat-flour and garden stuff. Supper consisted +of bread and cheese and a pint of ale. His bread was usually made of +wheat, which, considering the price, is remarkable. On Sundays he had +fresh meat. The farmers lived in many cases little better; a statement +which must be compared with others ascribing great extravagance to +them.--Vancouver, _General View of the Agriculture of Hants_ (1808), +p. 383. + +[530] Tooke, _History of Prices_, i. 236. + +[531] Thorold Rogers, _Work and Wages_, c. 18. In many cases he was +getting 15s. and 16s. a week all the year round. The Parliamentary +Committee of 1822 put his wages during the war at from 15s. to 16s. a +week. _Parliamentary Reports Committees_, v. 72; but it is difficult +to say how much he received as wages, and how much as parish relief. +Recruiting for the war helped to raise wages, as did the increased +growth of corn. + +[532] McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_ (1847), p. 438. See Appendix, +ii. + +[533] Tooke, i. 319, and _Pamphleteer_, vi. 200 (A. Young). Since +1770, says the latter, labour by 1810-11 had doubled, but meat had +risen 146 per cent., cheese 153 per cent., bread 100 per cent. Wages +therefore had not risen in proportion to prices. + +[534] _Inquiry into Agricultural Distress_ (1822), p. 38. + +[535] _Thoughts on Present Depressed State of Agricultural Industry_ +(1817), p. 6. + +[536] Vancouver, _General View of the Agriculture of Devon_, p. 357. + +[537] See 14 Eliz., c. 11, and 39 Eliz., c. 18. + +[538] _Transactions of the Devon Association_, xxix. 291-349. + +[539] Average annual prices of wheat were: 1812, 126s. 6d.; 1813, +109s. 9d.; 1814, 74s. 4d.; 1815, 65s. 7d. + +[540] Porter, _Progress of the Nation_, p. 149. + +[541] _A Defence of the Farmers and Landowners of Great Britain_ +(1814), p. 49. + +[542] Ibid. p. x. + +[543] Ibid. p. 7. + +[544] _Agricultural State of the Kingdom_, p. 67. + +[545] _Parliamentary Reports (Committees)_, v. 72. + +[546] _Thoughts on the Present Depressed State of the Agricultural +Interest_ (1817), p. 4. + +[547] Duncumb, _General View of the Agriculture of Hereford_, 1805. +The writer of _A Defence of the Farmers and Landowners of Great +Britain_ (1814) puts the average crop of wheat in the United Kingdom +at 15 or 16 bushels an acre, p. 28. A very low estimate. + +[548] Duncumb, _General View of the Agriculture of Hereford_, p. 140. + +[549] Tooke, _History of Prices_, ii. 4. + +[550] _Farmer's Magazine_ (1817), p. 69. + +[551] The duties were often evaded by smuggling; coasting vessels met +the foreign corn ships at sea, received their cargoes, and landed them +so as to escape the duty. + +[552] _Agricultural State of the Kingdom_, p. 5. + +[553] _Observations for the Use of Landed Gentlemen_ (1817), p. 7. + +[554] _Defence of the Farmers, &c._ (1814); and _Parliamentary +Reports_, v. 72. + +[555] _Agricultural State of the Kingdom_, p. 64. + +[556] Ibid. p. 105. + +[557] The agricultural horse tax was repealed in 1821, the tax on +ponies and mules in 1823. + +[558] There were some exceptions, but the overwhelming majority of +replies to the letters were couched in the above spirit. + +[559] At a time when landlords formed the majority in Parliament, it +is curious to find a substantial farmer asserting that 'the landed +interest has been, since the corn law of 1773, held in a state of +complete vassalage to the commercial and manufacturing, and the +farmers of the country in a state very little superior to that of +Polish peasants.' + +[560] _Review of Western Department_, pp. 249, 250. + +[561] Morton, _Cyclopaedia of Agriculture_, ii. 26. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ENCLOSURE--THE SMALL OWNER + + +The war period was one of great activity in enclosure; from 1798 to +1810 there were 956 Bills; from 1811-20, 771.[562] + +It must be remembered, however, that the number of Acts is not a +conclusive test of the amount of enclosure, as there was a large +amount that was non-parliamentary: by the principal landlord, and by +freeholders who agreed to amicable changes and transfer, as at +Pickering, in Yorkshire.[563] Roughly speaking, about one-third of the +Acts were for enclosing commonable waste, the rest for enclosing open +and commonable fields and lands.[564] Owing to the expense an Act was +only obtained in the last resource. It was also because of the +expense[565] that many landlords desirous to enclose were unable to do +so, and therefore devoted their attention to the improvement of the +common fields. That agriculture benefited by enclosure there is no +possible doubt, but it was attended with great hardships. The +landowner generally gained, for his rents increased largely. In +twenty-three parishes of Lincolnshire, for instance, his rents doubled +on enclosure. But the expenses were so heavy that his gain was often +very small, and sometimes he was a loser by the process. As for the +farmers, the poorer ones suffered, for more capital was needed for +enclosed lands, and the process generally was so slow, taking from +two to six years before the final award was given, that many farmers +were thrown out in the management of their farms, for they did not +know where their future lands would be allotted. That the poor +suffered greatly is indubitable: 'By nineteen Enclosure Acts out of +twenty the poor are injured, in some cases grossly injured,' wrote +Young in 1801.[566] In the Acts it was endeavoured to treat them +fairly,[567] and allotments were made to them, or money paid on +enclosure in lieu of their rights of common, or small plots of land; +but the expense of enclosing small allotments was proportionately very +great, generally too great, and they had to be sold, while the sums of +money were often spent in the alehouse. The results of sixty-eight +Acts were investigated in the eastern counties, with the result that +in all but fifteen the poor were injured. It was generally found that +they had lost their cows. + +Its effect on the smallholder is well described by Davis in his +_Report on Wilts_.[568] There, before enclosure, the tenants usually +occupied yard-lands consisting of a homestead, 2 acres of meadow, 18 +acres of arable, generally in eighteen or twenty strips, with a right +on the common meadows, common fields and downs for 40 sheep, and as +many cattle as the tenant could winter with the fodder he grew. The 40 +sheep were kept by a common shepherd with the common herd, were taken +every day to the downs and brought back every night to be folded on +the arable fields, the rule being to fold 1,000 sheep on a 'tenantry' +acre (three-quarters of a statute acre) every night.[569] In breeding +sheep regard was had to 'folding quality,' i.e. the propensity to +drop manure only after being folded at night, as much as to quality +and quantity of wool and meat. On enclosure the common flock was +broken up. The small farmer had no longer any common to turn his +horses on. The down on which he fed his sheep was largely curtailed, +the common shepherd was abolished, and the farmer had too few sheep to +enable him individually to employ a shepherd. Therefore he had to part +with his flock. Having no cow common and very little pasture land he +could not keep cows. In such circumstances the small farmer, after a +few years, succumbed and became a labourer, or emigrated, or went to +the towns. + +In a pamphlet called _The Case of Labourers in Husbandry_, 1795, the +Rev. David Davies said, 'by enclosure an amazing number of people have +been reduced from a comfortable state of partial independence to the +precarious condition of mere hirelings, who when out of work +immediately come on the parish.' It has often been said that the poor +were robbed of their share in the land by the landowners; but as a +matter of fact it was the expense of securing the compensation allowed +them, much greater in proportion on small holdings than on large, +which went into the pockets of surveyors and lawyers, that did this. +It was also often through the farmer that the labourer was deprived of +his land when he had retained an acre or two after enclosure. Wishing +to make the labourer dependent on him, he persuaded the agent to let +the cottages with the farm, and the agent in order to avoid collecting +a number of small rents consented. As soon as the farmer had the +cottages he took the land from them and added it to his own. The +peasant's losses engaged the serious attention of many landlords; near +Tewkesbury, in 1773, the lord of the manor on enclosure, besides +reserving 25 acres for the use of the poor, allowed land to each +cottage sufficient to keep a horse or a cow, often added a small +building, and gave stocks for raising orchards. Even some of the +idlest were thereby made industrious, poor rates sank to 4d. in the £, +though the population increased, and the labourer always had for sale +some poultry, or the produce of his cow, or some fruit.[570] + +In 1800 the Board of Agriculture, composed almost entirely of +landowners, noticing that the poor of Rutland and Lincolnshire, who +had land for one or two cows and some potatoes, had not applied for +poor relief, offered a gold medal for the most satisfactory account of +the best means of supporting cows on poor land, in a method applicable +to cottagers.[571] Young recommended that in the case of extensive +wastes every cottage on enclosure should be secured sufficient land on +which to keep a cow, the land to be inalienable from the cottage and +the ownership vested in the parish. + +Lord Winchelsea[572] urged that a good garden should always go with a +cottage, and set the example himself, one which has been generally +followed in England by the greater landlords with much success. As may +be imagined, these schemes or others similar to them were put into +effect by the conscientious and energetic, but not by the apathetic +and careless. Further, an Act was passed in the fifty-ninth year of +George III, which enabled parishes to lease or buy 20 acres of land +for the employment of their poor. + +In many cases, it must be allowed, the grazing of the commons was +often worth very little. Let one man, it was said in 1795, put a cow +on a common in spring for nothing, and let another pay a farmer 1s. +6d. a week to keep a cow of equal value on enclosed land. When both +are driven to market at Michaelmas the extra weight of the latter will +more than repay the cost of the keep, while her flow of milk meanwhile +has been much superior. + +The Committee on Waste Lands of 1795 attributed the great increase in +the weight of cattle not only to the improved methods of breeding, but +to their being fed on good enclosed lands instead of wastes and +commons.[573] Even when commons were stinted they were in general +overstocked, while disease was always being spread with enormous loss +to the commoners. The larger holders, too, who had common rights, +often crowded out the smaller. + +There were often, as we have seen, a large number of 'squatters' on +commons who had seized and occupied land without any legal title. As a +rule, if these people had been in possession twenty-one years their +title was respected; if not, no regard was very justly paid to them on +enclosure, and they were deprived of what they had seized. + +Eden wrote when enclosure was at its height; he was a competent and +accurate observer, and this is his picture of the 'commoner':[574] +'The advantages which cottagers and poor people derive from commons +and wastes are rather apparent than real; instead of sticking +regularly to labour they waste their time in picking up a few dry +sticks or in grubbing on some bleak moor. Their starved pig or two, +together with a few wandering goslings, besides involving them in +perpetual altercations with their neighbours, are dearly paid for in +care, time, and bought food. There are thousands and thousands of +acres in the kingdom, now the sorry pastures of geese, hogs, asses, +half-grown horses, and half-starved cattle, which want but to be +enclosed to be as rich as any land now in tillage.' + +Enclosure worked an important social revolution. Before it the +entirely landless labourer was rare: he nearly always had some holding +in the common field or a right on the common pasture. With enclosure +his holding or right had generally disappeared, and he deteriorated +socially. It was very unfortunate, too, that when enclosure was most +active domestic industries, such as weaving, decayed, and deprived the +labourer and his family of a badly needed addition to his scanty +income. + +In its physical and moral effects the system of domestic manufactures +was immensely preferable to that of the crowded factory, while +economically it enabled the tillers of the soil to exist on farms +which could not support them by agriculture alone. + +This uprooting of a great part of the agricultural population from the +soil by irresistible economic causes brought with it grave moral +evils, and created divisions and antagonisms of interest from which we +are suffering to-day.[575] If some such scheme as that of Arthur Young +or Lord Winchelsea had been universally adopted, this blot on an +inevitable movement might have been removed, and a healthy rural +population planted on English soil. Another result followed, the +labourer no longer boarded as a rule in his employer's house, where +the farmer worked and lived with his men; the tie of mutual interest +was loosened, and he worked for this or that master indifferently. One +advantage, however, arose, in that, having to find a home of his own, +he married early, but this was vitiated by his knowledge that the +parish would support his children, on which knowledge he was induced +to rely. + +On the other hand, the farmer often rose in the social scale. With +the abandonment of the handicaps and restrictions of the common-field +system the efficient came more speedily to the front. It was they who +had amassed capital, and capital was now needed more than ever, so +they added field to field, and consolidated holdings. + +The Act of 1845 did away with the necessity for private Enclosure +Acts, still further reducing the expense; and since that date there +have been 80,000 or 90,000 acres of common arable fields and meadows +enclosed without parliamentary sanction, and 139,517 acres of the same +have been enclosed with it,[576] besides many acres of commons and +waste. + +In the _Report of the Committee of Enclosures_ of 1844,[577] there is +a curious description of the way in which common fields were sometimes +allotted. There were in some open fields, lands called 'panes', +containing forty or sixty different lands, and on a certain day the +best man of the parish appeared to take possession of any lot he +thought fit. If his right was called in question there was a fight for +it, and the survivor took the first lot, and so they went on through +the parish. There was also the old 'lot meadow' in which the owners +drew lots for choice of portions. On some of the grazing lands the +right of grazing sheep belonged to a man called a 'flockmaster', who +during certain months of the year had the exclusive right of turning +his sheep on all the lands of the parish. + +Closely connected with the subject of enclosure is that of the partial +disappearance of the small owner, both the yeoman who farmed his own +little estate and the peasant proprietor. We have noticed above[578] +Gregory King's statement as to the number of small freeholders in +England in 1688, no less than 160,000, or with their families about +one-seventh of the population of the country. This date, that of the +Revolution, marks an epoch in their history, for from that time they +began to diminish in proportion to the population. Their number in +1688 is a sufficient answer to the exaggerated statement of +contemporaries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as to the +depopulation caused by enclosures. Chamberlayne, in his _State of +Great Britain_, published at about the same time as Gregory King's +figures, says there were more freeholders in England than in any +country of like extent in Europe: '£40 or £50 a year is very ordinary, +£100 or £200 in some counties is not rare, sometimes in Kent and in +the Weald of Sussex £500 or £600 per annum, and £3,000 or £4,000 of +stock.' In the first quarter of the eighteenth century he was a +prominent figure. Defoe[579] describes the number and prosperity of +the Greycoats of Kent (as they were called from their homespun +garments), 'whose interest is so considerable that whoever they vote +for is always sure to carry it.' + +Why has this sturdy class so dwindled in numbers, and left England +infinitely the weaker for their decrease? The causes are several; +social, economic, and political. The chief, perhaps, is the peculiar +form of Government which came in with the Revolution. The landed +gentry by that event became supreme, the national and local +administration was entirely in their hands, and land being the +foundation of social and political influence was eagerly sought by +them where it was not already in their hands.[580] At the same time +the successful business men, whose numbers now increased rapidly from +the development of trade, bought land to 'make themselves gentlemen'. +Both these classes bought out the yeomen, who do not seem to have been +very loath to part with their land. The recently devised system of +strict family settlements enabled the old and the new gentlemen to +keep this land in their families. The complicated title to land made +its transfer difficult and costly, so that there was little breaking +up of estates to correspond with the constant buying up of small +owners. To the smaller freeholder, as has been noticed, the enclosure +of waste land did much harm, for it was necessary to his holding. +Again, smaller arable farms did not pay as well as large ones, so they +tended to disappear. The decay of home industries was also a heavy +blow to the smaller yeoman and the peasant proprietor. + +Under this combination of circumstances many of the yeomen left the +land. Yet though Young, less than a century after King and Davenant, +said that the small freeholder had practically disappeared, there were +at the end of the eighteenth century many left all over England, who +however largely disappeared during the war and in the bad times after +the war.[581] But a contrary tendency was at work which helped to +replenish the class. The desire of the Englishman for land is not +confined to the wealthy classes. At the end of the eighteenth century +men who had made small fortunes in trade were buying small properties +and taking the place of the yeomen.[582] In the great French War of +1793-1815, many yeomen, attracted by the high prices of land, sold +their properties, but at the same time many farmers, attracted by the +high prices of produce, which had often enriched them, bought +land.[583] During the 'good times' of 1853-75 many small holders, like +those of Axholme, noticed in the _Report_ of the Agricultural +Commission of 1893, bought land. + +A new class of small owners also has sprung up, who, dwelling in or +near towns and railway stations, have bought small freeholds. The +return of the owners of land of 1872-6 gave the following numbers of +those owning land in England and Wales[584]: + + Total number of owners of: Number. Acreage. + + less than one acre 703,289 151,171 + 1 acre and under 10 121,983 478,679 + 10 " 50 72,640 1,750,079 + 50 " 100 25,839 1,791,605 + 100 " 500 32,317 6,827,346 + +The great majority of the first class here enumerated, those owning +less than one acre, do not concern us, as they were evidently merely +houses and gardens not of an agricultural character, but a large +number of the second class and most of the other three must have been +agricultural, though unfortunately no distinction is made. It will be +seen, therefore, that there were a considerable number of small +owners in England in 1872, and their numbers have probably increased +since. Many of them, however, are of the new class mentioned above, +and there appears to be no doubt that the number of the peasant +proprietors and of the yeomen of the old sort has much diminished, +especially in proportion to the growth of population. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[562] Cf. supra, p. 163. + +[563] R. Marshall, _Rural Economy of Yorkshire_, p. 17 et seq. + +[564] Slater, _English Peasantry and Enclosure_, p. 7. + +[565] It was stated in the _Report of the Committee on Enclosures_ +(1844), p. 31, that the ordinary expense of obtaining an Enclosure Act +was from £1,000 to £1,500. In 1814 the enclosure of three farms, +amounting to 570 acres, including subdivision fences and money paid to +a tenant for relinquishing his agreement, cost the landlord nearly +£4,000.--_Agricultural State of the Kingdom_ (1816), p. 116. + +[566] _Enquiry into the Propriety of Supplying Wastes to the better +Support of the Poor_, p. 42. + +[567] The usual clause in Enclosure Acts stated that the land should +be 'allotted according to the several and respective rights of _all_ +who had rights and interests' in the enclosed property, and expenses +were to be borne 'in proportion to the respective shares of the people +interested'. + +[568] pp. 8 et seq. Slater, _op. cit._ p. 113. + +[569] Cf. Marshall's account of the common-field townships in +Hampshire at the end of the eighteenth century. Each occupier of land +in the common fields contributed to the town flock a number of sheep +in proportion to his holding, which were placed under a shepherd who +fed them and folded them on all parts of the township. A similar +practice was observed with the common herd of cows, which were placed +under one cowherd who tended them by day and brought them back at +night to be milked, distributing them among their respective owners, +and in the morning they were collected by the sound of the +horn.--_Rural Economy of Southern Counties_, ii. 351. + +[570] _Report of Committee on Waste Lands_ (1795), p. 204. Ground was +frequently left by the Acts for the erection of cottages for the poor, +and special allotments were made to Guardians for the use of the poor, +in addition to the land allotted to all according to their respective +claims. Can any one doubt that if there had been a systematic robbery +of the smaller holders on enclosure they would not have risen 'en +masse'? + +[571] Slater, _op. cit._ p. 133. + +[572] _Agricultural State of the Kingdom_ (1816), p. 8. + +[573] _Report_, p. 204. + +[574] _State of the Poor_, pp. i, xviii. + +[575] Lecky, _England in the Eighteenth Century_, vi. 191. + +[576] Slater, _op. cit._ p. 191. + +[577] _Report_, p. 27. + +[578] _See_ above. Another estimate puts them at 180,000. + +[579] _Tour_, i. (2), 37, 38. + +[580] Toynbee, _Industrial Revolution_, p. 62. + +[581] Hasbach, _op. cit._ p. 71. + +[582] Marshall, _Review of Agriculture, Reports Western Department_, +p. 18. + +[583] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 32. + +[584] _Parliamentary Accounts and Papers_, lxxx. 21. The number of +those owning over 500 acres does not concern the small owner or the +yeoman class, but they were: from 500 acres to 1,000, 4,799; from +1,000 to 2,000, 2,719; from 2,000 to 5,000, 1,815; from 5,000 to +10,000, 581; from 10,000 to 20,000, 223; from 20,000 to 50,000, 66; +from 50,000 to 100,000, 3; over 100,000, 1. For the numbers of the +'holdings' of various sizes in 1875 and 1907 see below, p. 334. The +term 'holdings', however, includes freeholds and leaseholds. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +1816-1837 + +DEPRESSION + + +The summer of 1816 was wretched; the distress, aggravated by the bad +season, caused riots everywhere. At Bideford the mob interfered to +prevent the export of a cargo of potatoes; at Bridport they broke +into the bakers' shops. Incendiary fires broke out night after night +in the eastern counties. At Swanage six people out of seven were +paupers, and in one parish in Cambridgeshire every person but one was +a pauper or a bankrupt.[585] Corn rose again: by June, 1817, it was 117s., +but fell to 77s. in September. + +In 1818 occurred a drought of four months, lasting from May till +September, and great preparations were made to ward off the expected +famine; immense quantities of wheat came from the Baltic, of maize +from America, and beans and maize from Italy and Egypt, with hay from +New York, as it was selling at £10 a ton. However, rain fell in +September, brown fields suddenly became green, turnips sprang up +where none had appeared, and even spring corn that had lain in the +parched ground began to grow, so the fear of scarcity passed. + +In 1822 came a good season, which produced a great crop of wheat; in +the lifetime of the existing generation old men declared that such a +harvest had been known only once before; imports also came from +Ireland to the amount of nearly a million quarters, so that the price +at the end of the year was 38s., and the average price for the year +was 44s. 7d. Beef went down to 2s. 5d. a stone and mutton to 2s. 2d. +The cry of agricultural distress again rose loudly. Farmers were +still, though some of the war taxes had been remitted, heavily taxed; +for the taxes on malt, soap, salt, candles, leather, all pressed +heavily.[586] The chief cause of the distress was the long-felt +reaction after the war, but it was aggravated by the return to cash +payments in 1819. Gold had fallen to its real value, and the fall in +gold had been followed by a fall in the prices of every other +article.[587] The produce of many thousand acres in England did not +sell that year for as much money as was expended in growing it, +without reckoning rent, taxes, and interest on capital.[588] Estates +worth £3,000 a year, says the same writer, some years since, were now +worth £1,000. Bacon had gone down from 6s. 6d. to 2s. 4d. a stone; +Southdown ewes from 50s. to 15s., and lambs from 42s. to 5s. + +A Dorset farmer told the Parliamentary committee that since 1815 he +knew of fifty farmers, farming 24,000 acres, who had failed +entirely.[589] + +In the _Tyne Mercury_ of October 30, 1821, it was recorded that Mr. +Thos. Cooper of Bow purchased 3 milch cows and 40 sheep for £18 16s. +6d. which sum four years previously would only have bought their +skins. Prime beef was sold in Salisbury market at 4d. retail, and good +joints of mutton at 3-1/2d.[590] Everywhere the farmers were +complaining bitterly, but 'hanging on like sailors to the masts or +hull of a wreck'. In Sussex labourers were being employed to dig holes +and fill them in again, proof enough of distress but also of great +folly. Many thousands of acres were now a mass of thistles and weeds, +once fair grass land ploughed up during the war for wheat, and +abandoned at the fall of prices. There were no less than 475 petitions +on agricultural distress presented to the House from 1820 to March 31, +1822. In 1822, it was proposed that the Government should purchase +wheat grown in England to the value of one million sterling and store +it; also that when the average price of wheat was under 60s. the +Government should advance money on such corn grown in the United +Kingdom as should be deposited in certain warehouses, to an extent not +exceeding two-thirds the value of the corn.[591] There were not +wanting men, however, who put the other side of the question. In a +tract called _The Refutation of the Arguments used on the Subject of +the Agricultural Petition_, written in 1819, it was said that the +increase in the farmer's expenditure was the cause of his discontent. +'He now assumes the manners and demands the equipage of a gentleman, +keeps a table like his landlord, anticipates seasons in their +productions, is as choice in his wines, his horses, and his +furniture.' Let him be more thrifty. 'Let him dismiss his steward, a +character a few years back only known to the great landowner, and +cease from degrading the British farmer into a synonym for +prodigality.' Lord Liverpool, in the House of Lords, in a speech which +roused great opposition among agriculturists, minimized the distress; +distress there was, he admitted, but it was not confined to England, +it was world-wide; neither was it produced by excessive taxation, for +since 1815 taxation had been reduced 25 per cent., while though rents +and prices had fallen they were much higher than before the war. +Another writer said at the time, 'Individuals of all classes have of +late been as it were inflated above their natural size: let this +unnatural growth be reduced; let them resume their proper places and +appearances, and the quantum of substantial enjoyment, real comfort +and happiness, will not be found lessened.' It was also asserted that +the taxes on malt, leather, soap, salt, and candles, were not very +pressing. + +The persistent cries of distress produced a Bill giving still further +protection to corn-growers, which was fortunately not carried into +effect. There was no doubt, however, about the reality of the crisis +through which the landed classes were passing. Many of the landowners +were heavily in debt. Mortgages had been multiplied during the war, +and while prices were high payment of interest was easy; but when +prices fell and the tenant threw up his farm, the landlord could not +throw over the mortgage, and the interest hung like a dead weight +round his neck.[592] + +The price to which wheat fell at the end of 1822 was to be the lowest +for some years; it soon recovered, and until 1834 the average annual +prices ranged from 53s. to 68s. 6d., while in 1825 beef at Smithfield +was 5s. and mutton 5s. 4d. a stone. + +In 1823 there was a marked improvement, and the king's speech +congratulated the country on 'the gradual abatement of those +difficulties under which agriculture has so long suffered.'[593] In +1824 'agriculture was recovering from the depression under which it +laboured.'[594] In 1825 it was said, 'there never was a period in the +history of this country when all the great interests of the nation +were in so thriving a condition.'[595] In that year over-speculation +produced a panic and agricultural distress was again evident. In 1826 +Cobbett said, 'the present stock of the farms is not in one-half the +cases the property of the farmer, it is borrowed stock.'[596] In 1828 +all the farmers in Kent were said to be insolvent.[597] + +At the meeting of Parliament in 1830 the king lamented the state of +affairs, and ascribed it to unfavourable seasons and other causes +beyond the reach of legislative remedy. Many had learnt that high +protection was no protection for farmers, and it was stated more than +once that the large foreign supply of grain, though only then about +one-third of the home-grown, depressed our markets. At the same time, +it must be admitted that agriculture, like all other industries, was +suffering from the crisis of 1825. In 1830, the country was filled +with unrest, in which the farm labourer shared. His motives, however, +were hardly political. He had a rooted belief that machinery was +injuring him, the threshing machine especially; and he avenged himself +by burning the ricks of obnoxious farmers. Letters were sent to +employers demanding higher wages and the disuse of machines, and +notices signed 'Swing' were affixed to gates and buildings. Night +after night incendiary fires broke out, and emboldened by impunity the +rioters proceeded to pillage by day. In Hampshire they moved in bodies +1,500 strong. A special Commission was appointed, and the disorders +put down at last with a firm hand. In 1828 there had been a relaxation +in the duties on corn, the object of the Act passed in that year being +to secure the farmer a constant price of 8s. a bushel instead of 10s. +as in 1815, and by a sliding scale to prevent the disastrous +fluctuations in prices. The best proof of its failure is afforded by +the appointment of another parliamentary committee in 1833 to inquire +into the distressed state of agriculture. At this inquiry many +witnesses asserted that the cultivation of inferior soils and heavy +clays had diminished from one-fourth to one-fifth.[598] It was also +asserted that farmers were paying rent out of capital.[599] Tooke, +however, thought there was much exaggeration of the distress, which +was proved by the way the farmers weathered the low prices of 1835, +when wheat, after a succession of four remarkably good seasons, +averaged 39s. 4d. for the year. In these abundant years, too, he +asserts that the home supply was equal to the demand,[600] though the +committee of 1833 had stated that this had ceased to be the +case.[601] Another committee, the last for many years, sat in 1835 to +consider the distress; but although prices were low the whole tenor of +the evidence established the improvement of farming, the extension of +cultivation, and the increase of produce, and it was noticed at this +time that towns dependent on agriculture were uniformly +prosperous.[602] + +On the whole, in spite of exaggeration from interested motives, the +distress for the twenty years after the battle of Waterloo was real +and deep; twenty years of depression succeeded the same period of +false exaltation. The progress, too, during that time was real, and +made, as was remarked, _because_ of adversity. From this time +agriculture slowly revived. + +On one point both of the two last committees were agreed, that the +condition of the labourer was improved, and they said he was better +off than at any former period, for his wages remained the same, while +prices of necessaries had fallen. That his wages went further is true, +but they were still miserably low, and he was often housed worse than +the animals on the farm. 'Wattle and dab' (or mud and straw) formed +the walls of his cottage, the floors were often of mud, and all ages +and both sexes frequently slept in one room. A block of ten cottages +were put up in the parish of Holmer[603] at the commencement of the +nineteenth century, which were said to have combined 'comfort, +convenience, and economy;' they each contained one room 12 feet by 14 +feet and 6 feet high with a bedroom over, and cost £32 10s. each. They +were evidently considered quite superior dwellings, far better than +the ordinary run of labourer's cottages. Cobbett gives us a picture of +some in Leicestershire in 1826; 'hovels made of mud and straw, bits of +glass, or of old cast-off windows, without frames or hinges +frequently, and merely stuck in the mud wall. Enter them and look at +the bits of chairs or stools, the wretched boards tacked together to +serve for a table, the floor of pebble, broken brick, or of the bare +ground; look at the thing called a bed, and survey the rags on the +backs of the wretched inhabitants.'[604] The chief exceptions to this +state of affairs were the estates of many of the great landlords. On +that of the Earl of Winchelsea in Rutland, the cottages he had built +contained a kitchen, parlour, dairy, two bedrooms, and a cow-house, +and several had small holdings attached of from 5 to 20 acres.[605] +Not long before, wages in Hampshire and Wiltshire were 5s. and 6s. a +week.[606] + +In 1822 it was stated that 'beef and mutton are things the taste of +which was unknown to the mass of labourers. No one has lived more in +cottages than I, and I declare solemnly I never remember once to have +seen such a thing.'[607] A group of women labourers, whom Cobbett saw +by the roadside in Hampshire, presented 'such an assemblage of rags as +I never saw before even amongst the hoppers at Farnham.'[608] + +The labourer's wages may have gone a little further, but he had lost +his by-industries, his bit of land and rights of common, and would +have had a very different tale to tell from that of the framers of the +reports above quoted. + +In spite of the complaints made that the improvements of the coaches +and of the roads drew the countryman to the towns, many stirred hardly +at all from their native parish, and their lives were now infinitely +duller than in the Middle Ages. The great event of the year was the +harvest home, which was usually a scene of great merry-making. In +Devonshire, when a farmer's wheat was ripe he sent round notice to the +neighbourhood, and men and women from all sides came to reap the crop. +As early as eleven or twelve, so much ale and cider had been drunk +that the shouts and ribald jokes of the company were heard to a +considerable distance, attracting more helpers, who came from far and +near, but none were allowed to come after 12 o'clock. Between 12 and 1 +came dinner, with copious libations of ale and cider, which lasted +till 2, when reaping was resumed and went on without interruption +except from the squabbles of the company till 5, when what were called +'drinkings', or more food and drink, were taken into the field and +consumed. After this the corn reaped was bound into sheaves till +evening, when after the sport of throwing their reaping hooks at a +sheaf which had been set up as a mark for a prize, all proceeded to +supper and more ale and cider till the small hours.[609] + +No wages were paid at these harvestings, but the unlimited amount of +eating and drinking was very expensive, and about this date the +practice of using hired labour had largely superseded this old custom. + +The close of this period was marked by two Acts of great benefit to +farmers: the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 (4 & 5 Wm. IV, c. 76), +which reduced the rates,[610] and marked 'the beginning of a period +of slow recovery in the labourer's standard of life, moral and +material, though at first it brought him not a little adversity'[611]; +and the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 (6 & 7 Wm. IV, c. 71), which +substituted for the tithe paid in kind or the fluctuating commuted +tithe, a tithe rent charge equivalent to the market value, on a +septennial average, of the exact quantities of wheat, barley, and +oats, which made up the legal tithes by the estimate in 1836. Thus was +removed a perpetual source of dispute and antagonism between +tithe-payer and tithe-owner. The system hitherto pursued, moreover, +was wasteful. In exceptionally favourable circumstances the clergy did +not receive more than two-thirds of the value of the tithe in kind. +The delays were a frequent source of loss. In rainy weather, when the +farmer desired to get his crops in quickly, he was obliged to shock +his crops, give the tithe-owners notice to set out their tithes, and +wait for their arrival; in the meantime the crop, perhaps, being badly +damaged.[612] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[585] Walpole, _History of England_, i. 161. + +[586] _Inquiry into Agricultural Distress_ (1822), p. 40. + +[587] Walpole, _op. cit._ ii. 22. + +[588] _A Letter to the Earl of Liverpool by an Old Tory_, 1822. The +Committee on Agricultural Distress found that farmers were paying rent +out of capital (_Parliamentary Reports. Committees_, v. 71), and that +leases fixed on the basis of the high prices of the war meant ruin to +the farmer if held to his engagement. + +[589] _Parliamentary Reports, Committees_, ix. 138. + +[590] Cobbett, _Rural Rides_ (ed. 1885), i. 3, 16. + +[591] _Report of the Committee on Agricultural Depression_ (1822), pp. +3, 4. + +[592] Walpole, _History of England_, ii. 23. + +[593] _Hansard_, ix. 1544. + +[594] Ibid. x. 1, 2. + +[595] Ibid. xii. 1. + +[596] _Rural Rides_, ii. 199. + +[597] Walpole, _History of England_, ii. 526. The distress was +aggravated by rot among sheep, which is said to have destroyed +one-fourth of those in the kingdom. See _Parliamentary Reports, +Commissioners_ (1836), viii (2), p. 198. + +[598] Tooke, _History of Prices_, ii. 227. + +[599] _Report_ of 1833, p. 6. + +[600] Tooke, _History of Prices_, ii, 238. + +[601] Imports fell considerably at this date; they were: + + 1832 1,254,351 quarters. + 1833 1,166,457 " + 1834 981,486 " + 1835 750,808 " + 1836 861,156 " + 1837 1,109,492 " + 1838 1,923,400 " + +There were also considerable exports: + + 1832 289,558 quarters. + 1833 96,212 " + 1834 159,482 " + 1835 134,076 " + 1836 256,978 " + 1837 308,420 " + 1838 158,621 " + +McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_ (1847), p. 438. + +[602] Porter, _Progress of the Nation_, p. 151. + +[603] See Duncumb, _General View of Herefordshire_, (1805). + +[604] Rural Rides, ii. 348. + +[605] London, _Encyclopaedia of Agriculture_ (1831), p. 1156. + +[606] Cobbett, _Rural Rides_, i. 149. The average, however, now was +about 9s.; see _Parliamentary Reports_, v. 72. + +[607] _A Letter to the Earl of Liverpool by an Old Tory_ (1822), p. +16. + +[608] _Rural Rides_, i. 18. + +[609] Moore, _History of Devonshire_, i. 430. + +[610] By this Act and the various amending Acts the law of settlement, +so long a burden on the labourer, is now settled thus: a settlement +may be acquired by birth, parentage, marriage, renting a tenement, by +being bound apprentice and inhabiting, by estate, payment of taxes, +and by residence.--Stephen, _Commentaries on the Laws of England_ +(1903), iii. 87. + +[611] Hasbach, _op. cit._ p. 217. + +[612] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (1901), p. 9. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +1837-1875 + +REVIVAL OF AGRICULTURE.--THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.--CORN LAW +REPEAL.--A TEMPORARY SET-BACK.--THE HALCYON DAYS + + +The revival of agriculture roughly coincided with the accession of +Queen Victoria. + +It was proved that Scotch farmers who had farmed highly had weathered +the storm. Instead of repeatedly calling on Parliament to help them +they had helped themselves, by spending large sums in draining and +manuring the land; they had adopted the subsoil plough, and the +drainage system of Smith of Deanston, used machinery to economize +labour, and improved the breed of stock. This was an object-lesson +for the English farmer, and he began to profit by it. It was high +time that he did. In spite of the undoubted progress made, farming +was still often terribly backward. Little or no machinery was used, +implements were often bad, teams too large, drilling little +practised, drainage utterly inefficient; in fact, while one farmer +used all the improvements made, a hundred had little to do with them. +But better times were at hand. + +About 1835 Elkington's system of drainage, which among the more +advanced agriculturists, at any rate, had been used for half a +century, was superseded by that of James Smith of Deanston, a system +of thorough drainage and deep ploughing, which effected a complete +revolution in the art of draining, and holds the field to-day. +Hitherto the draining of land had been done by a few drains where they +were thought necessary, which was often a failure. Smith initiated a +complete system of parallel underground drains, near enough to each, +other to catch all the superfluous water, running into a main drain +which ran along the lowest part of the ground. His system has also +been called 'furrow or frequent draining', as the drains were +generally laid in the furrows from two to two-and-a-half feet deep at +short intervals. Even then the tributary drains were at first filled +in with stones 12 inches deep, as they had been for centuries, and +sometimes with thorns, or even turves, as tiles were still expensive; +and the main was made of stonework. However, the invention of machines +for making tiles cheapened them, and the substitution of cylindrical +pipes for horse-shoe tiles laid on flat soles still further lowered +the cost and increased the efficiency.[613] In 1848, Peel introduced +Government Drainage Loans, repayable by twenty-two instalments of 6 +1/2 per cent. This was consequently an era of extensive drainage works +all over England, which sorely needed it; but even now the work was +often badly done. In some cases it was the custom for the tenant to +put in as many tiles as his landlord gave him, and they were often +merely buried. At Stratfieldsaye, for instance, where the Iron Duke +was a generous and capable landlord, the drains were sometimes a foot +deep, while others were 6 feet deep and 60 feet apart,[614] although +the soil required nothing of the kind. + +Vast sums were also spent on farm-buildings, still often old and +rickety, with deficient and insanitary accommodation; in Devonshire +the farmer was bound by his lease to repair 'old mud and wooden +houses', at a cost of 10 per cent. on his rent, and there were many +such all over England. Farm-buildings were often at the extreme end +of the holding, the cattle were crowded together in draughty sheds, +and the farmyard was generally a mass of filth and spoiling manure, +spoiling because all the liquid was draining away from it into the +pool where the live stock drank; a picture, alas, often true to-day. +It was to bring the great mass of landlords and farmers into line with +those who had made the most of what progress there had been, that the +Royal Society was founded in 1838, in imitation of the Highland +Society, but also owing to the realization of the great benefits +conferred on farming during the last half-century by the exertions of +Agricultural Societies, the Smithfield Club Shows having especially +aided the breeding of live stock. + +Writing on the subject of the Society, Mr. Handley[615] spoke of the +wretched modes of farming still to be seen in the country, especially +in the case of arable land, though there had been a marked improvement +in the breeding of stock. Prejudice, as ever, was rampant. Bone +manure, though in the previous twenty years it had worked wonders, was +in many parts unused. It was felt that what the English farmer needed +was 'practice with science'. The first President of the Society was +Earl Spencer, and it at once set vigorously to work, recommending +prizes for essays on twenty-four subjects, some of which are in the +first volume of the Society's Journal. Prizes were also offered for +the best draining-plough, the best implement for crushing gorse, for a +ploughing match to be held at the first country meeting of the Society +fixed at Oxford in 1839, for the best cultivated farm in Oxfordshire +and the adjacent counties, and for the invention of any new +agricultural implement. + +In 1840 the Society was granted a charter under the title of the Royal +Agricultural Society of England, and its career since then has been +one of continued usefulness, and forms a prominent feature in the +agricultural history of the times. + +In 1839[616] the first country meeting of the Society was held at +Oxford, and its 247 entries of live stock and 54 of implements were +described as constituting a show of unprecedented magnitude. According +to _Bell's Weekly Messenger_ for July 22, 1839, the show for some time +had been the all-absorbing topic of conversation not only among +agriculturists, but among the community at large, and the first day +20,000 people attended the show, many having come great distances by +road. Everybody and every exhibit had to get to Oxford by road; some +Shorthorn cattle, belonging to the famous Thomas Bates of +Kirkleavington, took nearly three weeks on the road, coming from +London to Aylesbury by canal. But such a journey was not unusual then, +for cattle were often two or three weeks on the road to great fairs, +and stood the journey best on hay; it was surprising how fresh and +sound they finished.[617] The show ground covered 7 acres, and among +the implements tested was a subsoil plough, Biddell's Scarifier, and a +drill for depositing manure after turnips. There were only six classes +for cattle--Shorthorns, Herefords, Devons, Cattle of any other breed, +Dairy Cattle, and Oxen; one class for horses, and three for +sheep--Leicesters, Southdown or other Short Wool, and Long Woolled; +with one for pigs.[618] The Shorthorns, with the exception of the +Kirkleavingtons, were bred in the neighbourhood, and many good judges +said long afterwards that a finer lot had not been seen since. The +Duchesses especially impressed all who saw them. The rest of the live +stock was in no way remarkable. + +From this small beginning, then thought so much of, the show grew +fast, and the Warwick meeting[619] of 1892, after several years of +agricultural depression, illustrates the excellent work of the Society +and the enormous progress made by English agriculture. The show ground +covered 90 acres; horses were now divided into Thoroughbred Stallions, +Hunters, Coach Horses, Hackneys, Ponies, Harness Horses and Ponies, +Shires, Clydesdales, Suffolks, and Agricultural Horses. Cattle were +classified as Shorthorns, Herefords, Devons, Sussex, Longhorns +(described as few in number and of no particular quality, 'a breed +which has now been many years on the wane', but has recently been +revived),[620] Welsh, Red Polled, Jerseys, Guernseys, Kerry and +Dexter-Kerry. + +The increased variety of sheep was also striking; Leicesters, +Cotswolds, Lincolns, Oxford Downs, Shropshires, Southdowns, Hampshire +Downs, Suffolks, Border Leicesters, Clun Forest, and Welsh Mountain. + +Pigs were divided into Large, Middle, and Small white Berkshires, any +other black breed, and Tamworths. + +Altogether the total number of stock exhibited was 1,858, and the +number of implements was 5,430. + +In 1840 appeared Liebig's _Chemistry in its Application to Agriculture +and Physiology_, tracing the relations between the nutrition of plants +and the composition of the soil, a book which was received with +enthusiasm, and completely changed the attitude which agriculturists +generally had maintained towards chemistry; one of contempt, founded +on ignorance. + +But, as Mr. Prothero has said,[621] 'if the new agriculture was born +in the laboratory of Glissen, it grew into strength at the +experimental station of Rothamsted.' There, for more than half a +century, Lawes and Gilbert conducted experiments, of vast benefit to +agriculture, in the objects, method, and effect of manuring; the +scientific bases for the rotation of crops, and the results of various +foods on animals in the production of meat, milk, and manure. + +The use of artificial manures now spread rapidly; bones, used long +before uncrushed, are said to have been first crushed in 1772, and +their value was realized by Coke of Holkham, but for long they were +crushed by hammer or horse mill, and their use was consequently +limited. Then iron rollers worked by steam ground them cheaply and +effectively, and their use soon spread, though it was not till about +1840 that it can be said to have become general. Its effects were +often described as wonderful. In Cheshire, cheese-making had +exhausted the soil, and it was said that by boning and draining an +additional cow could be kept for every 4 acres, and tenants readily +paid 7 per cent. to their landlords for expenditure in bone manure. +Its use had indeed raised many struggling farmers to comparative +independence.[622] A very large quantity of the bones used came from +South America.[623] Porter also noticed that 'since 1840 an extensive +trade has been carried on in an article called Guano', the guana of +Davy, 'from the islands of the Pacific and off the coast of Africa'. +Nitrate of soda was just coming in, but was not much used till some +years later. In 1840 Liebig suggested the treatment of bones with +sulphuric acid, and in 1843 Lawes patented the process and set up his +works at Deptford.[624] + +Italian rye grass, not to be confounded with the old English ray +grass, had been introduced by Thomson of Banchory, in 1834, from +Munich;[625] and though the swede was known at the end of the +eighteenth century, in many parts it had only just become common. In +Notts it was in 1844 described as having recently become 'the +sheet-anchor of the farmer'.[626] In Cheshire a writer at the same +date said, 'in the year 1814 there were not 5 acres of Swedish turnips +grown in the parish where I reside; now there are from 60 to 80, and +in many parts of the county the increase has been in a much greater +ratio.'[627] + +About this time a remedy was found in the south for leaving the land +idle during the nine months between harvesting the corn crop in +August, and sowing the turnip crop in the following June, by sowing +rye, which was eaten green by the sheep in May, a good preparation for +the succeeding winter crop. Turnip cutters were at last being used, +and corn and cake crushers soon followed. + +The seasons from 1838 to 1841 were bad, and must be characterized as +a period of dearth, wheat keeping at a good price.[628] That of 1844-5 +was remarkable for the first general appearance of the potato disease, +not only in these islands but on the continent of Europe.[629] In +August, 1846, the worst apprehensions of the failure of the crop were +more than realized, and the terrible results in Ireland are well +known. In the early part of 1847 there was a fear of scarcity in corn, +and the price of wheat rose to 102s. 5d. in spite of an importation of +4,500,000 quarters, but this was largely owing to the absence of any +reliable agricultural statistics, which were not furnished till 1866, +and the price soon fell.[630] + +We have now reached the period of free trade, when the Corn Laws, +which had protected agriculture more or less effectually for so long, +were definitely abandoned. That they had failed to prevent great +fluctuations in the price of corn is abundantly evident, it is also +equally evident that they kept up the average price; in the ten years +from 1837 to 1846, the average price of wheat was 58s. 7d. a quarter, +in the seven years from 1848 to 1853, the average price was 48s. +2d.[631] + +The average imports of wheat and flour for the same period were +2,161,813 and 4,401,000 quarters respectively. But to obtain the real +effect of free trade on prices, the prices for the period between 1815 +and 1846 must be compared with those between 1846 and the present day, +when the fall is enormous. + +The Act of 1815, which Tooke said had failed to secure any one of the +objects aimed at by its promoters, had received two important +alterations. In 1828 (9 Geo. IV, c. 60) a duty of 36s. 8d. was imposed +when the price was 50s., decreasing to 1s. when it was 73s. + +In 1843 (5 Vict. c. 14) a duty of 20s. was imposed when the price was +50s., and the duty became 7s. when the price reached 65s. + +A contemporary writer denies that these duties benefited the farmer at +all: 'if the present shifting scale of duty was intended to protect +the farmer, keep the prices of corn steady, insure a supply to the +consumer at a moderate price, and benefit the revenue, it has signally +failed. During the continuation of the Corn Laws the farmers have +suffered the greatest privations. The variations in price have been +extreme, and when a supply of foreign corn has been required it has +only reached the consumer at a high price, and benefited the revenue +little.'[632] Rents of farms were often calculated not on the market +price of wheat, but on the price thought to be fixed by the duties, +which was occasionally much higher.[633] + +It was also said that but for the restrictions that had been imposed +in the supposed interests of agriculture, the skill and enterprise of +farmers would have been better directed than it had been. By means of +these restrictions and the consequent enhancement of the cost of +living, the cultivation of the land had been injuriously restricted, +for the energies of farmers had been limited to producing certain +descriptions of food, and they had neglected others which would have +been far[634] more profitable. The landlord had profited by higher +rents, but, according to Caird, a most competent observer, had +generally speaking been induced by a reliance on protection to neglect +his duty to his estates, so that buildings were poor, and drainage +neglected. The labourer was little if any better off than eighty years +before. It was a mystery even to farmers how they lived in many parts +of the country; 'our common drink,' said one, 'is burnt crust tea, we +never know what it is to get enough to eat.'[635] Against these +disadvantages can only be put the fact that protection had kept up the +price of corn, a calamity for the mass of the people. + +The amount of wheat imported into England before the era of Corn Law +repeal was inconsiderable. Mr. Porter has shown[636] how very small a +proportion of wheat used in this country was imported from 1801-44. +From 1801 to 1810 the average annual import of wheat into the kingdom +was 600,946 quarters, or a little over a peck annually per head, the +average annual consumption per head being about eight bushels. Between +1811 and 1820 the average importation was 458,578 quarters, or for the +increased population a gallon-and-a-half per head, and the same share +for each person was imported in the next decade 1821-30. From 1831-40 +the average imports arose to 607,638 quarters, or two-and-a-quarter +gallons per head, and in 1841-4 an average import of 1,901,495 +quarters raised the average supply to four-and-a-half gallons per +person, still a very small proportion of the amount consumed. + +In 1836 a small association had been formed in London for advocating +the repeal of the Corn Laws, and in 1838 a similar association was +formed in Manchester.[637] At one of its earliest meetings appeared +Richard Cobden, under whose guidance the association became the +Anti-Corn Law League, and at whose invitation John Bright joined the +League. Under these two men the Anti-Corn Law League commenced its +great agitation, its object being 'to convince the manufacturer that +the Corn Laws were interfering with the growth of trade, to persuade +the people that they were raising the price of food, to teach the +agriculturist that they had not even the solitary merit of securing a +fixed price for corn'. The country was deluged with pamphlets, backed +up by constant public meetings; and these efforts, aided by +unfavourable seasons, convinced many of the errors of protection. In +1840 the League spent £5,700 in distributing 160,000 circulars and +150,000 pamphlets, and in delivering 400 lectures to 800,000 people. +Bakers were persuaded to bake taxed and untaxed shilling loaves, and, +on the purchaser choosing the larger, to demand the tax from the +landlord; in 1843 the League collected £50,000, next year £100,000, +and in 1845 £250,000 in support of their agitation. + +Yet for some years they had little success in Parliament; even in 1842 +Peel only amended the laws; and it was not until 1846 that, convinced +by the League's arguments, as he himself confessed, and stimulated by +the famine in Ireland, he introduced the famous Act, 9 & 10 Vict. c. +22. + +By this the maximum duty on imported wheat was at once to be reduced +to 10s. a quarter when the price was under 48s., to 5s. on barley when +the price was under 26s., and to 4s. on oats when the price was under +18s., with lower duties as prices rose above these figures, but the +most important part of the Act was that on February 1, 1849, these +duties were to cease, and only a nominal duty of 1s. a quarter on +foreign corn be retained, which was abolished in 1860. + +By 9 and 10 Vict. c. 23 the duties on live stock were also abolished +entirely. Down to 1842 the importation of horned cattle, sheep, hogs, +and other animals used as food was strictly prohibited,[638] but in +that year the prohibition was withdrawn and they were allowed to enter +the country on a payment of 20s. a head on oxen and bulls, 15s. on +cows, 3s. on sheep, 5s. on hogs; which duties continued till 1846. + +It is interesting to find that so shrewd an observer as McCulloch did +not expect any great increase in the imports of live animals from the +reduction of the duties, but he anticipated a great increase in salted +meat from abroad; cold storage being then undreamt of. + +The full effect of this momentous change was not to be felt for a +generation, but the immediate effect was an agricultural panic +apparently justified by falling prices. In 1850 wheat averaged 40s. +3d. and in 1851 38s. 6d. On the other hand, stock farmers were doing +well. But on the corn lands the prices of the protection era had to +come down; many farms were thrown up, some arable turned into pasture; +distress was widespread. Owing to the depressed state of agriculture +in 1850, the _Times_ sent James Caird on a tour through England, and +one of the most important conclusions arrived at in his account of his +tour is, that owing to protection, the majority of landowners had +neglected their land; but another cause of neglect was that the great +body of English landlords knew nothing of the management of their +estates, and committed it to agents who knew little more and merely +received the rents. The important business of being a landowner is the +only one for which no special training is provided. Many of the +landlords, however, then, as now, were unable to improve their estates +if they desired to do so, as they were hopelessly encumbered, and the +expense of sale was almost prohibitive. The contrast between good and +bad farmers was more marked in 1850 than to-day, the efforts of the +Royal Agricultural Society to raise the general standard of farming +had not yet borne much fruit. In many counties, side by side, were +farmers who used every modern improvement, and those who still +employed the methods of the eighteenth century: on one farm wheat +producing 40 bushels an acre, threshed by steam at a cost of 3s. 6d., +on the next 20 bushels to the acre threshed by the flail at a cost of +9s.[639] + +Drainage in the counties where it was needed had made considerable +progress, the removal of useless hedgerows often crowded with timber, +that kept the sun from the crops and whose roots absorbed much of the +nourishment of the soil, was slowly extending, but farm-buildings +almost everywhere were defective. 'The inconvenient ill-arranged +hovels, the rickety wood and thatch barns and sheds devoid of every +known improvement for economizing labour, food, and manure, which are +to be met with in every county in England, are a reproach to the +landlords in the eyes of all good farmers.'[640] The farm-buildings of +Belgium, Holland, France, and the Rhenish Provinces were much +superior. In parts of England indeed no progress seems to have been +made for generations at this date. Thousands of acres of peat moss in +Lancashire were unreclaimed, and many parts of the Fylde district were +difficult even to traverse. Even in Warwickshire, in the heart of +England, between Knowle and Tamworth, instead of signs of industry and +improvement were narrow winding lanes leading to nothing, traversed by +lean pigs and rough cattle, broad copse-like hedges, small and +irregular fields of couch, amidst which straggled the stalks of some +smothered cereal; these with gipsy encampments and the occasional +sound of the poacher's gun from woods and thickets around were the +characteristics of the district.[641] + +Leases were the exception throughout England, though more prevalent in +the west.[642] The greater proportion of farms were held on yearly +agreements terminable by six months' notice on either side, a system +preferred by the landlord as enabling him to retain a greater hold +over his land, and acquiesced in by the tenant because of easy rents. +In spite of this insecurity of tenure and the absence of Agricultural +Holdings Acts, the tenants invested their capital largely with no +other security than the landlord's character, 'for in no country of +the world does the character of any class of men stand so high for +fair and generous dealing as that of the great body of the English +landlords.' + +The custom of tenant-right was unknown except in certain counties, +Surrey, Sussex, the Weald of Kent, Lincoln, North Notts, and in part +of the West Riding of Yorkshire.[643] Where it existed, the +agriculture was on the whole inferior to that of the districts where +it did not, and it had frequently led to fraud in a greater or less +degree. Many farmers were in the practice of 'working up to a +quitting', or making a profit by the difference which their ingenuity +and that of their valuer enabled them to demand at leaving as compared +with what they paid on entry. The best farmers as well as the +landlords were said to be disgusted with the system. The dislike for +leases in the days immediately before the repeal of the Corn Laws was +partly due to the uncertainty how long protection would last; but +chiefly then, as afterwards, to the fact that if a man improved his +farm under a lease he had nearly always to pay an increased rent on +renewal, but if he held from year to year his improvement, if any, was +so gradual and imperceptible that it was hardly noticed and the rent +was not raised. It may also be attributable to the modern +disinclination to be bound down to a particular spot for a long +period. At all events, the general dislike of farmers for leases is a +curious commentary on the assertions of those writers who said that +leases were his chief necessity. + +The disparity of the labourer's wages in 1850 was most remarkable, +ranging from 15s. a week in parts of Lancashire to 6s. in South Wilts, +the average of the northern counties being 11s. 6d., and of the +southern 8s. 5d. a difference due wholly to the influence of +manufactures, which is still further proved by the fact that in +Lancashire in 1770 wages were below the average for England. In fact +since Young's time wages in the north had increased 66 per cent., in +the south only 14 per cent. In Berkshire and Wiltshire there had been +no increase in that period, and in Suffolk an actual decrease. It is +not surprising to learn that in some southern counties wages were not +sufficient for healthy sustenance, and the consequence was, that +there, the average amount of poor relief per head of population was +8s. 8-1/2d., but in the north 4s. 7-3/4d., and the percentage of +paupers was twice as great in the former as in the latter. This was +mainly due to two causes: (1) the ratepayers of parishes in the south +were accustomed to divide among themselves the surplus labour, not +according to their requirements but in proportion to the size of their +farms, so that a farmer who was a good economist of labour was reduced +by this system to the same level as his unskilful neighbours, and the +labourer himself had no motive to do his best, as every one, good and +bad, was employed at the same rate. (2) To the system of close and +open parishes, by which large proprietors could drive the labourer +from the parish where he worked to live in some distant village in +case he should become chargeable to the rates, so that it was a common +thing to see labourers walking three or four miles each day to their +work and back, and in one county farmers provided donkeys for them. +Between 1840 and 1850 the labourer had, however, already benefited by +free trade, for the price of many articles he consumed fell 30%; on +the other hand the rent of his cottage in eighty years had increased +100%, and meat 70%, which however did not, unfortunately, affect him +much. The great development of railway construction also helped him by +absorbing much surplus labour, and the work of his wife and children +was more freely exploited at this date to swell the family +budget.[644] + +The great difference between the wages of the north and the south is +a clear proof that the wages of the agricultural labourer are not +dependent on the prices of agricultural produce, for those were the +same in both regions. It was unmistakably due to the greater demand +for labour in the north. + +The housing of the labourer was, especially in the south, often a +black blot on English civilization. From many instances collected by +an inquirer in 1844 the following may be taken. At Stourpaine in +Dorset, one bedroom in a cottage contained three beds occupied by +eleven people of all ages and both sexes, with no curtain or partition +whatever. At Milton Abbas, on the average of the last census there +were thirty-six persons in each house, and so crowded were they that +cottagers with a desire for decency would combine and place all the +males in one cottage, and all the females in another. But this was +rare, and licentiousness and immorality of the worst kind were +frequent.[645] + +As for the farmer, the stock raiser was doing better than the corn +grower. The following table shows the rent of cultivated land per +acre, the produce of wheat per acre in bushels, the price of +provisions, wages of labour, and rent of cottages in England at the +date of Young's tours, about 1770, and of Caird's in 1850[647]: + + Rent of Produce of + cultivated land Wheat Price per lb. of + per acre. per acre. Bread. Meat. Butter. + + 1770 13s. 4d. 23 1-1/2d. 3-1/4d. 6d. + 1850 26s. 10d. 26-3/4[646] 1-1/4d. 5d. 1s. + + Price of Wool Cottage Labourer's wages + per lb. rents. per week. + + 1770 5-1/2d. 34s. 8d. 7s. 3d. + 1850 1s. 74s. 6d. 9s. 7d. + +Thus in eighty years the average rent of arable land rose 100%, the +average wheat crop 14%, while the price of bread had decreased 16%. +But meat had increased 70%, wool over 100%, butter 100%. The chief +benefit to the farmer therefore lay in the increased value of live +stock and its products, and it was found then, as in the present +depression, that the holders of strong wheat land suffered most, which +was further illustrated by the fact that the rent of the corn-growing +counties of the east coast averaged 23s. 8d. per acre; that of the +mixed corn and grass counties in the midlands and west, 31s. 5d. + +Writing in 1847, Porter said rents had doubled since 1790.[648] In +Essex farms could be pointed out which were let in 1790 at less than +10s. an acre, but during the war at from 45s. to 50s. In 1818 the rent +went down to 35s., and in 1847 was 20s. + +In Berks. and Wilts. farms let at 14s. per acre in 1790, rose by 1810 +to 70s., or fivefold; sank in 1820 to 50s., and in 1847 to 30s. In +Staffordshire farms on one estate let for 8s. an acre in 1790, rose +during the war to 35s., and at the peace were lowered to 20s., at +which price they remained. Owing to better farming light soils had +been applied to uses for which heavy lands alone had formerly been +considered fit, with a considerable increase of rent. + +On the Duke of Rutland's[649] Belvoir estate, of from 18,000 to 20,000 +acres of above average quality, rents were in-- + + 1799 19s. 3-3/4d. an acre. + 1812 25s. 8-3/4d. " + 1830 25s. 1-3/4d. " + 1850 36s. 8d. " + +But the Dukes of Rutland were indulgent landlords and evidently took +no undue advantage of the high prices during the war, a policy whose +wisdom was fully justified afterwards. + +It was the opinion of most competent judges, even after the abolition +of the Corn Laws, that English land would continue to rise in value. +Porter stated that the United Kingdom could never be habitually +dependent on the soil of other countries for the food of its people, +there was not enough shipping to transport it if it could.[650] + +Caird prophesied that in the next eighty years the value of land in +England would more than double. The wellnigh universal opinion was +that as the land of England could not increase, and the population was +constantly increasing, land must become dearer. Men failed to foresee +the opening of millions of acres of virgin soil in other parts of the +world, and the improvement of transport to such an extent that wheat +has occasionally been carried as ballast. About twenty-five or thirty +years after these prophecies their fallacy began to be cruelly +exposed.[651] + +About 1853[652] matters began to mend, chiefly owing to the great +expansion in trade that followed the great gold discoveries in America +and Australia. Then, came the Crimean War, with the closing of the +Baltic to the export of Russian corn, wheat in 1855 averaging 74s. +8d., and in the next decade the American War crippled another +competitor, the imports of wheat from the United States sinking from +16,140,000 cwt in 1862, to 635,000 cwt. in 1866. From 1853 until 1875 +English agriculture prospered exceedingly, assisted largely by good +seasons. Between 1854 and 1865 there were ten good harvests, and only +two below the average. Prices of produce rose almost continuously, and +the price and rent of land with them. The trade of the country was +good, and the demand for the farmer's products steadily grew; the +capital value of the land, live stock, and crops upon it, increased in +this period by £445,000,000.[653] + +It appeared as if the abolition of the Corn Laws was not to have any +great effect after all. + +Now at last the great body of farmers began to approach the standard +set them long before by the more energetic and enterprising. Early +maturity in finishing live stock for the market by scientific feeding +probably added a fourth to their weight The produce of crops per acre +grew, and drainage and improvements were carried out on all sides, the +greatest improvement being made in the cultivation and management of +strong lands, of which drainage was the foundation, and enabled the +occupier to add swedes to his course of cropping.[654] + +It was in this period that Shorthorns, Herefords, and Devons attained +a standard of excellence which has made them sought after by the whole +world; and other breeds were perfected, the Sussex and Aberdeen Angus +especially; while in sheep the improvement was perhaps even +greater.[655] The improved Lincolns, Oxford Downs, Hampshire Downs, +and Shropshires took their place as standard breeds at this period. In +1866, after many years of expectation and disappointment, +agriculturists were furnished with statistics which are trustworthy +for practical purpose, but are somewhat vitiated by the fact that the +live stock census was taken on March 5, which obviously omitted a +large number of young stock; so that those for 1867, when the census +was taken on June 25, are better for purposes of comparison with those +of subsequent years, when the census has been taken on June 4 or 5. +Between 1867 and 1878 the cattle in England and Wales had increased +from 4,013,564 to 4,642,641, though sheep had diminished from +22,025,498 to 21,369,810.[656] The total acreage under cultivation had +increased from 25,451,526 acres to 27,164,326 acres in the same +period. + +There was, however, one black shadow in this fair picture: in 1865 +England was invaded by the rinderpest, which spread with alarming +rapidity, killing 2,000 cows in a month from its first appearance, and +within six months infecting thirty-six counties.[657] The alarm was +general, and town and country meetings were held in the various +districts where the disease appeared to concert measures of defence. +The Privy Council issued an order empowering Justices to appoint +inspectors authorized to seize and slaughter any animal labouring +under such diseases; but, in spite of this, the plague raged with +redoubled fury throughout September. There was gross mismanagement in +combating it, for the inspectors were often ignorant men, and no +compensation was paid for slaughter, so that farmers often sold off +most of their diseased stock before hoisting the black flag. The +ravages of the disease in the London cow-houses was fearful, as might +be expected, and they are said to have been left empty; by no means an +unmixed evil, as the keeping of cow-houses in towns was a glaring +defiance of the most obvious sanitary laws. In October a Commission +was appointed to investigate the origin and nature of the disease, and +the first return showed a total of 17,673 animals attacked. By March +9, 1866, 117,664 animals had died from the plague, and 26,135 been +killed in the attempt to stay it. By the end of August the disease had +been brought within very narrow limits, and was eventually stamped out +by the resolute slaughter of all infected animals. By November 24 the +number of diseased animals that had died or been killed was +209,332,[658] and the loss to the nation was reckoned at £3,000,000. +The disease was brought by animals exported from Russia, who came from +Revel, via the Baltic, to Hull. In 1872, cattle brought to the same +port infected the cattle of the East Riding of Yorkshire, but this +outbreak was checked before much damage had been done, and since 1877 +there has been no trace of this dreaded disease in the kingdom. The +cattle plague, rinderpest, or steppe murrain, is said[659] to have +first appeared in England in 1665, the year of the Great Plague, and +reappeared in 1714, when it came from Holland, but did little damage, +being chiefly confined to the neighbourhood of London. The next +outbreak was in 1745, and lasted for twelve years, undoubtedly coming +from Holland; it is said to have caused such destruction among the +cattle, that much of the grass land in England was ploughed up and +planted with corn, so that the exports of grain increased largely. In +1769 it came again, but only affected a few localities, and +disappeared in 1771, not to return till 1865. + +Foot and mouth disease was first observed in England in 1839,[660] +and it was malignant in 1840-1, when cattle, sheep, and pigs were +attacked as they were during the serious outbreak of 1871-2. In 1883 +no less than 219,289 cattle were attacked, besides 217,492 sheep, and +24,332 pigs, when the disease was worse than it has ever been in +England. Since then, though there have been occasional outbreaks, it +has much abated. Another dread scourge of cattle, pleuro-pneumonia, +was at its worst in 1872, a most calamitous year in this respect, when +7,983 cattle were attacked. In 1890 the Board of Agriculture assumed +powers with respect to it under the Diseases of Animals Act of that +year, and their consequent action has been attended with great success +in getting rid of the disease. + +At the end of this halcyon period farmers had to contend with a new +difficulty, the demand for higher wages by their labourers at the +instigation of Joseph Arch.[661] This famous agitator was born at +Barford in Warwickshire in 1826, and as a boy worked for neighbouring +farmers, educating himself in his spare time. The miserable state of +the labourer which he saw all around him entered into his soul, meat +was rarely seen on his table, even bacon was a luxury in many +cottages. Tea was 6s. to 7s. a lb., sugar 8d., and other prices in +proportion; the labourers stole turnips for food, and every other man +was a poacher. Arch made himself master of everything he undertook, +became famous as a hedger, mower, and ploughman, and being +consequently employed all over the Midlands and South Wales, began to +gauge the discontent of the labourer who was then voiceless, voteless, +and hopeless. His wages by 1872 had increased to 12s. a week, but had +not kept pace with the rise in prices. Bread was 7-1/2d. a loaf; the +labourer had lost the benefit of his children's labour, for they had +now all gone to school; his food was 'usually potatoes, dry bread, +greens, herbs, "kettle broth" made by putting bread in the kettle, +weak tea, bacon sometimes, fresh meat hardly ever.'[662] It is +difficult to realize that at the end of the third quarter of the +nineteenth century, when Gladstone said the prosperity of the country +was advancing 'by leaps and bounds', that any class of the community +_in full work_ could live under such wretched conditions. Arch came to +the conclusion that labour could only improve its position when +organized, and the Agricultural Labourers' Union was initiated in +1872. Not that the idea of obtaining better conditions by combination +was new to the rural labourer. It was attempted in 1832 in Dorset, but +speedily crushed, and not till 1865 was a new union founded in +Scotland, which was followed by a strike in Buckinghamshire in 1867, +and the foundation of a union in Herefordshire in 1871.[663] It was +determined to ask for 16s. a week and a 9-1/2 hours' working day, +which the farmers refused to grant, and the men struck. The agitation +spread all over England, and was often conducted unwisely and with a +bitter spirit, but the labourer was embittered by generations of +sordid misery. Very reluctantly the farmers gave way, and generally +speaking wages went up during the agitation to 14s. or 15s. a week, +though Arch himself admits that even during the height of it they were +often only 11s. and 12s. With the bad times, about 1879, wages began +to fall again, and men were leaving the Agricultural Union; by 1882 +Arch says many were again taking what the farmer chose to give. From +1884 the Union steadily declined, and after a temporary revival about +1890, practically collapsed in 1894. Other unions had been started, +but were then going down hill, and in 1906 only two remained in a +moribund condition. Their main object, to raise the labourer's wages, +was largely counteracted by the acute depression in agriculture, and +though there has since been considerable recovery, there are districts +in England to-day where he only gets 11s. and 12s. a week. + +The Labourers' Union helped to deal a severe blow to the 'gang +system', which had grown up at the beginning of the century (when the +high corn prices led to the breaking up of land where there were no +labourers, so that 'gangs' were collected to cultivate it[664]), by +which overseers, often coarse bullies, employed and sweated gangs +sometimes numbering 60 or 70 persons, including small children, and +women, the latter frequently very bad specimens of their sex. These +gangs went turnip-singling, bean-dropping, weeding &c., while +pea-picking gangs ran to 400 or 500. Though some of these gangs were +properly managed, the system was a bad one, and the Union and the +Education Acts helped its disappearance. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[613] Cylindrical pipes came in about 1843, though they had been +recommended in 1727 by Switzer. + +[614] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (1st series), xxii. 260. + +[615] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1890, pp. 1 sq. + +[616] Ibid., 1894, pp. 205 sq. + +[617] McCombie, _Cattle and Cattle Breeders_, p. 33. + +[618] These classes, however, did not comprise all the then known +breeds of live stock. + +[619] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1892, pp. 479 sq. + +[620] At the show at Birmingham In 1898 there were 22 entries of +Longhorns; in 1899 a Longhorn Cattle Society was established, and the +herd-book resuscitated. More than twenty herds of the breed are now +well established. + +[621] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1901, p. 24. + +[622] Caird, _English Agriculture in 1850-1_, pp. 252 sq. + +[623] Porter, _Progress of the Nation_, p. 142. + +[624] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1901, p. 25. + +[625] Ibid. 1896, p. 96. + +[626] Ibid. (1st ser.), vi. 2. + +[627] Ibid. (1st ser.), v. 102. + +[628] 1838, 64s. 7d; 1839, 70s. 8d.; 1840, 66s. 4d.; 1841, 64s. 4d. + +[629] Tooke, _History of Prices_, iv. 19. + +[630] C. Wren Hoskyns, _Agricultural Statistics_, p. 5. + +[631] The abnormal prices during the Crimean War cannot fairly be +taken into account. The home and foreign supplies of wheat and flour +from 1839-46 were:-- + + Home Supplies. Foreign Supplies. + qrs. qrs. + + 1839-40 4,022,000 1,762,482 + 1840-1 3,870,648 1,925,241 + 1841-2 3,626,173 2,985,422 + 1842-3 5,078,989 2,405,217 + 1843-4 5,213,454 1,606,912 + 1844-5 6,664,368 476,190 + 1845-6 5,699,969 2,732,134 + + (Tooke, _History of Prices_, iv. 414.) + +1844-5 was a very abundant crop, and the threatened repeal of the Corn +Laws induced farmers to send all the corn possible to market. + +[632] Tooke, _History of Prices_, iv. 32. + +[633] Cobden's Speech, March 12, 1844. + +[634] Tooke, _History of Prices_, iv. 142. + +[635] From evidence collected by Mr. Austin in the southern counties. + +[636] _Progress of Nation_, pp. 137 sq. For the amount imported before +that date, see Appendix 2. + +[637] Walpole, _History of England_, iv. 63 sq. Cobden apparently +never contemplated such low prices for corn as have prevailed since +1883. In his speech of March 12, 1844, he mentioned 50s. a quarter as +a probable price under free trade, and he died before the full effect +of foreign competition was felt by the English farmer. + +[638] McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_, 1847, p. 274. See below, pp. +325 sq. + +[639] Caird, _English Agriculture in 1850-1_, p. 498. + +[640] Ibid. p. 490. + +[641] _Victoria County History: Warwickshire_, ii. 277. + +[642] Caird, _op. cit._, p. 481. + +[643] Caird, _op. cit._ p. 507. + +[644] Hasbach, _op. cit._ pp. 220, 226. + +[645] Cobden's Speech, March 12, 1844. + +[646] Mr. Pusey, one of the best informed agriculturists of the day, +estimated the produce of wheat per acre in 1840 at 26 +bushels.--_R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1890, p. 20. + +[647] Caird, _English Farming in 1850-1_, p. 474. + +[648] _Progress of the Nation_. + +[649] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, v. 29. + +[650] _Progress of the Nation_, pp. 137-9. + +[651] Yet as the growth of population overtakes the corn and meat +supply, these prophets may in the end prove correct. + +[652] The Great Exhibition of 1851 was said to have widely diffused +the use of improved implements.--_R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1856, p. 54. + +[653] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1890, p. 34. + +[654] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1856, p. 60. + +[655] Ibid. 1901, p. 30. See below, p. 343. + +[656] _Board of Agriculture Returns_, 1878, and _R.A.S.E. Journal_, +1868, p. 239. Young estimated the number of cattle in England in 1770 +at 2,852,048, including 684,491 draught cattle.--_Eastern Tour_, iv. +456. + +[657] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, (2nd ser.), ii. 230. + +[658] Ibid. iii. 430. + +[659] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (2nd ser.), ii. 270. + +[660] See _Autobiography of Joseph Arch_. + +[661] Ibid. ix. 274. + +[662] In many districts, however, his food was better than this. + +[663] Hasbach, _op. cit._, pp. 276-7. + +[664] Hasbach, _op. cit._, pp. 193, et seq. The Gangs Act (30 & 31 +Vict. c. 130) had already brought the system under control. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +1875-1908 + +AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS AGAIN.--FOREIGN COMPETITION.--AGRICULTURAL +HOLDINGS ACTS.--NEW IMPLEMENTS.--AGRICULTURAL COMMISSIONS.--THE +SITUATION IN 1908 + + +About the year 1875 the good times came to an end. The full force of +free trade was at last felt. The seasons assisted the decline, and +there was now no compensation in the shape of higher prices. In the +eight years between 1874 and 1882 there were only two good crops. A +new and formidable competitor had entered the field; between 1860 and +1880 the produce of wheat in the United States had trebled. Vast +stretches of virgin soil were opened up with the most astonishing +rapidity by railroads, and European immigrants poured in. The cost of +transport fell greatly, and England was flooded with foreign corn and +meat. English land which had to support the landlord, the tithe-owner, +the land agent, the farmer, the labourer, and a large army of +paupers,[665] had to compete with land where often one man was owner, +farmer, and labourer, with no tithe and no poor rates. Yet prices held +up fairly well until 1884, when there was a collapse from which they +have not yet recovered. In 1877 wheat was 56s. 9d., in 1883 41s. 7d., +and in 1884 35s. 8d.; by 1894 the average price for the year was 22s. +10d.[666] + +Farmers' capital was reduced from 30 to 50 per cent., and rents and +the purchase value of land in a similar proportion. Poor clays only +fit for wheat and beans went out of cultivation, though much has since +been laid down to grass, and much has 'tumbled down'. In fact most of +the increased value of the good period between 1853-75 disappeared. + +The year 1879 will long be remembered as 'the Black Year'. It was the +worst of a succession of wet seasons in the midland, western and +southern counties of England, the average rainfall being one-fourth +above the average, and 1880 was little better. The land, saturated and +chilled, produced coarser herbage, the finer grasses languished or +were destroyed, fodder and grain were imperfectly matured. Mould and +ergot were prevalent among plants, and flukes producing liver-rot +among live stock, especially sheep. In 1879 in England and Wales +3,000,000 sheep died or were sacrificed from rot,[667] by 1881 +5,000,000 had perished at an estimated loss of £10,000,000, and many, +alas! were sent to market full of disease. Cattle also were infected, +and hares, rabbits, and deer suffered. In some cases entire flocks of +sheep disappeared. The disease was naturally worst on low-lying and +ill-drained pastures, but occurred even on the drier uplands hitherto +perfectly free from liver-rot, carried thither no doubt by the +droppings of infected sheep, hares, and rabbits, and perhaps by the +feet of men and animals. Apart from medicine, concentrated dry food +given systematically, the regular use of common salt, and of course +removal from low-lying and damp lands, were found the best +preventives. + +Besides this great calamity, this year was distinguished by one of the +worst harvests of the century, outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, of +pleuro-pneumonia, and a disastrous attack of foot-rot. The misfortunes +of the landed interest produced a Commission in 1879 under the Duke of +Richmond, which conducted a most laborious and comprehensive inquiry. +Their report, issued in 1882, stated that they were unanimously +convinced of the great intensity and extent of the distress that had +fallen upon the agricultural community. Owner and occupier had alike +been involved. Yet, though agricultural distress had prevailed over +the whole country, the degree had varied in different counties, and in +some cases in different parts of the same counties. Cheshire, for +instance, had not suffered to anything like the same extent as other +counties, nor was the depression so severe in Cumberland, +Westmoreland, Northumberland, and parts of Yorkshire. The rainfall had +been less in the northern counties. In the midlands, the eastern, and +most of the southern counties the distress was severe, in Essex the +state of agriculture was deplorable, but Kent, Devon, and Cornwall +were not hardly hit.[668] + +The chief causes of the depression were said to be these:-- + + 1. The succession of unfavourable seasons, causing crops + deficient in quantity and quality, and losses of live stock. + + 2. Low prices, partly due to foreign imports and partly to + the inferior quality of the home production. + + 3. Increased cost of production. + + 4. Increased pressure of local taxation by the imposition + of new rates, viz. the education rate and the sanitary rate; + and the increase of old rates, especially the highway rate, in + consequence of the abolition of turnpikes. Some exceptionally + bad instances of this were given. In the parish of + Didmarton, Gloucestershire, the average amount of rates paid + for the five years ending March 31, 1858, was £26 6s. 3d., + for the five years ending March 31, 1878, £118 11s. 7d. In + the Northleach Union the rates had increased thus in decennial + periods from 1850:-- + + 1850-1 £5,471 + 1860-1 5,534 + 1870-1 8,525 + 1878-9 10,089 + + On one small property in Staffordshire the increase of rates, + other than poor rates, amounted to 3s. 6d. in the £ on the + rateable value. + + 5. Excessive rates charged by railway companies for the + conveyance of produce, and preferential rates given to foreign + agricultural produce; the railway companies alleging, in defence + of this, that foreign produce was consigned in much greater + bulk, by few consignors, than home grown, and could be conveyed + much more economically than if picked up at different + stations in small quantities. + +As to the effect of restrictive covenants on the depression, the +balance of evidence did not incline either way.[669] + +The Agricultural Holdings Act of 1875 was stated to have done much +good in the matter of compensation to tenants for improvements, +notwithstanding its merely permissive character, as it had reversed +the presumption of law in relation to improvements effected by the +tenant, prescribed the amount of compensation, and the mode in which +it should be given. + +As to the important subject of freedom of cropping and sale of +produce, there were diverse opinions, some advocating it wholly, +others not believing in it at all, others saying each landlord and +each tenant should make their own bargains since each farm stands on +its own footing, others again favouring modified restrictions. The +preponderance of opinion was in favour of a modification of the law of +distress. + +The Commission further said that the pressure of foreign competition +was greatly in excess of the anticipations of the supporters and of +the apprehensions of the opponents of Corn Law Repeal; if it had not +been for this, English farmers would have been partly compensated for +the deficient yield by higher prices. On the other hand, the farmer +had had the advantage of an increased and cheapened supply of feeding +stuffs, such as maize, linseed and cotton cakes, and of artificial +manures imported from abroad. At the same time the benefit to the +community from cheap food was immense. It seemed just, however, that +as agriculture was suffering from low prices, by which the country +gained as a whole, that the proportion of taxation imposed on the land +should be lessened; it was especially unjust that personal property +was exempted from local rates, contrary to the Act of 43 Eliz. c. 2, +and the whole burden thrown on real property. The difficulties of +farmers were aggravated by the high price of labour, which had +increased 25 per cent. in twenty years, largely owing to the +competition of other industries, and at the same time become less +efficient. As provisions were cheap, and employment abundant, the +labourer had been scarcely affected by the distress. His cottage, +however, especially if in the hands of a small owner, with neither the +means nor the will to expend money on improvements, was often still +very defective. + +Farmers were already complaining of the results of the new system of +education, for which they had to pay, while it deprived them of the +labour of boys, and drained from the land the sources of future labour +by making the young discontented with farm work. The Commission denied +that rents had been unduly raised previous to 1875[670]; and in the +exceptional cases where they had been, it was due to the imprudent +competition of tenant farmers encouraged by advances made by country +bankers, the sudden withdrawal of which had greatly contributed to the +present distress. Districts where dairying was carried on had suffered +least, yet the yield of milk was much diminished, and the quality +deteriorated, owing to the inferiority of grass from a continuance of +wet seasons. The production and sale of milk was increasing largely, +so that the attention of farmers and landlords was being drawn to this +important branch of farming, milk-sellers necessarily suffering less +from foreign competition than any other farmers. + +Let us turn once more to the hop yards: in 1878 the acreage of hops in +England reached its maximum. We have seen that in the first half of +the eighteenth century hop yards covered 12,000 acres; which between +1750 and 1780 increased to 25,000, and by 1800 to 32,000. In 1878, +71,789 acres were grown. The great increase prior to that year was due +to the abolition of the excise duty in 1862, which on an average was +equal to an annual charge of nearly £7 an acre.[671] This encouraged +hop-growing more than the taking off of the import duty in the same +year discouraged it. In 1882 there was a very small crop in England, +which raised the average price to £18 10s. a cwt.; some choice samples +fetching £30 a cwt.; growers who had good crops realizing much more +than the freehold value of the hop yards. This, however, was most +unfortunate for them, as it led to a great increase in the use of hop +substitutes, such as quassia, chiretta, colombo, gentian, &c., which, +with the decreasing consumption of beer and the demand for lighter +beer, has done more than foreign competition to lower the price and +thereby cause so large an area to be grubbed up as unprofitable, that +in 1907 it was reduced to 44,938 acres. Yet the quality of the hops +has in the last generation greatly improved in condition, quality, and +appearance. Growers also have in the same period often incurred great +expense in substituting various methods of wire-work for poles; and +washing, generally with quassia chips and soft soap and water, has +become wellnigh universal, so that the expense of growing the crop has +increased, while the price has been falling.[672] The crop has always +been an expensive one to grow; Marshall in 1798 put it at £20 an acre, +exclusive of picking, drying, and marketing[673]; and Young estimated +the total cost at the same date at £31 10s. an acre[674]; to-day £40 +an acre is by no means an outside price. It may be some encouragement +to growers to remember that hops have always been subject to great +fluctuations in price; between 1693 and 1700, for instance, they +varied from 40s. to 240s. a cwt., so that they may yet see them at a +remunerative figure. 'Upon the whole', says an eighteenth-century +writer, 'though many have acquired large estates by hops, their real +advantage is perhaps questionable. By engrossing the attention of the +farmer they withdraw him from slower and more certain sources of +wealth, and encourage him to rely too much upon chance for his rent, +rather than the honest labour of the plough. To the landlord the +cultivation of hops is an evil, defrauding the arable land of its +proper quantity of manure and thereby impoverishing his estate.' + +It was by this time the general opinion of men with a thorough +experience of farming, that in many parts of Great Britain no +sufficient compensation was secured to the tenant for his unexhausted +improvements. In some counties and districts this compensation was +given by established customs, in others customs existed which were +insufficient, in many they did not exist at all. It must be confessed +that often when a tenant leaves his farm there is more compensation +due to the landlord than to the tenant. Human nature being what it is, +the temptation to get as much out of the land just before leaving it +is wellnigh irresistible to many farmers. + +In these days, when the landlord is often called upon by the tenant to +do what the tenant used to do himself, the question of compensation to +the tenant must on many estates appear to the landlord extremely +ironical. It is, in the greater number of cases, the landlord who +should receive compensation, and not the tenant; and though he has +power to demand it, such power is over and over again not put in +force. + +At the same time there are bad men in the landlord class as in any +other, and from them the tenant required protection. By the +Agricultural Holdings (England) Act of 1875, 38 & 39 Vict. c. 92, +improvements for which compensation could be claimed by the tenant +were divided into three classes. First class improvements, such as +drainage of land, erection or enlargement of buildings, laying down of +permanent pasture, &c., required the previous consent in writing of +the landlord to entitle the tenant to compensation. Second class +improvements, such as boning of land with undissolved bones, chalking, +claying, liming, and marling the land, the latter now hardly ever +practised, required notice in writing by the tenant to the landlord of +his intention, and if notice to quit had been given or received, the +consent in writing of the landlord was necessary. For third class +improvements, such as the application to the land of purchased manure, +and consumption on the holding by cattle, sheep, or pigs, of cake or +other feeding stuff not produced on the holding, no consent or notice +was required. Improvements in the first class were deemed to be +exhausted in twenty years, in the second in seven, and in the third in +two. It was the opinion of the Richmond Commission of 1879 that, +notwithstanding the beneficial effects of this Act, no sufficient +compensation for his unexhausted improvements was secured to the +tenant. + +The landlord and tenant also might agree in writing that the Act +should not apply to their contract of tenancy, so in 1883 when the +Agricultural Holdings Act of that year (46 & 47 Vict. c. 61)[675] was +passed, it was made compulsory as far as regarded compensation, and +the time limit as regards the tenant's claims for improvements was +abolished, the basis for compensation for all improvements recognized +by the Act being laid down as 'the value of the improvement to an +incoming tenant'. Improvements for which compensation could be claimed +were again divided into three classes as before, but the drainage of +land was placed in the second class instead of the first, and so only +required notice to the landlord. This was the only improvement in the +second class; the other improvements which had been in the second +class in the Act of 1875 were now placed in the third, where no +consent or notice was required. + +The Act also effected three other important alterations in the law; +first, as to 'Notices to Quit', a year's notice being necessary where +half a year's notice had been sufficient, though this section might be +excluded by agreement; secondly, after January 1, 1885, the landlord +could only distrain for one year's rent instead of six years as +formerly; and thirdly, as to fixtures. These formerly became the +property of the landlord on the determination of the tenancy, but by +14 & 15 Vict. c. 25 an agricultural tenant was enabled to remove +fixtures put up by him with the consent of his landlord for +agricultural purposes. Now all fixtures erected after the commencement +of the Act were the property of and removable by the tenant, but the +landlord might elect to purchase them. + +This Act was amended by the Act of 1900 (63 & 64 Vict. 50), and has +been much altered by the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1906 (6 Edw. +VII, c. 56), which has treated the landlord with a degree of severity, +which considering the excellent relations that have for the most part +existed between English landlords and tenants for generations, is +utterly unwarranted. In several respects indeed he has been treated by +the Act as if the land did not belong to him, while freedom of +contract, until recent years one of the most cherished principles of +our law, is arbitrarily interfered with. The chief alterations made by +the Act of 1906 were:-- + +1. _Improvements._--By the Act of 1883, in the valuation for +improvements under the first schedule, such part of the improvement as +is justly due to the inherent capabilities of the soil was not +credited to the tenant This provision is repealed by the Act of 1906, +in reference to which it must be said that the latent fertility of the +soil, sometimes very considerable, may be developed by a small outlay +on the part of the tenant for which outlay he is certainly entitled to +compensation. But the greater part of the improvement may be due to +the soil which belongs to the landlord, yet the Act credits the tenant +with the whole of this improvement. An addition is made to the list of +improvements which a tenant may make without his landlord's consent +and for which he is entitled on quitting to compensation, viz. repairs +to buildings, being buildings necessary for the proper working of the +holding, other than repairs which the tenant is obliged to execute. + +2. _Damage by Game._ A tenant may now claim compensation for damage to +crops by deer, pheasants, partridges, grouse, and black game. + +3. _Freedom of Cropping and Disposal of Produce._ Prior to this Act it +had been the custom for generations to insert covenants in agreements +providing for the proper cultivation of the farm; as, for instance, +forbidding the removal from the holding of hay, straw, roots, green +crops, and manure made on the farm. These and other covenants were +merely in the interests of good farming, and to prevent the soil +deteriorating. In recent times vexatious covenants formerly inserted +had practically disappeared, and where still existing were seldom +enforced. By this Act, notwithstanding any custom of the country or +any contract or agreement, the tenant may follow any system of +cropping, and dispose of any of his produce as he pleases, but after +so doing he must make suitable and adequate provision to protect the +farm from injury thereby: a proviso vague and difficult to enforce, +and not sufficient to prevent an unscrupulous tenant greatly injuring +his farm. + +4. _Compensation for unreasonable disturbance._ If a landlord without +good cause, and for reasons inconsistent with good estate management, +terminates a tenancy by notice to quit; or refuses to grant a renewal +of the tenancy if so requested at least one year before the expiration +thereof; or if a tenant quits his holding in consequence of a demand +by the landlord for an increased rent, such demand being due to an +increased value in the holding owing to improvements done by the +tenant; in either of such events the tenant is entitled to +compensation. + +This compensation for disturbance is in direct opposition to the +recommendation of the Commission of 1894,[676] and seems to be an +unwarrantable interference with the owner's management of his own +land. + +Another benefit, and one long needed, was conferred on farmers by the +Ground Game Act of 1880, 43 & 44 Vict., c. 47. Before the Act the +tenant had by common law the exclusive right to the game, including +hares and rabbits, unless it was reserved to the landlord, which was +usually the case. By this Act the right to kill ground game, which +often worked terrible havoc in the tenant's crops, was rendered +inseparable from the occupation of the land, though the owner may +reserve to himself a concurrent right. One consequence of this Act has +been that the hare has disappeared from many parts of England. + +The greatest improvement in implements during this period was in the +direction of reaping and mowing machines, which have now attained a +high degree of perfection. As early as 1780 the Society of Arts +offered a gold medal for a reaping machine, but it was not till 1812 +that John Common of Denwick, Northumberland, invented a machine which +embodied all the essential principles of the modern reaper. Popular +hostility to the machine was so great that Common made his early +trials by moonlight, and he ceased from working on them.[677] His +machine was improved by the Browns of Alnwick, who sold some numbers +in 1822, and shortly afterwards emigrated to Canada taking with them +models of Common's reapers. McCormick, the reputed inventor of the +reaping machine, knew the Browns, and obtained from them a model of +Common's machine which was almost certainly the father of the famous +machine exhibited by him at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Various +other inventors have assisted in improving this implement, and in 1873 +the first wire binder was exhibited in Europe by the American, W.A. +Wood, wire soon giving place to string owing to the outcry of farmers +and millers. The self-binding reaper is the most ingenious of +agricultural machines, and has been of enormous benefit to farmers in +saving labour. Though the hay-tedding machine was invented in 1814 it +is only during the last thirty years that its use has become common, +the spread of the mowing machine making it a necessity, cutting the +grass so fast that only a very large number of men with the old forks +could keep up with it. The tedder also rendered raking by hand too +slow, and the horse-rake, patented first in 1841, has immensely +improved in the last thirty years. + +Another enormous labour saver is the hay and straw elevator, having +endless chains furnished with carrying forks at intervals of a few +feet, driven by horse gear. The steam cultivator invented by John +Fowler is much used, but cannot be said to have superseded the +ordinary working stock of the farm, though for deep ploughing on large +farms of heavy land it is invaluable. Improvements in dairying +appliances have also been great, but the English farmer has generally +fought shy of factories or creameries, so that his butter still lacks +the uniform quality of his foreign rivals. + +In manures the most important innovation in the last generation has +been the constantly growing use of basic slag, formerly left neglected +at the pit mouth and now generally recognized as a wonderful producer +of clover. + +Most of the suggestions of the Commission of 1879 were carried into +effect. Rents were largely reduced, so that between 1880 and 1884 the +annual value of agricultural land in England sank £5,750,000.[678] +Grants were made by the Government in aid of local burdens, cottages +were improved although the landowners' capital was constantly +dwindling, Settled Land Acts assisted the transfer of limited estates, +a Minister of Agriculture was appointed in 1889, and in 1891 the +payment of the tithe was transferred from the tenant to the landlord, +which generally meant that the whole burden was now borne by the +latter. + +Still foreign imports continued to pour in and prices to fall. Wheat +land, which was subject to the fiercest competition, began to be +converted to other uses, and between 1878 and 1907 had fallen in +England from 3,041,214 acres to 1,537,208, most of it being converted +to pasture or 'tumbling down' to grass, while a large quantity was +used for oats. The price of live stock was now falling greatly before +increasing imports of live animals and dead meat, while cheese, +butter, wool, and fruit were also pouring in. Farming, too, was now +suffering from a new enemy, gambling in farm produce, which began to +show itself about 1880 and has since materially contributed to +lowering prices.[679] The enormous gold premium in the Argentine +Republic, with the steady fall in silver, was another factor. As Mr. +Prothero says, 'Enterprise gradually weakened, landlords lost their +ability to help, and farmers their recuperative power. The capital +both of landlords and tenants was so reduced that neither could afford +to spend an unnecessary penny. Land deteriorated in condition, +drainage was practically discontinued ... less cake and less manure +were bought, labour bills were reduced, and the number of males +employed in farming dwindled as the wheat area contracted.'[680] The +year 1893 was remarkable for a prolonged drought in the spring; from +March 2 to May 14 hardly any rain fell, and live stock were much +reduced in quality from the parching of the herbage, while in many +parts the difficulty of supplying them with water was immense. + +In the same year another Commission on Agriculture was appointed, +whose description of the condition of agriculture was a lamentable +one. The Commission in their final report[681] stated that the seasons +since 1882 had on the whole been satisfactory from an agricultural +point of view, and the evidence brought forward showed that the +existing depression was to be mainly attributed to the fall in prices +of farm produce. This fall had been most marked in the case of grain, +particularly wheat, and wool also had fallen heavily. It was not +surprising therefore to find that the arable counties[682] had +suffered most; in counties where dairying, market gardening, poultry +farming, and other special industries prevailed the distress was less +acute, but no part of the country could be said to have escaped. In +north Devon, noted for stock rearing, rents had only fallen 10 to 15 +per cent. since 1881, and in many cases there had been no reduction at +all. In Herefordshire and Worcestershire good grass lands, hop lands, +and dairy farms had maintained their rents in many instances, and the +reductions had apparently seldom exceeded 15 per cent.; on the heavy +arable lands, however, the reduction was from 20 to 40 per cent. + +In Cheshire, devoted mainly to dairying, there had been no general +reduction of rent, though there had been remissions, and in some cases +reductions, of 10 per cent. + +In fact, grazing and dairy lands, which comprise so large an area of +the northern and western counties, were not badly affected, though the +depreciation in the value of live stock and the fall in wool had +considerably diminished farm profits and rents. But of the eastern +counties, those in which there are still large quantities of arable +land, a different tale was told. In Essex much of the clay land was +going out of cultivation; many farms, after lying derelict for a few +years, were let as grass runs for stock at a nominal rent The rent of +an estate near Chelmsford of 1,418 acres had fallen from £1,314 in +1879 to £415 in 1892, or from 18s. 6d. an acre to 5s. 10d.[683] The +net rental of another had fallen from £7,682 in 1881 to £2,224 in +1892, and the landlord's income from his estate of 13,009 acres in +1892-3 was 1s. an acre. The balance sheet of the estate for the same +year is an eloquent example of the landowner's profits in these +depressed times[684]: + + 11:12 AM 7/25/2005RECEIPTS. + £ s. d. + + Tithe received 798 5 9 + Cottage rents 495 8 6 + Garden " 213 5 10 + Estate " 7,452 14 8 + Tithes refunded by tenants 530 15 2 + -------------- + £9,490 9 11 + ============== + + PAYMENTS. + £ s. d. + + Tithe, rates and taxes 2,964 1 9 + Rent-charge and fee farm rents 179 0 4 + Gates and fencing 8 7 8 + Estate repairs and buildings 4,350 12 8 + Draining 170 6 1 + Brickyard 170 1 8 + Management 936 14 7 + Insurances 58 11 5 + Balance profit 652 13 9 + --------------- + £9,490 9 11 + =============== + +In the great agricultural county of Lincoln rents had fallen from 30 +to 75 per cent.[685] The average amount realized on an acre of wheat +had fallen from £10 6s. 3d. in 1873-7 to £2 18s. 11d. in 1892[686]; +and the fall in the price of cattle between 1882 and 1893 was a little +over 30 per cent. Many of the large farmers in Lincolnshire before +1875 had lived in considerable comfort and even luxury, as became men +who had invested large sums, sometimes £20,000, in their business. +They had carriages, hunters, and servants, and gave their children an +excellent start in life. But all this was changed; a day's hunting +occasionally was the utmost they could afford, and wives and daughters +took the work from the servants. The small farmers had suffered more +than the large ones, and the condition of the small freeholders was +said to be deplorable; a fact to be noted by those who think small +holdings a panacea for distress.[687] + +Even near Boston, where the soil is favourable for market gardening, +the evidence of the small holder was 'singularly unanimous' as to +their unfortunate condition. The small occupiers were better off than +the freeholders, because their rents had been reduced and they could +leave their farms if they did not pay; but their position was very +unsatisfactory. From the evidence given to the assistant commissioner +it is clear that the small occupier and freeholder could only get on +by working harder and living harder than the labourer. 'We all live +hard and never see fresh meat,' said one. 'We can't afford butcher's +meat,' said another. Another said, 'In the summer I work from 4 a.m. +to 8 p.m., and often do not take more than an hour off for meals. That +is penal servitude, except you have your liberty. A foreman who earns +£1 a week is better off than I am. He has no anxiety, and not half the +work.' These instances could be multiplied many times, so that it is +not surprising that the children of these men have flocked to the +towns. + +In Norfolk, 'twenty or thirty years ago, no class connected with the +land held their heads higher' than the farmers. Many of them owned the +whole or a part of the land they farmed, and lived in good style. All +this was now largely changed. 'The typical Norfolk farmer of to-day is +a harassed and hardworking man,' engaged in the struggle to make both +ends meet. Many were ruined. + +However, there were farmers who, by skill, enterprise, and careful +management, made their business pay even in these times, such as the +tenant of the farm at Papplewick in Nottinghamshire who gained the +first prize in the Royal Agricultural Society's farm competition in +1888.[688]. This farm consisted of 522 acres, of which only 61 were +grass, but chiefly owing to the trouble taken in growing fine root +crops, a large number of live stock were annually purchased and sold +off, the following balance sheet showing a profit of £3 1s. 0d. per +acre: + + DR. £ + + Rent, tithes, rates, taxes, &c. 278 + Wages 387 + Purchase of cake, corn, seeds, manure, &c. 688 + Purchase of live stock 2,654 + ----- + £4,007 + Profit 1,589 + ------ + £5,596 + ====== + + CR. £ + + Corn, hay, potatoes, and like product sold 655 + Live stock, poultry, dairy produce, and wool sold 4,941 + ------ + £5,596 + ====== + +The reductions of rents in various counties were estimated thus[689]: + + Per cent. Per cent. + + Northumberland 20 to 25 Hereford 20 to 30 + Cumberland 20 to 40 Somerset 20 to 40 + York 10 to 50 Oxford 25 to 50 + Lancaster 5 to 30 Suffolk up to 70 + Stafford 10 to 25 Essex 25 to 100 + Leicester 40 Kent 15 to 100 + Nottingham 14 to 50 Hants 25 to 100 + Warwick 25 to 60 Wilts 10 to 75 + Huntington 40 to 50 Devon 10 to 25 + Derby 14 to 25 Cornwall 10 to 100 + +This large reduction in the rent rolls of landowners has materially +affected their position and weakened their power. Many, indeed, have +been driven from their estates, while others can only live on them by +letting the mansion house and the shooting, and occupying some small +house on the lands they are reluctant to leave. The agricultural +depression, which set in about 1875, may in short be said to have +effected a minor social revolution, and to have completed the ruin of +the old landed aristocracy as a class. The depreciation of their +rents may be judged from the following figures[690]: + + Gross annual value of lands, including + tithes, under Schedule A in England. Decrease. + + 1879-80 1893-4 Amount. Per cent. + £ £ £ + + 48,533,340 36,999,846 11,533,494 23.7 + +These figures, however, are far from indicating the full extent of +the decline in the rental value of purely agricultural land, as they +include ornamental grounds, gardens, and other properties, and do not +take into account temporary remissions of rent. Sir James Caird, as +early as 1886, estimated the average reduction on agricultural rents +at 30 per cent. + +The loss in the capital value of land has inevitably been great from +this reduction in rents, and has been aggravated by the fact that the +confidence of the public in agricultural land as an investment has +been much shaken. In 1875 thirty years' purchase on the gross annual +value of land was the capital value, in 1894 only eighteen years' +purchase; and whereas the capital value of land in the United Kingdom +was in 1875 £2,007,330,000, in 1894 it was £1,001,829,212, a decrease +of 49.6 per cent. Moreover, landlords have incurred increased +expenditure on repairs, drainage, and buildings, and taxation has +grown enormously. On the occupiers of land the effect of the +depression was no less serious, their profits having fallen on an +average 40 per cent.[691] Occupying owners had suffered as much as any +other class, both yeomen who farmed considerable farms and small +freeholders. Many of the former had bought land in the good times when +land was dear and left a large portion of the purchase money on +mortgage, with the result that the interest on the mortgage was now +more than the rent of the land.[692] + +They were thus worse off than the tenant farmer, for they paid a +higher rent in the shape of interest; moreover, they could not leave +their land, for it could only be sold at a ruinous loss. The +'statesmen' of Cumberland were weighed down by the same burdens and +their disappearance furthered; for instance, in the parish of Abbey +Quarter, between 1780 and 1812 their number decreased from 51 to 38. +By 1837 it was 30; by 1864, 21; and in 1894 only 9 remained. + +The small freeholders were also largely burdened with mortgages, and +even in the Isle of Axholme were said to have suffered more than any +other class; largely because of their passion for acquiring land at +high prices, leaving most of the purchase money on mortgage, and +starting with insufficient capital. + +As regards the agricultural labourer, the chief effect of the +depression had been a reduction of the number employed and a +consequent decrease in the regularity of employment. [693] + +Their material condition had everywhere improved, though there were +still striking differences in the wages paid in different parts; and +the improvement, though partly due to increased earnings, was mainly +attributable to the cheapening of the necessaries of life.[694] The +great majority of ordinary labourers were hired by the week, except +those boarded in the farm-house, who were generally hired by the year. +Men, also, who looked after the live stock were hired by the year. +Weekly wages ranged from 10s. in Wilts, and Dorset to 18s. in +Lancashire, and averaged 13s. 6d. for the whole country. + +The fall in the prices of agricultural produce is best represented in +tabular form: + + TRIENNIAL AVERAGE OF BRITISH + WHEAT, BARLEY, AND OATS PER QUARTER. + + Wheat. Barley. Oats. + s. d. s. d. s. d. + + 1876-8 49 9 38 4 25 6 + 1893-5 24 1 24 0 16 9 + +Thus wheat had fallen 53 per cent., barley 37, and oats 34. + + TRIENNIAL AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CATTLE, + PER STONE OF 8 LB. + + Inferior quality. Second quality. First quality. + + s. d. s. d. s. d. + + 1876-8 4 5 5 6 6 0 + 1893-5 2 8 4 0 4 7 + +Or a fall of 24 per cent. in the best quality, and 40 per cent. in +inferior grades. + +The decline in the prices of all classes of sheep amounted on the +average to from so to 30 per cent., and in the price of wool of from +40 to 50 per cent.; that is, from an average of 1s. 6d. a lb. in +1874-6, to a little over 9d. in 1893-5. + +Milk, butter, and cheese were stated to have fallen from 25 to 33 per +cent. between 1874 and 1891, and there had been a further fall since. +In districts, however, near large towns there had been much less +reduction in the price of milk. + +This general fall in prices seems to have been directly connected with +the increase of foreign competition.[695] Wheat has been most affected +by this development, and at the date of the Commission the home +production had sunk to 25 per cent. of the total quantity needed for +consumption. Other home-grown cereals had not been similarly +displaced, but the large consumption of maize had affected the price +of feeding barley and oats. As regards meat, while foreign beef and +mutton had seriously affected the price of inferior British grades, +the influence on superior qualities had been much less marked. Foreign +competition had been, on the whole, perhaps more severe in pork than +in other classes of meat, but had been confined mainly to bacon and +hams. + +The successful competition of the foreigner in our butter and cheese +markets was attributed mainly to the fact that the dairy industry is +better organized abroad than in Great Britain. + +The Commission found that another cause of the depression was the +increased cost of production, not so much from the increase of wages, +as from the smaller amount of work done for a given sum. Where wages +in the previous twenty years had remained stationary, the cost of work +had increased because the labourer did not work so hard or so well as +his forefathers. + +The following table[696] is a striking proof of the increased ratio of +the cost of labour to gross profits: + + Ratio of + Average cost of + Acreage Period Average annual Average labour + of of gross cost of cost per to gross + County. farm. acct. profit. labour. acre. profits. + + £ s. d. £ s. d. s. d. Per cent. + + Suffolk 590 1839-43 1,577 13 3 773 11 0 26 2 49.03 + 1863-67 1,545 0 9 836 9 0 28 4 54.07 + 1871-75 1,725 0 1 1,026 14 8 35 2 59.48 + 1890-94 728 10 5 973 1 5 33 0 133.50 + +On a farm in Wilts., between 1858 and 1893, the ratio of the cost of +labour to gross profits had increased from 47.0 per cent. to 88.3 per +cent.; on one in Hampshire, between 1873 and 1890, from 44.4 per +cent. to 184.3 per cent.; and many similar instances are given, +illustrating very forcibly the economic revolution which has led to +the transfer of a larger share of the produce of the land to the +labourer. + +On the other hand, this Commission found, like the last, that the +farmer had derived considerable benefit from the decrease in cost of +cake and artificial manure, while the low price of corn had led to +its being largely used in place of linseed and cotton cakes. + +Before leaving the subject of this famous Commission it is well to +state the answer of Sir John Lawes, than whom there was no higher +authority, to the oft-repeated assertion that high farming would +counteract low prices. 'The result of all our experiments,' he said, +'is that the reverse is the case. As you increase your crops so each +bushel after a certain amount costs you more and more ... the last +bushel always costs you more than all the others.' As prices went +lower 'we must contract our farming to what I should call the average +of the seasons'; and in the corn districts, the higher the farmer had +farmed his land by adding manure the worse had been the financial +results.[697] + +In 1896 the injustice of the incidence of rates on agricultural land +was partly remedied, the occupier being relieved of half the rates on +the land apart from the buildings, which Act was continued in +1901.[698] But the system is still inequitable, for a farmer who pays +a rent of £240 a year even now probably pays more rates than the +occupier of a house rated at £120 a year. Yet the farmer's income +would very likely not be more than £200 a year, whereas the occupier +of the house rated at £120 might have an income of £2,000 a year. + +In 1901 and 1902 Mr. Rider Haggard, following in the footsteps of +Young, Marshall, and Caird, made an agricultural tour through England. +He considered that, after foreign competition, the great danger to +English farming was the lack of labour,[699] for young men and women +were everywhere leaving the country for the towns, attracted by the +nominally high wages, often delusive, and by the glamour of the +pavement. Yet the labourer has come better out of the depression of +the last generation than either landowner or farmer: he is better +housed, better fed, better clothed, better paid, but filled with +discontent. Since Mr. Haggard wrote, however, there seems to be a +reaction, small indeed but still marked, against the townward +movement, and in most places the supply of labour is sufficient. The +quality, however, is almost universally described as inferior; the +labourer takes no pride in his work, and good hedgers, thatchers, +milkers, and men who understand live stock are hard to obtain[700]; +and the reason for this is in large measure due to the modern system +of education which keeps a boy from farm work until he is too old to +take to it. His wages to-day in most parts are good; near +manufacturing towns the ordinary farm hand is paid from 18s. to 20s. a +week with extras in harvest, and in purely agricultural districts from +13s. to 15s. a week, often with a cottage rent free at the lower +figure. His cottage has improved vastly, especially on large estates, +though often leaving much to be desired, and the rent usually paid is +£4 or £5 a year, rising to £7 and £8 near large towns. The wise custom +of giving him a garden has spread, and is nearly always found to be +much more helpful than an allotment. The superior or more skilled +workmen,[701] such as the wagoner, stockman, or shepherd, earns in +agricultural counties like Herefordshire from 14s. to 18s. a week, and +in manufacturing counties like Lancashire from 20s. to 22s. a week, +with extras such as 3d. a lamb in lambing time. At the lower wages he +often has a cottage and garden rent free. + +The improved methods of cutting and harvesting crops have so enabled +the farmer to economize labour that the once familiar figure of the +Irish labourer with his knee-breeches and tall hat, who came over for +the harvest, has almost disappeared. Women, who formerly shared with +the men most of the farm work, now are little seen in most parts of +England at work in the fields, and are better occupied in attending to +their homes. + +The divorce of the labourer from the land by enclosure had early +exercised men's minds, and many efforts were made to remedy this. +About 1836 especially, several landowners in various parts of England +introduced allotments, and the movement spread rapidly, so that in +1893 the Royal Commission on Labour stated that in most places the +supply was equal to or in excess of the demand.[702] However, previous +Allotments and Small Holdings Acts not being considered so successful +as was desired, in 1907 an effort was made to give more effect to the +cry of 'back to the land' by a Small Holdings and Allotments Act[703] +which enables County Councils to purchase land by agreement or take it +on lease, and, if unable to acquire it by agreement, to do so +compulsorily, in order to provide small holdings for persons desiring +to lease them. The County Council may also arrange with any Borough +Council or Urban District Council to act as its agent in providing and +managing small holdings. The duty of supplying allotments rests in the +first instance with the Rural Parish Councils, though if they do not +take proper steps to provide allotments, the County Council may itself +provide them. + +It is a praiseworthy effort, though marked by arbitrary methods and +that contempt for the rights of property, provided it belongs to some +one else, that is a characteristic of to-day. That it will succeed +where the small holder has some other trade, and in exceptionally +favoured situations, is very probable; most of the small holders who +were successful before the Act had something to fall back upon: they +were dealers, hawkers, butchers, small tradesmen, &c. There is no +doubt, too, that an allotment helps both the town artisan and the +country labourer to tide over slack times. Whether it will succeed in +planting a rural population on English soil is another matter. It is a +consummation devoutly to be wished, for a country without a sound +reserve of healthy country-people is bound to deteriorate. The small +holder, pure and simple, without any by-industry, has hitherto only +been able to keep his head above water by a life which without +exaggeration may be called one of incessant toil and frequent +privation, such a life as the great mass of our 'febrile factory +element' could not endure. And if there is one tendency more marked +than another in the history of English agriculture, it is the +disappearance of the small holding. In the Middle Ages it is probable +that the average size of a man's farm was 30 acres, with its attendant +waste and wood; since then amalgamation has been almost constant. + +It is true that the occupier of a few acres often brings to bear on it +an amount of industry which is greater in proportion than that +bestowed on a large farm; but the large farmer has, as Young pointed +out long ago, very great advantages. He is nearly always a man of +superior intelligence and training. He has more capital, and can buy +and sell in the best markets; he can purchase better stock, and save +labour and the cost of production by using the best machinery. By +buying in large quantities he gets manures, cakes, seeds, &c., better +and cheaper than the small holder. + +Besides the small holders who have outside industries to fall back +upon, those who are aided by some exceptionally favourable element in +the soil or climate, or proximity to good markets, should do well. Yet +in the Isle of Axholme, the paradise of small holders, we have seen +that the Commission of 1894 reported that distress was severe. This, +however, seems to have been largely due to the exaggerated land-hunger +in the good times, which induced the tenants to buy lands at too high +a price; and under normal conditions, such as they are now returning +to, the tenants seem to thrive. In this district the preference for +ownership as opposed to tenancy is, in spite of recent experiences, +unqualified, though it is admitted that the best way is to begin by +renting and save enough to buy.[704] The soil is peculiarly favourable +to the production of celery and early potatoes; and large tracts of +land are divided into unfenced strips locally known as 'selions' of +from a quarter of an acre to 3 acres each, cultivated by men who live +in the villages, each having one or more strips, some as much as 20 +acres, and it is considered that 10 acres is the smallest area on +which a man can support a family without any other industry to help +him. + +Yet in the fen districts and on the marsh lands between Boston and the +east coast of Lincolnshire, where the land is naturally very +productive, many people are making livings out of 5 or 6 acres, mainly +by celery and early potatoes.[705] Other districts adapted naturally +to small holdings are those of Rock and Far Forest, the famous Vale of +Evesham, the Sandy and Biggleswade district of Bedfordshire; Upwey, +Dorset; Calstock and St. Dominick, Cornwall; Wisbech, Cambridgeshire; +and Tiptree, Essex. Apart, however, from by-industries, and +exceptional climate, soil, and situation, the small holding for the +purpose of raising corn and meat, as distinguished from that which is +devoted to dairying, fruit-growing, and market gardening, does not +seem to-day to have much chance of success. If farms were still +self-sufficing, and simply provided food and clothing for the farmer, +the small producer even of corn and meat might do as well as the +larger farmer on a lower scale, but such conditions have gone; all +holdings now are chiefly manufactories of food, and the smaller +manufactory has little chance in competition with the greater. + +The example of foreign countries is usually held up to Englishmen in +this connexion, and the argument naturally used is that 'if small +holdings answer in France and Belgium, why can they not do so in +England?' On this point the testimony of Sir John Lawes is worth +quoting.[706] 'In most, if not in all continental countries' he says, +'the success of small holdings depends very materially on whether or +not the soil and the climate are suitable for what may be called +industrial crops: such as tobacco, hops, sugar beet, colza, flax, +hemp, grapes, and other fruit and vegetables; where these conditions +do not exist the condition of the cultivators is such _as would not be +tolerated in this country_.' That is the reason probably why small +holdings, apart from exceptional conditions, do not answer in England; +the Englishman of to-day is not anxious to face the hard and grinding +conditions under which the continental small holder lives. + +Since Mr. Haggard's tour the black clouds which have so long lowered +over agriculture have shown signs of lifting. Rents have been adjusted +to a figure at which the farmer has some chance of competing with the +foreigner,[707] though the price of grain keeps wretchedly low; stock +has improved, and there is undoubtedly to-day (1908) a brisker demand +for farms, and in some localities rents have even advanced slightly. +The yeoman--that is, the man who owns and farms his own land, perhaps +the most sound and independent class in the community--has, +unfortunately for England, largely disappeared. Even of those who +remain, some prefer to let their property and rent holdings from +others! It has been noticed that the labourer's lot has improved in +this generation of adversity; and well it might, for his previous +condition was miserable in the extreme. The farmers have suffered +severely, many losing all their capital and becoming farm labourers. +The landlords have suffered most; they have not been able to throw up +their land like the farmer, and until quite recently have watched it +becoming poorer and poorer. The depression, in short, has driven from +their estates many who had owned them for generations. Those who have +survived have usually been men with incomes from other sources than +land, and they have generally deserved well of their country by +keeping their estates in good condition in spite of falling rents and +increasing taxation. + +No class of men, indeed, have been more virulently and consistently +abused than the landlords of England, and none with less justice. +There have been many who have forgotten that property has its duties +as well as its rights; they have erred like other men, but as a rule +they play their part well. Even the worst are to some extent obliged +by their very position to be public spirited, for the mere possession +of an estate involves the employment of a number of people in healthy +outdoor occupations which Englishmen to-day so especially need to +counteract the degenerating influences of town life. Many of the great +estates[708] are carried on at a positive loss to their owners, and it +may be doubted whether agricultural property pays the possessor a +return of 2 per cent. per annum; which is as much as to say that the +landlord furnishes the tenant with capital in the form of land at that +rate for the purpose of his business. What other class is content with +such a scanty return? They are often charged with not managing their +estates on business principles, and no charge is worse founded. It +would be a sad day for the tenants on many an estate if they were +managed on commercial lines. One of the first results would be that +many properties would be given up as a dead loss. They could only be +made to pay by raising the rents or cutting down the ever-recurring +expenditure on repairs and buildings which are necessary for the +welfare of the tenants. The Duke of Bedford, in his _Story of a Great +Estate_, has said that the rent has completely disappeared from three +of his estates. On the Thorney and Woburn estates over £750,000 was +spent on new works and permanent improvements alone between 1816 and +1895, and the result, owing to agricultural depression and increased +burdens on the land, was a net loss of £7,000 a year; and every one +with any knowledge of the management of land knows that this is no +isolated case, though it may be on an exceptionally large scale. Where +would many tenants be if commercial principles ruled on rent audit +days? The larger English landlords of to-day are as a rule not +dependent on their rent rolls. To their great advantage, and to the +advantage of their tenants, they generally own other property, so that +they need not regard the land as a commercial investment. They can +therefore support the necessary outlay on a large estate, the capital +expenditure on improvements of all kinds, and thus relieve the tenant +of any expense of this kind. The farms are let at moderate, not rack +rents, such as the tenants can easily pay. Also the landlord can make +large reductions of rent in years of exceptional distress.[709] Rents +are generally collected three months after they are due, a +considerable concession; and even then arrears are numerous, for any +reasonable excuse for being behind with the rent is generously +listened to. It is owing to forbearance in this and other matters that +the relations between landlord and tenant are generally excellent. +Where are the best farm buildings, where the best cottages, where does +the owner carry on a home farm often for the assistance of the tenant +by letting him have the use of entire horses, well-bred bulls, and +rams, if not on the larger estates? The restrictions in leases, so +much decried of late years, were nearly always in the interest of good +farming, and their abolition will lead to the deterioration of many a +holding. + +Bacon said, 'Where men of great wealth do stoop to husbandry, it +multiplieth riches exceedingly' and wiser words were never uttered. +Yet these are the men who are singled out for attack by agitators, who +are only listened to because the greater number of modern Englishmen +are ignorant of the land and everything connected with it. At a time +when rents have dwindled, in some cases almost to vanishing point, +taxation has increased, and confiscatory schemes and meddlesome +restrictions have frightened away capital from the land. Many of the +landlords of England would clearly gain by casting off the burden of +their heavily weighted property, but they nearly all stick nobly to +their duty, and hope for that restoration of confidence in the +sanctity of property and of respect for freedom of contract which +would do so much towards the rehabilitation of what is still the +greatest and most important industry in the country. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[665] And an ever increasing burden of taxation. + +[666] See Appendix III. + +[667] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1881, pp. 142, 199. + +[668] _Parliamentary Reports of Commissioners_, 1882, xiv. pp. 9 sq. + +[669] _Parliamentary Reports of Commissioners_, 1882, xiv. 14. + +[670] The rise between 1857 and 1878 has been estimated at 20 per +cent., and between 1867 and 1877 at 11-1/2 per cent. Hasbach, _op. +cit._, p. 291. + +[671] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1890, p. 324. + +[672] See infra, p. 330. + +[673] _Rural Economy of Southern Counties_, i. 285-6. + +[674] _Victoria County History: Hereford, Agriculture_. + +[675] In one respect the Act of 1883 restricted the rights of tenants +to compensation, for while the Act of 1875 had expressly reserved the +rights of the parties under 'custom of the country', the Act of 1883 +provided that a tenant 'shall not claim compensation by custom or +otherwise than in manner authorized by this Act for any improvement +for which he is entitled to compensation under this Act' (§ 57). + +[676] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 96. + +[677] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (1892), p. 63. + +[678] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (1901), p. 33. Cf. infra, p. 310. + +[679] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (1893), p. 286; (1894), p. 677. Sometimes to +artificially raising them. + +[680] Ibid. (1901), p. 34. + +[681] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. + +[682] Broadly speaking, the arable section, or eastern group, included +the counties of Bedford, Berks., Bucks, Cambridge, Essex, Hants, +Hertford, Huntingdon, Kent, Leicester, Lincoln, Middlesex, Norfolk, +Northampton, Notts, Oxford, Rutland, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Warwick, +and the East Riding of York; the grass section, or western group, +included the remaining counties. + +[683] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1894), xvi. (1), App. B. +ii. + +[684] Ibid. App. B. iii. + +[685] Ibid. (1895), xvi. 169. + +[686] Ibid. p. 164. + +[687] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1895), xvi. 187-8. + +[688] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (2nd ser.), xxiv. 538 + +[689] Ibid. (1894), p. 681. + +[690] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 22. Cf. p. +319 n. + +[691] Ibid. pp. 30-1. + +[692] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 31. + +[693] Ibid. p. 37: + + NUMBER OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS + IN ENGLAND AND WALES. + + 1871. 1881. 1891. 1901. + + 996,642 890,174 798,912 595,702 + +The figures for 1901 are from Summary Tables, _Parliamentary Blue +Book_ (C, d. 1, 523), p. 202, Table xxxvi. + +[694] According to the Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, +1893-4, the labourer was 'better fed, better dressed, his education +and language improved, his amusements less gross, his cottage +generally improved, though generally on small estates there were many +bad ones still'.--_Parliamentary Reports_, 1893, xxxv. Index 5 et seq. + +[695] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 53, 85. Sir +Robert Giffen suggested that the decline in the price of wheat pay be +partly attributed to the great increase in the supply and consumption +of meat. + +[696] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. App. iii. +Table viii. From an examination of the accounts of seventy-seven +farms, the average expenditure on labour was found to be 31.4 per +cent. of the total outlay. + +[697] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 106. But see +above, p. 271. + +[698] 59 & 60 Vict., c. 16; I Edw. VII, c. 13. + +[699] _Rural England_, ii. 539. Yet the census returns of 1871, 1881, +and 1891 gave no support to the idea that _young_ men were leaving +agriculture for the towns. See _Parl. Reports_ (1893), xxxviii. (2) +33. + +[700] The author speaks from information derived from answers to +questions addressed to landowners, farmers, and agents in many parts +of England, to whom he is greatly indebted. + +[701] It is, however, a fallacy to assume, as is nearly always done, +that the ordinary farm labourer, at all events of the old type, is +unskilled. A good man, who can plough well, thatch, hedge, ditch, and +do the innumerable tasks required on a farm efficiently, is a much +more skilled worker than many who are so called in the towns. + +[702] _Parl. Reports_ (1893), xxxv. Index. + +[703] 7 Edw. VII, c. 54, amending the Allotments Acts of 1887 and 1890 +and the Small Holdings Act of 1892. The Allotments Act of 1887 defined +an 'allotment' as any parcel of land of not more than 2 acres held by +a tenant under a landlord; but for the purposes of the Acts of 1892 +and 1907 a 'small holding' means an agricultural holding which exceeds +one acre and either does not exceed 50 acres or, if exceeding 50 +acres, is of an annual value not exceeding £50. At the same time the +Act defines an allotment as a holding of any size up to 5 acres, so +that up to that size a parcel of land may be treated as a small +holding or an allotment. + +[704] Jebb, _Small Holdings_, p. 25. + +[705] Jebb, _op. cit._, p. 28. + +[706] _Allotments and Small Holdings_ (1892), p. 19 et seq. + +[707] The gross income derived from the ownership of lands in Great +Britain, as returned under Schedule A of the Income Tax, decreased +from £51,811,234 in 1876-7 to £36,609,884 in 1905-6. In 1850 Caird +estimated the rental of English land, exclusive of Middlesex, at +£37,412,000. Cf. above, p. 310. + +[708] According to the Commission of 1894, the amount expended on +improvements and repairs alone on some great estates was: On Lord +Derby's, in Lancashire, of 43,217 acres, £200,000 in twelve years, or +£16,500, or 7s. 8d. an acre, each year. On Lord Sefton's, of 18,000 +acres, £286,000 in twenty-two years, or about £13,000, or 14s. an +acre, each year. On the Earl of Ancaster's estates in Lincolnshire, of +53,993 acres, £689,000 was spent in twelve years, or 11s. 7d. an acre +each year; and many similar instances are given.--_Parliamentary +Reports, Commissioners_ (1897), xv. 287-9. + +[709] Shaw Lefevre, _Agrarian Tenures_, p. 19. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.--LIVE STOCK + + +It is a curious fact that the barriers which protected the British +farmer were thrown down shortly before he became by unforeseen causes +exposed to the competition of the whole world. Down to 1846 Germany +supplied more than half the wheat that was imported into England, +Denmark sent more than Russia, and the United States hardly any. +Other competitors who have since arisen were then unknown. By the end +of the next decade Russia and the United States sent large +quantities, as may be gathered from the following table [710]: + + ANNUAL AVERAGE IMPORTS OF WHEAT AND FLOUR FOR + THE SEVEN YEARS 1859-1865. + Cwt. + + Russia 5,350,861 + Denmark and the Duchies 969,890 + Germany 6,358,229 + France 3,828,691 + Spain 331,463 + Wallachia and Moldavia 295,475 + Turkish dominions, not otherwise specified 528,568 + Egypt 1,423,193 + Canada 2,223,809 + United States 10,080,911 + Other countries 1,036,968 + +In the years 1871-5 the United States held the first place, Russia +came next, and Germany third with only about one-sixth of the +American imports, and Canada was running Germany close. Other +formidable competitors were now arising, and by 1901 the chief +importing countries[711] were: + + Cwt. + + Argentina 8,309,706 + Russia[712] 2,580,805 + United States of America 66,855,025 + Australia 6,197,019 + Canada 8,577,960 + India 3,341,500 + +Since then the imports of wheat and flour from the United States have +decreased, and in 1904 India took the first place, Russia the second, +Argentina the third, and the United States the fourth. However, in +1907 the United States sent more than any other country, followed by +Argentina, India, Canada, Russia, and Australia, in the order named. + +It is probable in the near future that the imports from the United +States will decline considerably, for in the last quarter of a +century its population has increased 68 per cent. and its wheat area +only 25 per cent. On the other hand, the population of Canada +increased 33 per cent. and her wheat area 158 per cent. in the same +time; while in Argentina an addition of 70 per cent. to the +population has been accompanied by an increase of the wheat area from +half a million to fourteen million acres. It is probable also that +India and Australia will continue to send large supplies, and there +are said to be vast wheat-growing tracts opened up by the Siberian +Railway, so that there seems little chance of wheat rising very much +in price for many years to come, apart from exceptional causes such +as bad seasons and 'corners'. + +McCulloch, writing in 1843,[713] says that, except Denmark and +Ireland, no country of Western Europe 'has been in the habit of +exporting cattle'. Danish cattle, however, could rarely be sold in +London at a profit, and Irish cattle alone disturbed the equanimity +of the English farmer. + +For a few years after the repeal of the corn laws and of the +prohibition of imports of live stock, the imports of live stock, meat, +and dairy produce were, except from Ireland, almost nil[714]; since +then they have increased enormously, and in 1907 the value of live +cattle, sheep, and pigs imported was £8,273,640, not so great, +however, as some years before, owing to restrictions imposed; but this +decrease has been made up by the increase in the imports of meat, +which in 1907 touched their highest figure of 18.751,555 cwt, valued +at the large sum of £41,697,905.[715] + +Forty years ago hardly any foreign butter or cheese was imported; +to-day it is perhaps no exaggeration to say that not one hundredth +part of the butter eaten in London is British; in 1907 the amount of +butter imported was 4,310,156 cwt., and of cheese, 2,372,233 cwt. The +increase in the imports was largely assisted by the fact that in the +last half of the nineteenth century English farmers had directed their +attention chiefly to meat-producing animals and neglected the milch +cow. However, of late years great efforts have been made to recover +lost ground, and in England the number of cows and heifers in milk or +in calf has increased from 1,567,789 in 1878 to 2,020,340 in 1906. + +The regulation of the imports and exports of live stock did not +concern the legislature so early as those of corn. One of the earliest +statutes on the subject is II Hen. VII, c. 13, which forbade the +export of horses and of mares worth more than 6s. 8d., because many +had been conveyed out of the land, so that there were few left for its +defence and the price of horses had been thereby increased. A +subsequent statute, 22 Hen. VIII, c. 7, says this law was disobeyed by +many who secretly exported horses, so it was enacted that no one +should export a horse without a licence; and 1 Edw. VI, c. 5, +continued this. But after this date the export of horses does not seem +to have occupied the attention of Parliament. + +22 Hen. VIII, c. 7, also forbade the export of cattle and sheep +without a licence because so many had been carried out of the realm +that victual was scarce and cattle dear. By 22 Car. II, c. 13, oxen +might be exported on payment of a duty of 1s. each, the last statute +on the subject. + +As for sheep, their export without the king's licence had been +forbidden by 3 Hen. VI, c. 2, because men had been in the habit of +taking them to Flanders and other countries, where they sheared them +and sold the wool and the mutton. 8 Eliz., c. 3, forbade their export, +and 13 and 14 Car. II, c. 18, declared the export of sheep and wool a +felony. + +The importation of cattle was forbidden by 15 Car. II, c. 7, which +stated that the 'comeing in of late of vast numbers of cattle already +fatted' had caused 'a very great part of the land of this kingdom to +be much fallen and like dayly to fall more in their rents and values'; +therefore every head of great cattle imported was to pay 20s. to the +king, 10s. to the informer, and 10s. to the poor after July 1, 1664. +By 18 Car. II, c. 2, the importation of cattle was declared a common +nuisance, and if any cattle, sheep, or swine were imported they were +to be seized and forfeited. By 32 Car. II, c. 2, this was made +perpetual and continued in force till 1842, though it was repealed as +to Ireland, as we have seen.[716] + +It appears from the laws dealing with the matter that in the time of +the Plantagenets England exported butter and cheese. In the reign of +Edward III they were merchandise of the staple, and therefore when +exported had to go to Calais when the staple was fixed there. This +caused great damage, it is said, to divers persons in England, for the +butter and cheese would not keep until buyers came; therefore 3 Hen. +VI, c 4, enacted that the chancellor might grant licence to export +butter and cheese to other places than to the staple. + +The regulation of the export of wool frequently occupied the attention +of Parliament It has been noticed[717] that the laws of Edgar fixed +its price for export, and Henry of Huntingdon mentions its export in +the twelfth century, while during the reign of Edward I it was for +some time forbidden except by licence, which led to its being smuggled +out in wine casks.[718] The _Hundred Rolls_ give the names of several +Italian merchants who were engaged in buying wool for export, the +ecclesiastical houses, especially the Cistercians, furnishing a great +quantity, and the chief port then for the wool trade was Boston, The +export was again prohibited in 1337, the great object being to make +the foreigner pay dearly for our staple product: an object which was +certainly effected, for when Queen Philippa redeemed her crown from +pawn at Cologne in 1342 by a quantity of English wool, 1s. 3-1/2d. a +lb. was the price, and it was even said to sell in Flanders at 3s. a +lb., a price which, expressed in modern money, seems fabulous.[719] +However, in the next reign English wool began to decline in price, +owing probably to changes in fashion, but the long wools maintained +their superiority and their export was forbidden by Henry VI and +Elizabeth.[720] + +In the reign of James I it was confessed 'that the cloth of this +kingdom hath wanted both estimation and vent in foreign parts, and +that the wools are fallen from their stated values', so that export +was prohibited entirely; and 13 and 14 Car. II, c. 18, declared the +export of wool a felony, though 7 and 8 Will. III, c. 28, says this +did not deter people from exporting it, so that the law was made more +stringent on the subject, and export continued to be forbidden until +1825.[721] In a letter written in 1677 the fall of rents in England, +which had caused the value of estates to sink from twenty-one to +sixteen or seventeen years' purchase, is ascribed mainly to the low +price of wool,[722] owing to the prohibition of export and increased +imports from Ireland and Spain. It was now, said the writer, worth 7d. +instead of 12d., and a great quantity of Spanish wool was being sold +in England at low rates. These 'low rates' were 2s. and 2s. 2d. a lb. +for the best wool, whereas in 1660 the best Spanish wool was 4s. and +4s. 2d. a lb. + +We have seen[723] that Spanish wool was imported into England in the +Middle Ages. In 1677, according to Smith,[724] England imported 2,000 +bags of 200 lb. each from Spain[725]; in the three years 1709-11, +14,000 bags; in the three years 1713-14, 20,000 bags; and about 1730 +some came from Jamaica, Maryland, and Virginia, and down to 1802 +imports were free.[726] In that year a duty of 5s. 3d. a cwt. was +imposed, which in 1819 was raised to 56s. a cwt., which, however, was +reduced to 1d. a lb. on 1s. wool and 1/2d. a lb. on wool under 1s. in +1824. In 1825 colonial wool was admitted free, and in 1844 the duty +taken off altogether, and imports from our colonies and foreign +countries soon assumed enormous proportions. Down to 1814 nearly all +our imports of wool came from Spain; after that the greater part came +from Germany and the East Indies; but Russia and India soon began to +send large quantities, and in recent times Australasia has been our +chief importer, in 1907 sending 321,470,554 lb., while New Zealand +sent 158,406,255 lb. out of a total import of 764,286,625 lb. About +1800 our imports of wool were 8,609,368 lb.![727] Of our enormous +imports of wool, however, a very large quantity is re-exported. + +In 1828 it was stated before the House of Lords that English wool had +deteriorated considerably during the previous thirty years, owing +chiefly to the farmer increasing the weight of the carcase and the +quantity of wool, so that fineness of fleece was injured. The great +extension of turnips and the introduction of a large breed of sheep +also appeared to have lessened the value of the fleece, yet English +wool to-day still commands a high price in comparison with that of +other countries, though the price in recent years has declined +greatly; in 1871 it was 1s. 5-1/2d. a lb., in 1872 1s. 9-1/2d., in +1873 1s. 7d. In 1907 Leicester wool was 12-1/2d., Southdown 14d. to +15d., and Lincoln 12d. a lb.; Australian at the same date being 11d., +and New Zealand 11-1/2d. + +The fruit-grower has also had to contend with an enormous foreign +supply, which nearly always has a better appearance than that grown in +these islands, though the quality is often inferior. In 1860 apples +were included with other raw fruits in the returns, so that the exact +figures are not given, but apparently about 500,000 cwt. came in; by +1903 this had increased to 4,569,546 bushels, and in 1907 3,526,232 +bushels arrived. Enormous foreign supplies of grapes, pears, plums, +cherries, and even strawberries have also combined to keep the home +price down. + +The decrease in the acreage of hops, from its maximum of 71,789 acres +in 1878 to 44,938 in 1907, was ascribed by the recent Commission to +the lessening demand for beer in England, the demand for lighter kinds +of beer, and the use of hop substitutes, and not to increase in +foreign competition; which the following figures seem to bear out: + + IMPORTS OF HOPS. + Cwt. + + 1861 149,176 + 1867 296,117 + 1869 322,515 + 1870 127,853 + 1875 256,444 + 1877 (the year before the record acreage planted) 250,039 + 1879 262,765 + 1903 113,998 + 1904 313,667 + 1905 108,953 + 1906 232,619 + 1907 202,324 + +In recent years they have been a loss to the grower; as the average +crop is a little under 9 cwt. per acre, and the total cost of growing +and marketing from £35 to £45 an acre, it is obvious that prices of +about £3 per cwt., which have ruled lately, are unremunerative. + +However disastrous to the farmer and landowner, the increased +quantities and low prices of food thus obtained have been of +inestimable benefit to the crowded population of England. In 1851 the +whole corn supply, both English and foreign, afforded 317 lb. per +annum per head of the population of 27 millions. In 1889 the total +supply gave 400 lb. per head to a population of 37-1/2 millions at a +greatly reduced cost.[728] The supply of animal food presents similar +contrasts; in 1851 each person obtained 90 lb., in 1889 115 lb. The +average value of the imports of food per head in the period 1859-65 +was about 25s.; in the period 1901-7, 65s.[729] The products which +have stood best against foreign competition are fresh milk, hay and +straw, the softer kinds of fruit that will not bear carriage well, and +stock of the finest quality. These islands still maintain their great +reputation for the excellent quality of their live stock, and exports, +chiefly of pedigree animals, touched their highest figure in 1906: + + Average per + No. Total Value. head. + £ £ + + Cattle 5,616 327,335 58 + Sheep 12,716 204,061 16 + Pigs 2,221 20,292 9 + + + 1877.[730] + + Acreage under crops and + grass in England 24,312,033 + + _Corn crops._ + Wheat 2,987,129 + Barley or bere 2,000,531 + Oats 1,489,999 + Rye 48,604 + Beans 470,153 + Peas 306,356 + --------- + Total 7,302,772 + + _Green crops._ + Potatoes 303,964 + Turnips and swedes 1,495,885 + Mangels 348,289 + Carrots 14,445 + Cabbage, kohl rabi, and rape 176,218 + Vetches and other green crops 420,373 + --------- + Total 2,759,174 + + Flax 7,210 + Hops 71,239 + Barefallow or uncropped arable 576,235 + Clover, sainfoin, and + grasses under rotation 2,737,387 + ---------- + Total arable 13,454,017 + + Permanent grass, exclusive + of mountain or heath land 10,858,016 + ---------- + 24,312,033 + + + 1907. + + Total acreage under + crops and grass 24,585,455 + + _Corn crops._ + Wheat 1,537,208 + Barley 1,411,163 + Oats 1,967,682 + Rye 53,837 + Beans 296,186 + Peas 164,326 + ----------- + Total 5,430,402 + + Potatoes 381,891 + Turnips and swedes 1,058,292 + Mangels 436,193 + Cabbage 65,262 + Kohl rabi 20,572 + Rape 79,913 + Vetches or tares 145,067 + Lucerne 63,379 + Hops 44,938 + Small fruit 73,372 + Clover, sainfoin, and + grasses under rotation 2,611,722 + Other crops 117,914 + Bare fallow 248,678 + ---------- + Total arable 10,777,595 + Permanent grass 13,807,860 + ---------- + 24,585,455 + + The small fruit was divided into: + Strawberries 23,623 + Raspberries 6,479-1/2 + Currants and gooseberries 24,178-3/4 + Others 19,090 + --------------- + 73,371-1/4 + +As arable land has suffered much more than grass from foreign +imports, it was inevitable that this country should become more +pastoral; in 1877 the arable land of England amounted to 13,454,017 +acres, and permanent grass to 10,858,016. By 1907 this was +practically reversed, the permanent grass amounting to 13,807,860 +acres and the arable to 10,777,595. In corn crops the great decrease +has been in the acreage of wheat, but barley, beans, and peas have +also diminished, while oats have increased. In green crops there has +been a great decrease in turnips and swedes, compensated to some +extent by an increase in mangels, and a sad decrease in hops. The +changes in thirty years can be gathered from the tables of the Board +of Agriculture given on p. 331. + +In 1877 no separate return of small fruit was made, but in 1878 the +orchards of England, including fruit trees of any kind, covered +161,228 acres, which by 1907 had grown to a total area under fruit of +294,910 acres, among which were 168,576 acres of apples, 8,365 of +pears, 11,952 of cherries, and 14,571 of plums. Much of the small +fruit is included in the orchards. + +'Other crops' were further divided into: + + Acres. + + Carrots 11,897 + Onions 3,416 + Buckwheat 5,226 + Flax 355 + Others 97,020 + ------- + 117,914 + +The average yield per acre of various crops in England for the ten +years 1897-1906 was: + + Bushels. + + Wheat 31.1[731] + Barley 32.88 + Oats 41.38 + Beans 29.28 + Peas 27.15 + + Tons. + + Potatoes 5.74 + Turnips and swedes 12.19 + Mangels 19.24 + + Cwt. + + Hay from clover, and grasses under rotation 29.40 + Hay from permanent grass 24.33 + Hops 8.81 + +The live stock in 1877 consisted of: + + Horses used solely for purposes of agriculture 761,089 + Unbroken horses and mares kept solely for breeding 309,119 + --------- + 1,070,208 + --------- + Cattle. Cows and heifers in milk or in calf 1,557,574 + Two years old and over 1,072,407 + Under two years of age 1,349,669 + --------- + 3,979,650 + --------- + Sheep 18,330,377 + Pigs 2,114,751 + +In 1907: + + Horses used solely for agriculture 863,817 + Unbroken 325,330 + --------- + 1,189,147 + --------- + Cattle. Cows and heifers in milk or in calf 2,032,284 + Two years old and over 1,043,034 + Under two years of age 1,912,413 + --------- + 4,987,731 + --------- + Sheep[732] 15,098,928 + Pigs 2,257,136 + +The decrease in sheep and the increase in cattle and horses (though +of late years the latter have shown a tendency to decrease) are to be +noted. + +The number of live stock per 1,000 acres of cultivated land in the +United Kingdom and other countries is: + + Country. Cattle. Sheep. Pigs. Total. + + United Kingdom 247 619 76 942 + Belgium 411 54 240 705 + Denmark 264 126 209 599 + France 167 207 88 462 + Germany 221 90 216 527 + Holland 322 116 164 602 + +It will be observed that in cattle the United Kingdom comes out +badly, but is pre-eminent in sheep and has the largest total; though, +as cattle require more acreage, Belgium nearly equals its aggregate +produce for 1,000 acres. + +As regards prices at the two periods 1871-5 and 1906-7, if we take +100 as the price at the former the following are the prices at the +latter: + + Beef 71 + Mutton 93 + Bacon 121 + Wheat 56 + Butter 97 + Cheese 100 + +Turning once more to the occupation of land, the percentage of land +occupied by owners in 1907 in England was 12.4, the rest being +occupied by tenants, and the following is a statement of the number +of agricultural holdings of various sizes in 1875 and 1907: + + 1875.[733] + + 50 acres 50 to 100 to 300 to 500 to Above + and 100 300 500 1,000 1,000 + under. acres. acres. acres. acres. acres. + + 293,469 44,842 58,450 11,245 3,871 463 + + 1907. + + Above 1 and Above 5 and Above 50 and Above + not exceeding not exceeding not exceeding 300 + 5 acres. 50 acres. 300 acres. acres. + + 80,921 165,975 109,927 14,652 + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[710] McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_ (1882), p. 449. + +[711] See _Returns of the Board of Agriculture_. + +[712] The imports from Russia were that year exceptionally small. + +[713] McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_ (1852), p. 274. + +[714] In 1860 the number of live cattle imported was 104,569; in 1897, +618,321; in 1907, 472,015. + +[715] In 1860 the quantity of beef imported was 283,332 cwt.; in 1907, +6,033,736 cwt. + +[716] See above. + +[717] Supra, p. 38. + +[718] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, i. 176, 192; _Hundred +Rolls_, i. 405, 414. + +[719] Burnley, _History of Wool_, p. 65. + +[720] Ibid. p. 70. + +[721] Cf. supra, p. 172. + +[722] Smith, _Memoirs of Wool_, i. 222. + +[723] See above. + +[724] Smith, _Memoirs of Wool_, ii. 252. + +[725] McPherson, _Annals of Commerce_, iii. 156. + +[726] McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_, p. 1431. For imports see +Appendix, p. 354. + +[727] Of which 6,000,000 lb. came from Spain. The first Spanish Merino +sheep were introduced into Australia in 1797. See Cunningham, +_Industry and Commerce_, ii. 538, and cf. below. + +[728] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (1890), p. 29. + +[729] _Board of Agriculture Returns_ (1907), p. 187. + +[730] Cf. Appendix IV. + +[731] In 1907 the average wheat crop was 33.96 bushels per acre in +England and 39.18 in Scotland. The average yield per acre of wheat in +Holland is 34.1 bushels; Belgium, 34; Germany, 30.3; Denmark, 28.2 +France, 197. + +[732] The total number of sheep in Great Britain in 1877 was +28,161,164; in 1907, 26,115,455. In 1688 Youatt estimates it at +12,000,000; In 1741, 17,000,000; in 1800 26,000,000; in 1830 +32,000,000. + +[733] Unfortunately the class 50 acres and under at this time included +holdings _under_ one acre, so that it is useless for the comparison of +the number of small holdings at the two dates, for in 1907 none appear +under one acre. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MODERN FARM LIVE STOCK + +CART HORSES + + +Arthur Young at the end of the eighteenth century found only two +kinds of cart horses worthy of mention, the Shire and the Suffolk +Punch; to-day, besides these two, we have the Clydesdale. + +The Shire horse, according to Sir Walter Gilbey, is the purest +survival of the Great Horse of mediaeval times, known also as the War +Horse, and the Old English Black Horse. It is the largest of draught +horses, attaining a height of 17 to 17.3 hands and a weight of 2,200 +lb., its general characteristics being immense strength, symmetrical +proportions, bold free action, and docile disposition. In 1878 the +Shire Horse Society was established to improve the breed, and +distribute sound and healthy sires through the country. + +The Clydesdale, whose native home is the valley of the Clyde, is not +so large as the Shire, but strong, active, and a fine worker. They +are either derived from a cross between Flemish stallions and +Lanarkshire mares, or are an improvement of the old Lanark breed.[734] + +The Suffolk Punch looks what he is-a thorough farm horse. He stands +lower than the two former breeds, but weighs heavily, often 2,000 lb. +They are generally chestnut or light dun in colour, and their legs +are without the feather of the Clydesdale and Shire. They have been +long associated with Suffolk, and were mentioned by Camden in 1586. +According to the Suffolk _Stud Book_ of 1880, the Suffolk horses +of to-day are with few exceptions the descendants in the direct male +line of the original breed described by Arthur Young. + + +CATTLE + +What was the original breed of cattle in this island is uncertain. The +Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in +1887 favours the view that the herds of wild cattle, such as still +exist at Chillingham, represent the original breed of Great Britain. +It states that the 'urus' was the only indigenous wild ox in this +country, and the source of all our domesticated breeds as well as of +the few wild ones that remain, such as the Chillingham breed, which is +small, white, with the inside of the ear red, and a brownish muzzle. +Some, however, assert they are merely the descendants of a +domesticated breed run wild, which have reverted somewhat to the +ancient type.[735] + +According to Thorold Rogers, the cattle of the Middle Ages were small +rough animals like the mountain breeds of to-day, and at the end of +the sixteenth century we have seen they had large horns, were low and +heavy, and for the most part black.[736] The great variety of cattle +in Great Britain may be due to their being the descendants of several +species, or to difference of climate and soil, or to spontaneous +variation, but the chief cause is the diligent selection of breeders. +Marshall is quite positive[737] that the Hereford, Devon, Sussex, and +the black mountain breeds of Scotland and Wales are all descended from +the original native breed of this island, that the Shorthorns came +from the Continent, and the Longhorns probably from Ireland. Bradley's +division of cattle into black, white, and red tells us little.[738] +There was very little attempt at improvement until the middle of the +eighteenth century, for peace was necessary for long continued +effort, and 1746, the date of Culloden, the last battle fought on +British soil, may be taken practically as the commencement of the era +of progress. + +The Shorthorn is the most famous and widely-spread breed of this +country, if not in the world; it exceeds in number any other breed in +the United Kingdom, and most cross-breds have Shorthorn blood in them. +It adapts itself to any climate, and is equally noted for beef-making +and milk-yielding. + +The origin of the Shorthorns is uncertain; they originated from the +Teeswater and Holderness varieties, but where these came from is a +matter of dispute. Young, in his _Northern Tour_,[739] says, 'In +Yorkshire the common breed was the short-horned kind of cattle called +Holderness, but really the Dutch sort'; and many have said the +Holderness and the Teeswater breeds both came from Holland, and were +practically the same, while others assert the original home of the +Teeswaters was the West Highlands.[740] + +John Lawrence speaks of the Dutch breed with short horns in 1726;[741] +but, unless they were smuggled over, it certainly seems strange that +any Dutch cattle should have been imported in the eighteenth century, +for the importation of cattle was strictly forbidden during the whole +century. It was George Culley's opinion that they came from Holland, +because few were found except along the eastern coast; he also knew +farmers who went over to Holland to buy bulls.[742] + +Be this as it may, it was the cattle of the Teeswater district in +Durham that the Collings improved, and they are still called Durhams +in many parts. The work of the Collings[743] was carried on by Thomas +Booth, who farmed his own estate of Killerby in Yorkshire, where he +turned his attention to Shorthorns about 1790, and by 1814 he was as +well known as the Collings. He improved the Shorthorns by reducing the +bone, especially the length and coarseness of the legs, the too +prominent hips, and the heavy shoulder bones. In 1819 he removed to +Warlaby, and died there in 1835, having given up the Killerby estate +to his son John, who with his brother Richard ably sustained their +father's reputation. 'Booth strains' equally with 'Bates strains', the +results of the work of Bates of Kirkleavington, whose cattle we have +seen at the Oxford Show in 1839, and whose herd was dispersed in 1850, +have been the foundation of many famous herds, and can be traced in +many a pedigree animal of to-day. + +The palmy days of the Shorthorns were the 'seventies' of the last +century, when they made fabulous prices. At the great sale at New York +Mills, in 1873, eleven females of the Duchess tribe averaged £4,522 +14s. 2d., and one cow sold for £8,458 6s. 8d. In 1877 Mr. Loder bought +Third Duchess of Hillhurst for 4,100 guineas; in 1876 Lord Bective +gave 4,300 guineas for Fifth Duchess of Hillhurst, then 16 months old; +and in 1875 the bull Duke of Connaught sold for 4,500 guineas. It was +not likely that with the advent of bad times these prices would +continue, and nothing like them in the Shorthorn world has occurred +since. + + +_Herefords._[744] + +Herefordshire cattle have long been famous as one of the finest +breeds in the world. Marshall, writing in 1788, does not hesitate to +say, 'The Herefordshire breed of cattle, taking it all in all, may +without risque be deemed the first breed of cattle in the land.' +Their origin has been accounted for in various ways. Some say they +were originally brown or reddish-brown from Normandy or Devon, others +that they came from Wales, while it is recorded that Lord Scudamore +in the latter half of the seventeenth century introduced red cows +with white faces from Flanders. However, they do not emerge from +obscurity until about the middle of the eighteenth century, when +Messrs. Tomkins, Weyman, Yeomans, Hewer, and Tully devoted their +energies to establishing a county breed. There were four varieties of +Herefords, which have now practically merged into the red with white +face, mane, and throat: the mottle face, with red marks intermixed +with the parts usually white; the dark greys; light greys; and the +red with the white face. The rivalry between the breeders of the +white and the mottle faces almost caused the failure of the Herd-Book +commenced in 1845 by Mr. Eyton. The mottle-faced party seems to have +been then the most influential, but the dark and light grey varieties +also had strong adherents. In 1857 Mr. Duckham took over the +management of the Herd-Book, and to his exertions the breed owes a +deep debt of gratitude. One of the greatest supporters of the +Herefordshire breed was Mr. Westcar of Creslow, who, starting in +1779, attended Hereford October Fair for forty years, and when the +Smithfield Show commenced in 1799 won innumerable first prizes there +with Herefordshire cattle. Between 1799 and 1811 twenty of his +Herefordshire prize oxen averaged £106 6s. each, and at the sale of +Mr. Ben Tomkins's herd after his death in 1819 twenty-eight breeding +animals averaged £152, one cow fetching £262 15s. Herefords are +famous for their feeding qualities at grass, and good stores are +scarce, the best being fattened on their native pastures. They are +not only almost the only breed in their own county, but few English +counties south of Shropshire are without them; they have done well in +Ireland, and in Canada, the United States, South America, and +Australia have attained great success. They are not so well qualified +for crossing as Shorthorns, but have blended well with that breed, +and produced good crosses with Ayrshires and Jerseys, but not with +Devons. It has been said that they are not a favourite sort with +London butchers, as they require time to ripen, which does not suit a +hurrying age. Hence they probably flourished best under the old +school of graziers, who sometimes kept them to six or seven years +old. At all events they are a very fine breed for beef purposes, +their meat being particularly tender, juicy, and fine-grained. They +are seldom kept for dairy purposes, being poor milkers; consequently +the calf is nearly always allowed to run with the dam, which accounts +for the fact that one seldom sees pure-bred Herefords that are not +well grown. The highest price paid for a Hereford was 4,000 guineas +for Lord Wilton in 1884. + + +_Devons._ + +The cattle of North Devon can be traced as the peculiar breed of the +county from which they take their name from the earliest records. +Bradley mentioned the red cattle of Somerset in 1726, and no doubt +there were many in Devonshire.[745] William Marshall states (1805), +and he is supported by subsequent writers, that 'they are of the +middle horn class', and in his time so nearly resembled the +Herefordshire breed in frame, colour, and horn, as not to be +distinguishable from them, except in the greater cleanness of the head +and fore-quarters, and their smaller size. Yet they could not have had +the white faces and throats of the Herefords, as they have always been +famous for their uniformity in colour--a fine dark red.[746] He also +compares them to the cattle of Sussex and the native cattle of +Norfolk.[747] The Devons then differed very much in different parts of +the county; those of North Devon taking the lead, being 'nearly what +cattle ought to be'. They were, considered as draught animals, the +best workers anywhere beyond all comparison, though rather small, for +which deficiency they made up in exertion and agility. As dairy cattle +they were not very good, since rearing for the east country graziers +had long been the main object of Devon cattle farmers, but as grazing +cattle they were excellent. + +Vancouver, a few years after this, praised their activity in work and +their unrivalled aptitude to fatten, but says they were then +declining in their general standard of excellence, and in numbers, +owing to the great demand for them from other parts of England, where +the buyers (Mr. Coke, who had established a valuable herd of them, +and others) spared neither pains nor price to obtain those of the +highest excellence. + +This danger was clearly perceived by Francis Quartly of Molland, who +set to work to remedy it by systematically buying the choicest cows he +could procure. As the reputation and perhaps continuance of the Devon +breed is due to him more than to any other man, his account of his own +efforts on behalf of it is specially valuable.[748] At the end of the +eighteenth century the principal North Devon yeomen were all breeders, +and every week you might see in the Molton Market, their natural +locality, animals that would now be called choice. There were few +cattle shows in those days, and therefore the relative value of +animals was not so easily tested. The war prices tempted many farmers +to sell their best bulls and cows out of the district, so that good +animals were becoming scarce, and the breed generally going back. Mr. +Quartly therefore for years bought all the best animals he could find +with rare skill and judgement, and continued to improve his stock till +he brought it to perfection. About the year 1834 cattle shows began at +Exeter, and for the first year or two Mr. Quartly did not compete; +then he allowed his nephews to enter in all the classes, and they +brought home all the prizes. This lead they kept, and at the Royal +Show at Exeter in 1850 their stock obtained nine out of the ten prizes +for Devons. The _Devon Herd-Book_ was first published in 1851 by +Captain T.T. Davy, and a writer in 1858 says that of twenty-nine +prize bulls in the first three volumes twenty-seven were descended +from the Quartly bull Forester, and of thirty-four prize cows +twenty-nine from the cow Curly, also of their stock. + +Among other famous breeders of Devons contemporary with Quartly were +Messrs. Merson, Davy, Michael Thorne, Yapp, Buckingham, the Halses, +and George Turner. + +In 1829 Moore says, 'The young heifers of North Devon, with their +taper legs, the exact symmetry of their form, and their clear coats of +dark red, are pictures of elegance.' Their superiority for grazing and +draught was proved by the high prices demanded for them, but they were +not equally esteemed as dairy animals,[749] though of late years this +reproach has been removed. The ploughing of two acres of fallow land +was the common work of four oxen, which, when fattened at five years +old, would reach eleven score a quarter. + +Since the publication of the Herd-Book, Devons have spread all over +the world, to Mexico, Jamaica, Canada, Australia, France, and United +States, and the fact that in their original home they have been +largely kept by tenant farmers proves them a good rent-paying breed. +Yet it cannot be pretended that away from their native country they +are as much valued as the Shorthorn and Hereford. + +The South Hams breed of South Devon is a distinct variety, though it +is believed to be descended from the 'Rubies'[750] and apparently has +at some time been crossed with the Guernsey; they are good milkers and +attain a great size, but the quality of the meat is decidedly inferior +to that of North Devon. + +From the earliest times the real Devon colour has been red, varying +from a dark to a lighter or almost chestnut shade; half a century ago +the lighter ones were more numerous than at present, and they are +often of richer quality though less hardy than the dark ones. + +The Sussex is larger and coarser than the Devon, of a deep brown +chestnut colour, very hardy, a beef-producing but not a milk-yielding +sort. + +Longhorns,[751] a generation ago nearly extinct, once the favourite +cattle of the midlands and portions of the north, are descended from a +breed long established in the Craven district of Yorkshire. 'The true +Lancashire,' said Young in 1770, 'were Longhorns, and in Derbyshire +were a bastard sort of Lancashires.'[752] It was this breed that +Bakewell improved, and of late years great efforts, chiefly in +Warwickshire and Leicestershire, have been made to revive it. + +The Red Polled, or Norfolk Polled, is the only hornless breed of +English cattle, and they are good milkers and fatteners. + +The Lincoln Red is a small red variety of the Shorthorn. + +Many of the Welsh breeds have spread into the adjacent parts of +England, and may be classified as North and South Welsh, or Angleseys +and Castle Martins; black in colour, and generally with long horns. + +The Scottish cattle--the Aberdeen Angus, the Galloways, the Highland +breed, and the Ayrshires--are also seen in England, but not so often +as the Jerseys and Guernseys from the Channel Islands, while the +small Dexters and Kerrys from Ireland are favourites with some +English farmers. + + +SHEEP + +The sheep of the British Isles may be divided into three main +classes:-- + +1. Longwools, containing Leicesters, Border Leicester's, Cotswolds, +Lincolns, Kentish, Devon Longwool, South Devon, Wensleydale, and +Roscommon. + +2. Shortwools: the Oxford Downs, Southdowns, Shropshires, Hampshire +Downs, Suffolks, Ryelands, Somerset and Dorset Horned, and Clun +Forest. + +3. Mountain breeds: Cheviots, Blackfaced Mountain, Herdwick, Lonk, +Dartmoor, Exmoor, Welsh Mountain, and Limestone. + +These are all English except the Border Leicester, Cheviot, and +Blackfaced Mountain, which are Scotch; the Welsh Mountain is of +course Welsh, and the Roscommon Irish. + +1. The Leicesters, the largest and in many respects the most +important of British longwool sheep, are the sheep which Bakewell +improved so greatly. They are capable of being brought to a great +weight, and their long fine wool averages 7 lb. to the fleece. + +The Border Leicesters are an offshoot of the last named, bred on the +Scottish Border, and originating from the flock which George and +Matthew Culley in 1767 took from the Tees to the Tweed. + +The Cotswolds have been on the Gloucestershire hills for ages, and +have long been famous for the length of their fleece, hardiness, and +breeding qualities. + +The Lincoln is the result of the old native breed of the county +improved by Leicester blood. They have larger heads and denser and +heavier wool than the Leicesters, averaging 8 to 9 lb. to the fleece, +but have been known to yield 14 lb. + +The Kentish or Romney Marsh have long existed in the district whence +they obtain their name, but are not much known away from that +locality. + +The Devon Longwool is a result of the infusion of Leicester blood +among the old Bampton stock of Devonshire called Bampton Notts or +polled sheep. + +The South Devons or South Hams are another local breed, and are a +result of the improvement of the South Hams Notts by the Leicester. + +The Wensleydales are descendants of the old Teeswater breed, itself a +variety of the old Leicester and improved by the new Leicesters of +Culley. + +2. Oxford Downs, a modern black-faced breed, now widely spread all +over the midland counties, are a mixture of Cotswolds with Hampshire +Downs and Southdowns, and originated at the beginning of Queen +Victoria's reign, but were not definitely so called till 1857. This +cross of two distinct varieties, the long and the short wool, has +approximated to the shortwool type. + +The Southdown, formerly Sussex Down, an old breed bred for ages on +the chalky soils of the South Downs, is 'perhaps', says Youatt, 'the +most valuable breed in the kingdom.' It was to John Ellman of Glynde, +at the end of the eighteenth century, that they owe their present +perfection, and they have exercised as much influence among the +shortwools as the Leicesters among the longwools. + +The Shropshire sheep is a descendant of the original Longmynd or old +Shropshire sheep, which began to be crossed by the Southdown at the +commencement of the nineteenth century.[753] They were recognized as a +distinct breed in 1853, and since then have become one of the most +valued breeds, combining the symmetry and quality of the Southdown +with the weight of the Cotswold and the fattening tendency of the +Leicester, with a hardier constitution. + +The Hampshire Down is another instance of the widespread influence of +the Southdown, being the result of crossing that breed with the old +Wiltshire sheep, which had long curling horns, and the Berkshire +Knott. They are heavier than the Shropshire, and are perhaps more +distinguished for early maturity than any other breed. + +The Suffolk is derived from the old horned Norfolk ewe mated with the +Southdown, and was first granted its name in 1859. + +The Ryeland is a small, hornless, white-faced breed which has been in +Herefordshire for centuries, but of late years has dwindled in numbers +before the advent of the Shropshire. + +The Somerset and Dorset Horned is another old breed, preserved in a +pure state, much improved in modern times, and very hardy. + +The Clun Forest breed of West Shropshire and the adjacent parts of +Wales is a mixture of the Ryeland, Shropshire, and Welsh breeds. + +3. The Cheviot is found on both sides of the hills of that name, +though Northumberland is said to be its original home, and it was +improved in the eighteenth century by crossing with the Lincoln. + +The Blackfaced Mountain breed is found chiefly in Scotland, but +thrives on the bleak grazing lands of the north of England. + +The Herdwicks' home is the hills of Cumberland and Westmoreland, +where they are hardy enough to fatten on the poor, thin pasture. + +The Lonk is the largest mountain breed, belonging to the fells of +Yorkshire and Lancashire. + +The Dartmoors and Exmoors almost certainly came from one stock, +though the former are now the larger, and are the few real survivors +of the old forest or mountain breeds of England. The Exmoor is +horned, the Dartmoor hornless. + +The Welsh Mountain is a small, hardy, soft-woolled breed, their +mutton having the best flavour of any sheep, and their wool making +the famous Welsh flannel. + +The Limestone is little known outside the fells of Westmoreland. + + +PIGS + +Our pigs may be roughly divided into white, black, and red; the first +comprising the Large, Middle, and Small Whites, formerly called +Yorkshires; the second the Small Black (Suffolk or Essex), the Large +Black only recently recognized, but apparently very ancient, and the +Berkshire, which often has white marks on face, legs, or tail. The +red is the Tamworth, one of the oldest breeds, its skin being red +with dark spots. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[734] Youatt, _Complete Grazier_ (1900), p. 388; cf. pp. 104-5. + +[735] Youatt, _Complete Grazier_ (1900), p. 6. + +[736] See above. + +[737] _Rural Economy of West of England_, i. 235 cf. above, p. 235. + +[738] See above. + +[739] ii. 126; about 1770. + +[740] Youatt, _Complete Grazier_, p. 18, and see 'Druid', _Saddle and +Sirloin_. + +[741] Cf. supra, p. 167. + +[742] _Culley on Live Stock_ (1807), p. 42. + +[743] See p. 233. + +[744] Much of these accounts of Herefords and Devons is from the +author's articles in the _Victoria County History_. + +[745] See above. + +[746] Risdon, _Survey_ (1810), Introd. p. viii. + +[747] _Rural Economy of West of England_, i. 235. Risdon says of +Devonshire: 'As to cattle, no part of the Kingdom is better supplied +with beasts of all sorts, whether for profit or pleasure,' those for +pleasure being apparently wild ones kept in parks.--Chapple's _Review +of Risdon's Survey_, p. 23. + +[748] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (1st ser.), xi. 680. See also ibid. xix. 368, +and (2nd ser.) v. 107; xiv. 663; xx. 691. + +[749] _History of Devon_, i. 456. + +[750] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (3rd ser.), i. 527. + +[751] See above. + +[752] _Northern Tour_, ii. 126. + +[753] _R.A.S.E. Journal_ (1858), p. 42. + + + + +APPENDIX I + +AVERAGE PRICES FROM 1259 TO 1700[754] + + +CORN PER QUARTER. + + WHEAT. BARLEY. OATS. + + 1259-1400 5s. 10-3/4d. 4s. 3-3/4d. 2s. 5-3/4d. + 1401-1540 5s. 11-3/4d. 3s. 8-3/4d. 2s. 2-1/4d. + 1541-82 13s. 10-1/2d. 8s. 5-3/4d. 5s. 5-1/2d. + 1583-1700 39s. 0-1/2d. 21s. 4d. 13s. 10d. + + RYE. BEANS. + + 1259-1400 4s. 4-7/8d. 4s. 3-1/2d. + 1401-1540 4s. 7-3/4d. 3s. 9-1/4d. + 1541-82 -- 9s. 1-1/2d. + 1583-1700 -- 22s. 3-1/4d. + + + LIVE STOCK. + + OXEN. COWS. CART HORSES.[755] + + 1259-1400 13s. 1-1/4d. 9s. 5d. 16s. 4d. + 1401-1540 moderate increase 14s. unaltered + 1541-82 55s. 32s. great increase + 1583-1700 100s. 60s. 1580-1640 £5 to £10 + 1640-1700 £8 to £15 + + PIGS + SHEEP. LAMBS. (GROWN). BOARS. + + 1259-1400 1s. 2d. to 1s. 5d. 8d. 3s. 4s. 7d. + 1401-1540 moderate increase 9d. unaltered 6s. + 1541-82 3s. to 4s. 6d. 2s. to 3s. 6s. 8d. to 8s. -- + 1583-1700 10s. 7d. -- great increase + + + POULTRY AND EGGS. + + HENS. DUCKS. GEESE. EGGS. + + 1259-1400 1-6/8d. 2d. 3-5/8d. 4-1/2d. per 120 + 1401-1540 2-1/4d. 2-1/4d. 4-3/4d. 6-1/2d " + 1541-82 4-3/4d. 4-3/4d. 10d. 7-1/2d. " + 1583-1700 8d.-1s. 9-1/4d. 2s. 3s. 3d. " + + WOOL. CHEESE. BUTTER. + Per lb. + + 1259-1400 3-5/7d. 4-1/2d. per 7 lb. 4-3/4d. per 7 lb. + 1401-1540 3-5/7d. 1/2d. per lb. 1d. per lb. + 1541-82 7-1/2d. 1d. " 3d. " + 1583-1702 9d.-1s. 3-1/2d. " 4-1/2d. " + + HAY. HOPS. + Per load. Per cwt. + + 1259-1400 3s. 8d. -- + 1401-1540 unaltered 14s. 0-1/2d. + 1541-82 9s. 6d. 26s. 8d. + 1583-1702 26s. 4d. 82s. 9d. + + + LABOUR. + + Reaping Reaping Labourer per + wheat oats Mowing day without + per acre. per acre. per acre. food. + + 1261-1350 5-5/8d. 4-7/8d. 5-1/4d. 2d. + 1351-1400 8-1/2d. 8-1/4d. 7d. 3d. + 1401-1540 9-3/4d. 8-1/4d. 8-1/8d. 4d. + 1541-82 --[756] -- -- 6-1/2d. + 1583-1640 -- -- 1s. 7d. 8-1/2d. + 1640-1700 -- -- 1s. 8d. 10d. + + + PRICE OF LAND PER ACRE. + + To Rent. To Buy. + Arable. Grass. + + 1261-1350 4d.-6d. 1s.-2s. 12 years' purchase + 1351-1400 6d. 2s. " + 1401-1540 6d. 2s. 15-20 years + 1541-82 slight increase unaltered + 1583-1640 great increase 20 years + 1641-1700 5s. 8s. " + 1770 10s. 30 years + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[754] Summarized from Thorold Rogers' prices in his _History of +Agriculture and Prices_, with some alterations. + +[755] Affri, 13s. 5d. cart horses, 19s. 4d. A good saddle horse about +1300 was worth £5. By 1580 it was worth £10 to £15, by 1700 £20 to +£25. + +[756] A decided increase, but prices fluctuate so much that it is hard +to strike an average. + + + + +APPENDIX II + + + TABLE SHOWING EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF + WHEAT AND FLOUR FROM AND INTO ENGLAND, + UNIMPORTANT YEARS OMITTED + + Exports. Imports. + Quarters. Quarters. + + England. + 1697 14,699 400 + 1703 166,615 50 + 1717 22,954 none + 1728 3,817 74,574 + 1733 427,199 7 + 1750 947,602 279 + + Great Britain. + 1757 11,545 141,562 + 1758 9,234 20,353 + 1761 441,956 none + 1767 5,071 497,905 + 1770 75,449 34 + 1775 91,037 560,988 + 1776 210,664 20,578 + 1780 224,059 3,915 + 1786 205,466 51,463 + 1787 120,536 59,339 + 1789 140,014 112,656 + 1791 70,626 469,056 + 1796 24,679 879,200 + 1801 28,406 1,424,765 + 1808 98,005 84,889 + 1810 75,785 1,567,126 + 1815 227,947 384,475 + 1825 38,796 787,606 + 1837 308,420 1,109,492 + 1839 42,512 3,110,729 + 1842 68,047 3,111,290 + +The above figures are taken from McCulloch's _Commercial +Dictionary_, 1847, p. 438, and agree roughly with those given by +McPherson, _Annals of Commerce_, iii. 674, and iv. 216 and 532. + +After 1842, exports played a very small part, and imports continued +to increase; in 1847, 4,612,110 _quarters_ of wheat and flour +came in; and the following figures show their growth in recent +times:-- + + AVERAGE OF ANNUAL IMPORTS + OF WHEAT AND FLOUR IN CWTS. + + 1861-5 34,651,549 + 1866-70 37,273,678 + 1871-5 50,495,127 + 1876-80 63,309,874 + 1881-5 77,285,881 + 1886-90 77,794,380 + 1891-5 96,582,863 + 1896-1900 95,956,376 + 1901-5 111,638,817 + +With regard to the exports and imports of all kinds of corn, large +quantities were exported in the first half of the eighteenth century. +In 1733, 800,000 quarters were sent to France, Portugal, Spain, and +Italy,[757] and exports reached their maximum in 1750 with 1,667,778 +quarters, but by 1760 had decreased to 600,000, and after that fell +considerably; in 1771, for instance, the first year of the corn +register, they only amounted to 81,665 quarters, whereas imports were +203,122. The figures of the imports were swollen by the large +quantities of oats which came into England at this time. The following +years are typical of the fluctuations in the trade:-- + + Exports. Imports. + 1774 47,961 803,844 + 1776 376,249 444,121 + 1780 400,408 219,093 + 1782 278,955 133,663 + 1783 104,274 852,389 + 1784-8 large excess of imports, mainly oats + 1789 652,764 478,426 + +the last year when exports of all kinds of corn exceeded imports.[758] + +To sum up, according to these figures, England's exports of wheat +regularly exceeded her imports from 1697 until 1757, with the +exception of the years 1728-9; then they fluctuated till 1789, the +last year in which exports of wheat exceeded imports, and as the same +year is the last time when our exports of all kinds of corn exceeded +our imports, England at that date ceased to be an exporting country.[759] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[757] McPherson, _Annals of Commerce_, iii. 198. + +[758] Ibid. iii. 674; iv. 216, 532. + +[759] The excess of exports of wheat in 1808 was accidentally due to +the requirements of the army in Spain. + + + + +APPENDIX III + + +AVERAGE PRICES PER IMPERIAL QUARTER OF BRITISH CORN IN ENGLAND +AND WALES, IN EACH YEAR FROM 1771 TO 1907 INCLUSIVE, ACCORDING TO +THE RETURNS OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE + + YEARS. WHEAT. BARLEY. OATS. + s. d. s. d. s. d. + + 1771 48 7 26 5 17 2 + 1772 52 3 26 1 16 8 + 1773 52 7 29 2 17 8 + 1774 54 3 29 4 18 4 + 1775 49 10 26 9 17 0 + + 1776 39 4 20 9 15 5 + 1777 46 11 21 1 16 1 + 1778 43 3 23 4 15 7 + 1779 34 8 20 1 14 5 + 1780 36 9 17 6 13 2 + + 1781 46 0 17 8 14 1 + 1782 49 3 23 2 15 7 + 1783 54 3 31 3 20 5 + 1784 50 4 28 8 18 10 + 1785 43 1 24 9 17 8 + + 1786 40 0 25 1 18 6 + 1787 42 5 23 4 17 2 + 1788 46 4 22 8 16 1 + 1789 52 9 23 6 16 6 + 1790 54 9 26 3 19 5 + + 1791 48 7 26 10 18 1 + 1792 43 0 27 7 16 9 + 1793 49 3 31 1 20 6 + 1794 52 3 31 9 21 3 + 1795 75 2 37 5 24 5 + + 1796 78 7 35 4 21 10 + 1797 53 9 27 2 16 3 + 1798 51 10 29 0 19 5 + 1799 69 0 36 2 27 6 + 1800 113 10 59 10 39 4 + + 1801 119 6 68 6 37 0 + 1802 69 10 33 4 20 4 + 1803 58 10 25 4 21 6 + 1804 62 3 31 0 24 3 + 1805 89 9 44 6 28 4 + + 1806 79 1 38 8 27 7 + 1807 75 4 39 4 28 4 + 1808 81 4 43 5 33 4 + 1809 97 4 47 0 31 5 + 1810 106 5 48 1 28 7 + + 1811 95 3 42 3 27 7 + 1812 126 6 66 9 44 6 + 1813 109 9 58 6 38 6 + 1814 74 4 37 4 25 8 + 1815 65 7 30 3 23 7 + + 1816 78 6 33 11 27 2 + 1817 96 11 49 4 32 5 + 1818 86 3 53 10 32 5 + 1819 74 6 45 9 28 2 + 1820 67 10 33 10 24 2 + + 1821 56 1 26 0 19 6 + 1822 44 7 21 10 18 1 + 1823 53 4 31 6 22 11 + 1824 63 11 36 4 24 10 + 1825 68 6 40 0 25 8 + + 1826 58 8 34 4 26 8 + 1827 58 6 37 7 28 2 + 1828 60 5 32 10 22 6 + 1829 66 3 32 6 22 9 + 1830 64 3 32 7 24 5 + + 1831 66 4 38 0 25 4 + 1832 58 8 33 1 20 5 + 1833 52 11 27 6 18 5 + 1834 46 2 29 0 20 11 + 1835 39 4 29 11 22 0 + + 1836 48 6 32 10 23 1 + 1837 55 10 30 4 23 1 + 1838 64 7 31 5 22 5 + 1839 70 8 39 6 25 11 + 1840 66 4 36 5 25 8 + + 1841 64 4 32 10 22 5 + 1842 57 3 27 6 19 3 + 1843 50 1 29 6 18 4 + 1844 51 3 33 8 20 7 + 1845 50 10 31 8 22 6 + + 1846 54 8 32 8 23 8 + 1847 69 9 44 2 28 8 + 1848 50 6 31 6 20 6 + 1849 44 3 27 9 17 6 + 1850 40 3 23 5 16 5 + + 1851 38 6 24 9 18 7 + 1852 40 9 28 6 19 1 + 1853 53 3 33 2 21 0 + 1854 72 5 36 0 27 11 + 1855 74 8 34 9 27 5 + + 1856 69 2 41 1 25 2 + 1857 56 4 42 1 25 0 + 1858 44 2 34 8 24 6 + 1859 43 9 33 6 23 2 + 1860 53 3 36 7 24 5 + + 1861 55 4 36 1 23 9 + 1862 55 5 35 1 22 7 + 1863 44 9 33 11 21 2 + 1864 40 2 29 11 20 1 + 1865 41 10 29 9 21 10 + + 1866 49 11 37 5 24 7 + 1867 64 5 40 0 26 0 + 1868 63 9 43 0 28 1 + 1869 48 2 39 5 26 0 + 1870 46 11 34 7 22 10 + + 1871 56 8 36 2 25 2 + 1872 57 0 37 4 23 2 + 1873 58 8 40 5 25 5 + 1874 55 9 44 11 28 10 + 1875 45 2 38 5 28 8 + + 1876 46 2 35 2 26 3 + 1877 56 9 39 8 25 11 + 1878 46 5 40 2 24 4 + 1879 43 10 34 0 21 9 + 1880 44 4 33 1 23 1 + + 1881 45 4 31 11 21 9 + 1882 45 1 31 2 21 10 + 1883 41 7 31 10 21 5 + 1884 35 8 30 8 20 3 + 1885 32 10 30 1 20 7 + + 1886 31 0 26 7 19 0 + 1887 32 6 25 4 16 3 + 1888 31 10 27 10 16 9 + 1889 29 9 25 10 17 9 + 1890 31 11 28 8 18 7 + + 1891 37 0 28 2 20 0 + 1892 30 3 26 2 19 10 + 1893 26 4 25 7 18 9 + 1894 22 10 24 6 17 1 + 1895 23 1 21 11 14 6 + + 1896 26 2 22 11 14 9 + 1897 30 2 23 6 16 11 + 1898 34 0 27 2 18 5 + 1899 25 8 25 7 17 0 + 1900 26 11 24 11 17 7 + + 1901 26 9 25 2 18 5 + 1902 28 1 25 8 20 2 + 1903 26 9 22 8 17 2 + 1904 28 4 22 4 16 4 + 1905 29 8 24 4 17 4 + + 1906 28 3 24 2 18 4 + 1907 30 7 25 1 18 10 + + + + +APPENDIX IV + +MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION + + +Gregory King, at the end of the seventeenth century, estimated the +acreage of England and Wales at 39,000,000--not at all a bad +estimate, the area, excluding water, according to the Board of +Agriculture Returns of 1907, being 37,130,344. The different +estimates by Grew, Templeman, Petty, Young, Halley, Middleton, and +others varied between 31,648,000 and 46,916,000 acres. The last, that +of Arthur Young, was actually adopted by Pitt for his estimate of the +income-tax.[760] + + * * * * * + +Caird in 1850[761] estimated the cultivated lands of England at +27,000,000 acres (in 1907 they were 24,585,455 acres), cultivated +thus:-- + + Permanent grass 13,333,000 + Arable 13,667,000 + +the latter being divided as follows:-- + + Acres. Bushels Produce, + per acre. quarters. + + Wheat 3,416,750 27 11,531,531 + Barley 1,416,750 38 6,729,562 + Oats and rye 2,000,000 44 11,000,000 + Clover and seeds 2,277,750 + Beans and peas 1,139,000 30 4,271,250 + Turnips, marigolds, & potatoes 2,116,750 + Rape and fallow 1,300,000 + +Davenant, at the end of the seventeenth century, made the following +estimate showing the importance of wool in English trade[762]:-- + + Annual income of England £43,000,000 + Yearly rent of land 10,000,000 + Value of wool shorn yearly 2,000,000 + " woollen manufactures 10,000,000 + +Thus the rents of land formed nearly one-fourth the total income of +the country, and wool paid one-fifth of the rents.[763] + +In the eighteenth century a great quantity of wool was smuggled out +of England in defiance of the law; in the space of four months in +1754, 4,000 tods was 'run' into Boulogne.[764] + + + FOREIGN AND COLONIAL WOOL + IMPORTED INTO ENGLAND.[765] + + lb. + + 1766 1,926,000 + 1771 1,829,000 + 1780 323,000 + 1790 2,582,000 + 1800 8,609,000 + 1810 10,914,000 + 1820 9,775,000 + 1830 32,305,000 + 1840 49,436,000 + 1850 74,326,000 + 1855 99,300,000 + 1857 127,390,000 + + + PRICES OF LABOUR IN SURREY IN 1780.[766] + + s. d. + + Day labourer, per day, in winter 1 4 + " " in summer 1 6 + Reaping wheat, per acre 7 0 + " " and according to the crop up to 12 0 + Mowing barley, per acre 2 6 + " oats, " 1s. 6d. to 2 0 + " grass " 2 6 + Hand-hoeing turnips, per acre, first time 6 0 + " " second time 4 0 + Thatching hayricks, per square of 100 ft. 1 0 + Washing and shearing sheep, per score 3 0 + Ploughing light land, per acre 5 0 + " stiff " " 7s. to 10 0 + Common hurdles, each 5 + + +OCCUPIERS OF LAND. + +In 1816 there were said to be 589,374 occupiers of land in Great +Britain[767]-- + + With incomes under £50 114,778 + Between £50 and £150 432,534 + Over £150 42,062 + ------- + 589,374 + ======= + +In 1907 there were 510,954 occupiers of one acre and more. + +MULHALL'S CALCULATION OF AVERAGE ANNUAL WAGES IN ENGLAND. + + Bailiff. Shepherd. Labourer. Woman. Boy. + + 1800 £20 £16 £12 £8 £6 + 1850 40 25 20 10 8 + 1880 52 36 30 15 10 + +The average annual cost of living of an agricultural family of five +was in 1823 £31, in 1883, £37. + + COMPARATIVE STATEMENT BY A. YOUNG OF PRICES AND WAGES IN ENGLAND + FROM 1200 TO 1810 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF REPRESENTING FACTS + IN 1810 BY THE NUMBER 20, AND THE FACTS OF THE PRECEDING PERIODS + BY THE PROPORTION BORNE BY THEM TO THAT NUMBER. + + Labourer's + Periods. Wheat. Meat. Wool. Wages. Horses. + + 1200-99 5-1/2 ... 3-1/2 ... + 1300-99 6-1/4 ... 4-3/4 ... + 1400-99 3 ... 5-1/2 ... + 1500-99 6 ... 5-1/2 ... + 1600-99 9-1/4 ... 8 ... + 1700-66 7-3/4 7-1/2 12 10 15-3/4 + 1767-89 11 11-1/2 15-1/3 12-1/2 17-1/4 + 1790-1803 13 16-1/2 16-1/6 16-3/4 19-1/2 + 1804-10 20 20 20 20 20 + +Thus wheat in 1804-10 had risen 233 per cent. since the sixteenth +century. + + +THE LABOURER'S WAGES. + +The following table, published by Mr. Barton in 1817,[768] shows +the depreciation of the labourer's wages in purchasing power between +1742 and 1808:-- + + Weekly Price of Wages in + Period. pay. wheat. pints of + s. d. s. d. bread. + + 1742-52 6 0 30 0 102 + 1761-70 7 6 42 6 90 + 1780-90 8 0 51 2 80 + 1795-9 9 0 70 8 65 + 1800-8 11 0 86 8 60 + +In answer to inquiries sent by the Poor Law Commissioners in 1834 to +900 parishes in England the average weekly wages of labourers were-- + + in summer, + s. d. + + in 254 parishes, with beer or cider 10 4-3/4 + 522 " without beer or cider 10 5-1/2 + + in winter, + + in 200 " with beer or cider 9 2-1/4 + 544 " without beer or cider 9 11-3/4 + +The annual average inclusive earnings of the labourer + + £ s. d. + + himself were stated at 27 17 10 + and of his wife and children 13 19 10 + ------------ + 41 17 8 + ============ + +It will thus be seen that the wife and children provided a third of +the income. The majority of the parishes said the labourer could +maintain his family on these wages. + +Here is the weekly budget of a labourer with an average family in +1800:--[769] + + Cr. s. d. + + Wages 15 0 + Garden 1 6 + Extras 1 0 + ----- + 17 6 + ===== + + Dr. s. d. + + Rent 1 7-1/2 + Bread 6 0 + Bacon 2 6 + Tea and sugar 1 3 + Cheese 1 6 + Butter 1 6 + Fuel 1 3 + Candles and soap 0 6 + Clothes 1 6 + Schooling 0 3 + Sundries 0 6 + --------- + 18 4-1/2 + ========= + +There is no fresh meat, and it is hard to say where any economy could +be practised. + + CONTRACT PRICES OF + BUTCHER'S MEAT PER CWT. + AT GREENWICH HOSPITAL, + 1730-1842.[770] + + £ s. d. + + 1730 1 5 8 + 1740 1 8 0 + 1750 1 6 6 + 1760 1 11 6 + 1770 1 8 6 + 1780 1 12 6 + 1790 1 16 10 + 1800 4 4 + 1810 3 12 0 + 1815 3 8 0 + 1820 3 10 4 + 1825 2 19 6 + 1830 2 3 6 + 1835 2 0 7 + 1840 2 14 0 + 1842 2 12 8 + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[760] C. Wren Hoskyns, _Pamphlet on Agricultural Statistics_, p. 19. + +[761] _English Agriculture in 1850-1_, p. 521. Cf. above, p. 331. + +[762] Smith, _Memoirs of Wool_, i. 157. + +[763] In 1908 the rental of agricultural land was 3-1/2 per cent. of +the total income of the country. See _The Times_ May 13, 1909. + +[764] Ibid. ii. 264. + +[765] Cunningham, _Industry and Commerce_, ii. 693. Cf. above, p. 328. + +[766] Trusler, _Practical Husbandry_, p. 153. + +[767] Farmer's Magazine (1817), p. 6. Statistics at this date, +however, must be taken with caution. They were usually estimates. Cf. +above, p. 334, for holdings in England. + +[768] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1881), xvi, 305. + +[769] _Parliamentary Reports, Commissioners_ (1881), xvi. 310. + +[770] McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_ (1852), p. 271. + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Abbot's Ripton, 72. + +Aberdeen Angus cattle, 288, 343. + +Accounts, keeping, 29, 49. + +Accumulation of estates, 123. + +Acre, 2; tenantry, 253. + +Advantages of large farms, 202. + +Affer, the, 35. + +Agricultural Holdings Acts, 283, 296, 299-303. + +Agricultural revolution, the, of eighteenth century, 162. + +Agriculture, + state of, 28, 38, 111, 113, 115, 123, 132, 160, 162, 192, 204, + 211, 221, 229, 244, 245, 250, 265, 267, 274, 287, 305; + seventeenth-century writers on, 127; + state of, in eighteenth century, 162, 192, 221, 229; + nineteenth, 244, 245, 262-70, 271, 287. + +Aitchison, 237. + +Akermanni, 13. + +Alderney cattle, 233. + +Ale, 10. + +Allotments, 196, 230, 253, 255n., 315-7. + +Allowance system, 237. + +Allowances, parish, 238, 241, 257, 284. + +Almaine, corn from, 20. + +Almonds, 93, 136. + +Amalgamation of farms, 29, 46, 47, 95, 119, 120, 162, 202, 258, 317. + +America, + gold discoveries in, 287; + imports from, 262, 293, 323-4. + +Ancaster, Earl of, estate of, 321. + +Andover, 39. + +Anti-Corn Law League, 280. + +Apples, 15, 65, 93, 129, 130, 131, 135-6, 143, 171, 186-9, 329, 332. + (_See_ Prices.) + +Apprentices, 108. + +Apricots, 93, 136. + +Arable district of England (1893), 306n. + +Arable fields, 1, 2, 4, 16, 73. + +Arable land, 56, 99, 100, 195; + amount of, in 1688, 155; + decrease of, 59; + extent of, in Domesday, 19; + in 1770, 199; + in 1850, 353; + in 1877 and 1907, 332; + preponderance of, 25, 30; + produce of, in 1688, 155; + suffers more than grass, 248, 266, 281, 285, 286, 306; + value of, 19, 40, 58, 115-7, 139. + +Arch, Joseph, 290-2. + +Ardley, Inquisition of, 9. + +Argentina, imports from, 324. + +Arley, Upper, wine made at, 145. + +Artificial grasses, _see_ Clover, improve commons, 166. + +Ash timber, value of, 137. + +Assize of beer, 13, 14n. + +Association, British, 336. + +Average crops of corn (1770), 197. + (_See under_ Wheat, Oats, Barley, &c.) + +Average size of farms in 1768, 202. + +Averagium, 10. + +Australia, gold discoveries in, 287; + imports from, 324; + sheep introduced into, 328; + wool from, 328. + +Axholme, 123, 260, 311, 318. + +Ayrshires, 339, 343. + + +B + +Bacon, Lord, 322, + +Bacon, 'the necessary meate' of the labourer, 102, 140; + price of, _see_ Prices. + +Badger, a corn dealer, 134. + +Bailiff, 12, 29, 49, 51, 61, 71, 103, 109, 110, 137, 139, 355. + +Bakewell, 146, 163-7, 214-7, 226, 233, 343, 344. + +Balance sheet, estate, 307; + farm, in 1805, 247; + in 1888, 309. + +Balks, 3. + +Ball, John, 60. + +Banbury cheese, 173. + +Bank Restriction Act, 239, 240, 263. + +Barking Nunnery, vineyard at, 144. + +Barley, 20, 33, 36, 65, 91, 124, 135, 142, 155, 182, 227, 331-2, 353; + cost of, per acre, 198; + produce, per acre, 165n., 197-8; + profit on, 179, 180. (_See_ Prices.) + +Barns, size of, 51. + +Barren years at end of seventeenth century, 115, 157. + +Basic slag, 304. + +Bassingthorpe, 103. + +Bates, Thomas, 274, 338. + +Bath, wine made at, 145. + +Beale, John, 128, 130. + +Beans, 17, 33, 49, 124, 155, 187, 201, 262, 331-2, 353; + cost of growing, 199; + profit on, 180. (_See_ Prices.) + +Bedford, Duke of, 225, 318, 321. + +Bedfordshire, 3, 18, 79, 120, 123, 238, 306. + +Beef, price of, _see_ Prices. + +Beer, 36, 329. + +Belgium, + live stock in, 334; + wheat crops in, 332n. + +Belvoir estate, 115, 286. + +Berkeley estates, 3, 27n., 35n., 48, 56, 64, 74, 75. + +Berkshire, 104, 175, 237, 284, 286, 306n. + +Berkshire Knotts, 345; + pigs, 346. + +Berlin decrees, 242. + +Best, Henry, accounts of, 138-40. + +Bideford, 262. + +Biggleswade, 318. + +Birds eating fruit, 129. + +Black Death, 27, 41-3, 59, 75. + +Black Year, the, 294. + +Blight, Hop, 150. + +Blyth, 113, 127, 137, 152. + +Board of Agriculture, 192, 193, 214, 229-33, 255; + (Government), 290. + +Bones for manure, 154-5, 273, 275-6, 299. + +Booth, Thomas, 337-8. + +Bordarii, 8, 11. + +Boston, 308, 318, 327. + +Boys' wages, 206. + +Bradley, 152, 167, 168-9, 170, 171, 181, 336. + +Brampton, 235. + +Bread, different kinds of, 54, 102, 206-7, 230; + rye, 101, 134, 206; + wheaten, a luxury, 101; + common, 207, 240; + made of turnips, 157; + price of (_see_ Prices). + +Breeding of stock, 37, 146, 167, 215-7, 256, 273. + +Brentford, 157. + +Bridport, 262. + +Bright, John, 280. + +Buckinghamshire, 78, 146, 172, 291, 306n. + +Buckwheat, 332. + +Budget, labourer's weekly, 206, 208, 356. + +Buildings, farm, and repairs, 51, 272, 279, 282, 299, 302, 307, 310. + +Bull, description of a (1726), 167. + +Burford, riot at, 185. + +Buri, 8, 11. + +Bury St. Edmunds, 110, 147. + +Butter, 33, 63n., 66, 114, 138, 140, 161, 174, 205, 206n., 241, 247 + (_see_ Prices), 304, 305, 313, 325; + exports of, 326-7. + +By-industries of peasant, 110, 239, 250, 257, 260, 269, 317. + + +C + +Cabbages, 112, 143, 187, 191, 194, 200, 201, 331. + +Cadaveratores, 13. + +Caird, Sir James, 279, 281, 285, 287, 310, 314, 319n. + +Cake, 296, 300, 305, 314. + +Calstock, 318. + +Calves, killing of, forbidden, 86; + rearing, 125. + +Cambridgeshire, 79, 151, 167, 222, 262, 306n., 318. + +Camden, 173, 335. + +Canada, imports from, 323-4. + +Canterbury, hops from, 171. + +Capital of farmers, 197, 203-4. + +Carrington, Lord, 231. + +Carrots, 112, 128, 143, 167, 191, 194, 331. 332. + +Carter, wages of, 110. + +Cart-horses, price of, 35, 114. + +Carts, 153. + +Cattle, Chillingham, 336; + diseases, 85; + export of, 326, 330; + improvement in, 336, 337, 338 (_see_ Cattle, size of); + number of, in 1867 and 1878, 288; + in 1907, 333-4; + original breed of, 336; + price of, _see_ Prices; + size of, 37, 104, 146, 169, 288, 336, 342; + separation of, for summer pasture, 124; + sorts of (1726), 167 (_see under_ Various breeds); + about 1800, 235; + in 1839, 274; + in 1892, 274, 336; + time to buy, 125. (_See_ Bakewell, Collings, Exports, _and_ Imports.) + +Cattle plagues, of eighteenth century, 172, 185-6, 290; + of nineteenth century, 289-90, 294. + +Cauliflowers, 143. + +Causes of high prices at end of eighteenth century, 240. + +Celery, 318. + +Chamberlayne, 259. + +Cheddar cheese, 173. + +Cheese, 33, 63n., 66, 161, 173, 174, 200, 206n., 276, 305, 313, 325. + (_See_ Prices, Exports, _and_ Imports.) + +Chelmsford, 110, 171, 307. + +Chemistry, agricultural, 232, 243, 275. + +Cherries, 15, 129, 130, 131, 136, 143, 171, 329, 332. + +Cheshire, 3, 110, 167, 173, 224, 276, 295, 306. + +Chestnuts, 136. + +Cheviots, 344, 346, + +Child, Josiah, 117. + +Christ Church, Canterbury, 42. + +Cider, 37, 130, 131, 135-6, 149, 187-9, 207, 269. + +Cistercians, good farmers, 29, 327. + +Civil War, checks improvement, 113; + family settlements after, 123. + +Claret made in Oxfordshire, 145. + +Clarke, 236. + +Close parishes, 158, 284. + +Cloth made in England, 69, 70. + +Clothes, part of wages, 28, 109; + of labourer, 54, 71, 109, 185, 206-8, 211, 311; + of farmer, 105, 213. + +Clover, cost of growing, 198; + extent of, 331, 333, 353; + introduced, 111, 112; + spread of, 115, 141-2, 164, 166, 178, 179, 191, 194; + seed, price of, 223; + sown with corn, 166. + +Clun Forest sheep, 344, 346. + +Clydesdale horse, 335. + +Cobbett, 107, 226, 265, 268. + +Cobden, Richard, 279n., 280, 285n. + +Coinage, depreciation of, 44, 59, 89. + +Coke of Holkham, 163, 182, 224-8, 275, 341. + +'Coke's Clippings', 227. + +Coleseed, 115. + +Coliberti, 8. + +Collings, the, 146, 163, 167, 233-5, 337. + +Combe, 53. + +'Comet,' 234, 235. + +Commissions, Royal, on Agriculture, &c., 260, 266, 289, 294-6, 300, 303, + 304, 305, 311-14, 316, 318, 320, 329. + +Committees, Parliamentary, 256, 258, 263n., 266, 267. + +Common, John, 303. + +Common fields, 22, 26, 78, 112, 113, 118-9, 120, 194, 253, 258. + +Common land, 3, 145, 148; + evils of, 148, 194, 256, 257; + improvement of, 166. + +Common pasture, _see_ Pasture _and_ Meadows. + +Commons, advantages of, 165; + extent of, in 1795, 231; + rights of, lost, 253. + +Communities and corporations contrasted, 2. + +Commutation of labour services for money, 27, 45. + +Compensation for improvements, 296, 299-302. + +Competition, foreign, 296, 297, 312, 315, 319, 323-30. + +Consolidation of farms, _see_ Amalgamation. + +Contractors for labour, 209. + +Co-operation in agriculture, 1. + +Copyholders, 59, 121-2. + +Corn laws, 63, 64, 69, 70, 159, 160, 242, 248, 250, 265-6, 277-80. + +Cornwall, 136, 186, 295, 309, 318. + +Cost of living (1773-1800), 241. + +Cotarii, 8, 11, 25. + +Cotswold sheep, 233, 275, 343, 344; + wool, famous, 172. + +Cottages, 52, 117, 121n., 139, 158, 159, 206, 209, 250, 254, 255, + 267-8, 285, 297, 304, 311n., 315-6. + +Court Rolls, of Manydown, 13. + +Cowper, John, 165. + +Cows, decrease in number of, 96; + increase, 325; + let out by the year, 34, 57, 65; + yield of, 33, 64. (_See_ Prices of Cattle.) + +Craik improves drill, 202. + +Craven, migration from, 44. + +Crimean War, effect of, 277n., 287. + +Crondall, 28. + +Crows' and magpies' nests to be destroyed, 100. + +Culley, George, 217, 234, 337, 344. + +Cultivated land, amount of, in 1685, 120; + in 1867, 288. + +Cultivation, Walter of Henley on, 32; + of England, in 1688, 155; + the old and new ways of, 177, 180, 194, 200-2. + +Cultivation, clauses, 57, 178, 218, 296, 302, 322. + +Cumberland, 238, 295, 309, 311, 346. + +Currants, 331. + +Custom of the country, 299, 300n., 302 (_see_ Tenant right). + +Cuxham, manor of, 24. + +Cylindrical drain pipes, 272. + + +D + +Dairy, the, and dairying, 33, 59, 168, 170, 173, 199-200, 297, 307, + 306, 313, 319, 325, 340-1. + (_See_ Butter, Cheese, _and_ Milk.) + +Damsons, 15, 136. + +Danegeld, 6. + +Dartmoor sheep, 344, 346. + +Davenant, 115, 117, 120, 260, 354. + +Daventry, common fields at, 115, 117, 120, 260, 354. + +Davy, Sir H., 232, 276; + T.T., 342. + +Dealers, legislation against, 86, 93, 134; + complaints against, 237. + +Defoe, Daniel, 166, 168, 169, 171, 174, 220, 259. + +Degge, Simon, 122. + +Demesne, 7, 15, 30, 45, 56, 58, 65, 74, 97, 99. + +Denmark, imports from, 241, 262, 323-4; + livestock in, 334; + wheat crops in, 332n. + +Depression, agricultural, 163, 183, 184, 223, 228, 242, 248, + 262-70, 281, 292, 293-6, 305-14. + +Derby, Lord, estate of, 320n. + +Derbyshire, 44, 167, 309, 343. + +Devon cattle, 168, 217, 225, 233, 274, 288, 336, 339, 340-3. + (_See_ Southams.) + +Devon sheep, 343, 344. + +Devonshire, 37, 73, 107, 113, 128, 132, 136, 186, 187, 244, 245, 269, + 272, 295, 306, 309, 338. + +Devonshiring, 141. + +D'Ewes, Sir S., quoted, 117, 133. + +Dexters, 343. + +Dibbling wheat, 135. + +Digging for wheat, 135. + +Diseases of Animals Act (1890), 290. + +Dishley, 214-6. + +Distress, law of, 296, 301; + periods of, 42, 68 (_see_ Depression, agricultural), 237, 242. + +Divining rod, 232. + +Domesday, 5, 14, 16, 19, 60, 79, 144. + +Doncaster, roads near, 221. + +Dorking, manor of, 65. + +Dorset, 3, 263, 285, 291, 312, 318; + sheep, 344, 346. + +Dovecotes, _see_ Pigeons. + +Drainage, 16, 32, 113, 128, 129, 137, 154, 163, 201, 202, 213-4, 219, 230, + 271, 273, 279, 282, 288, 299, 300, 305, 307, 310. + +Drills, 113, 152, 175-7, 180, 183, 200-2, 226, 227, 271, 274. + +Drinking habits, 207-8, 269. + +Drying hops, 151. + +Duchesses, the, 234, 274, 338. + +Duckham, Mr., 339. + +Ducks, 170 (_see_ Poultry). + +Dugdale, 77. + +Du-Hamel, 202. + +Durham, 119, 337. + +Durham ox, 234, 235. + +Dutch breed of cattle, _see_ Shorthorns. + + +E + +Eakring, common meadows at, 22. + +Eardisley, 5. + +East Indies, wool from, 328. + +Eden, account of potatoes, 106, 207, 238, 256. + +Education Acts, 292, 297. + +Egypt, imports from, 323. + +Eighteenth century, general characteristics of, 162. + +Electricity applied to vegetables, 236. + +Elevator, hay and straw, 304. + +Elkington of Princethorpe, 213-4, 230, 271. + +Ellis, Chiltern and Vale Farming, 180. + +Ellman, John, 217, 345. + +Enclosers prosecuted in Star Chamber, 120. + +Enclosure, 74-82, 85, 92, 96, 97, 119, 173, 182, 194, 228, 252-261; + agreement as to, 98; + acts of, 119, 163, 196, 231, 233, 252, 253, 258; + amount of, exaggerated, 121; + different kinds of, 73, 119, 165, 196; + eighteenth century, 163, 165, 173, 182, 183, 194, 196, 253; + evils of, 194, 195, 252-3, 254-61, 316; + expense of, 196, 252; + non-parliamentary,165, 253; + a deed of, 75; + a sign of progress, 76, 114, 139, 145-8, 253; + legislation against, 79, 80, 120; + checked, 120. + +England, appearance of, in fifteenth century, 78; + in the seventeenth, 120-1. + +English invaders, 1. + +Entails, barred, 122. + +Essex, 62, 78, 106, 128, 173, 190, 225, 286, 295, 306, 309, 319. + +Estates, great, accumulation of, 123; + advantages of, 322; + often a loss, 321. + +Evelyn, John, 127, 149. + +Evesham, Vale of, 318. + +Ewes, milking of, 33, 64, 200. + +Exhibition, Great, 287, 304. + +Exmoor sheep, 344, 346. + +Exporting country, England ceases to be an, 161, 163. + +Exports of butter and cheese, 326-7. + +Exports of corn, 63n., 64, 70, 159-161, 183, 185, 242, 267, 348-9; + reaches its maximum, 186; + of livestock, 325-6; + of wool, 39, 69, 172, 327. + +Extensive cultivation, 2. + +Extent of the Manor, 10. + +Eyton, Mr., 339. + + +F + +Faggots, price of, 114. + +Fairs for hops, 171; + horses, 105; + sheep, 172n.; + wool, 172n. + +Fallows, utilized, 112, 177, 181, 191, 195; + in 1877, 1907, 331; + in 1850, 353. + +Families employed on common and on enclosed land, 195. + +Farm or feorm, 5. + +Farmer, day's work of, in seventeenth century, 134; + discontent of, 127-8, 184; + financial position of, 101, 103, 156, 162, 184, 195, 204, 212-3, 243, + 247, 257-8, 264-5, 293, 307, 308, 310, 320; + growing more skilful, 101, 132. + +_Farmer's Letters_, Young's, 192. + +Farmhouses, 51, 101, 116, 119, 213, 226. + +Farming, bad, 273, 281; + improvement in, 28, 111, 113, 115, 132, 160, 162, 192, 204, 211, 221, + 229, 244, 265, 267, 271, 274, 275, 281, 288. + +Farming calendar, 17, 124. + +Farms, in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 116-7; + size of (1768), 202. + +Farnham, hops, 171. + +Fashion, farming becomes the, 192, 193. + +Fattening oxen, 31, 58, 125, 136-7, 166, 214, 216, 225n., 235, 288; + sheep, 112, 166, 225n.; + chickens, 170. + +'Favourite', 234. + +Feeding pigs, 16, 125. + +Fences, legislation as to, 4. + +Fens, the, 78, 123, 170, 318. + +Feversham, fruit growing near, 128, 171. + +Fifteenth century, character of, 68. + +Figs, 15, 93, 136. + +Filberts, 93, 136. + +Fitzherbert, 31, 61, 76, 77, 83-5, 111, 132, 135. + +Fixtures, 301. + +Flanders, cattle, 338; + clover from, 111, 166; + hops from, 86, 150; + wool exported to, 39, 327; + sheep exported to, 326. + +Flax, 17, 105, 135, 141, 151-2, 191, 251, 331, 332. + +Fleece, weight of, 37, 41, 104, 200, 215. + +Fleta, quoted, 12, 13. + +Floor, for hop-picking, 91, 151. + +Flour, exports and imports of, 348-9. + +Fluctuations in price of corn, 35, 66, 89, 133, 142, 157, 186, 221, + 223, 277. + +Fold soke, 9. + +Folding quality, of sheep, 253. + +Food, labourer's, 9, 25, 34, 37, 53, 54, 61, 62, 102, 110, 134, + 139-40, 164, 200-8, 211, 240n., 268, 290-1, 297, 308, 311; + farmer's, 101, 128, 213, 240n., 246, 308. + +Foot-and-mouth disease, _see_ Cattle Plagues. + +Foot-rot, 294. + +Foreman, requirements of, 139. + +Forncett, manor of, 25, 45, 46. + +Fountains Abbey, 81. + +Four-course rotation, 183. + +Four-field system, 99. + +Fourteenth century, characteristics of, 38. + +Fowler, John, 304. + +Fox, the, 140, 244. + +France, exports to, 349; + imports from, 243, 323; + livestock in, 334; + small holders of, 202-3; + wheat crops in, 332. + +Freeholders, _see also_ Yeoman, 119, 121-2. + +Freemen, 7. + +Free tenants, 24, 29, 45. + +Free trade, 161, 277-81, 323; + effect of, 281, 284, 288, 293, 296. + +French War, great, _see_ Wars. + +Fruit, 15, 93, 128, 143; + imports of 305. + +Fruit-growing in seventeenth century, 129-131, 132, 136; + in eighteenth century, 171, 186-9; + in nineteenth century, 319, 329, 330. + +Furlongs, 3, 118. + +Furniture of manor house, 52; + labourer's home, 52. + + +G + +Gafol, 9, 10. + +Galloway cattle, 169, 343. + +Game, damage by, 302. + +Game law, the first, 55. + +Gang system, 292. + +Geese, 34, 170. (_See_ Poultry.) + +Gentry, at the Revolution, 156; + estates of under Walpole, 183; + status of 50, 97; + supplanted, 122, 128, 137, 140, 156, 184, 211, 312, 310. + (_See_ Landlords _and_ Squire). + +Gerard, 106, 111. + +'Gerefa, the', 15. + +Germany, exports to, 63; + imports from, 20, 66, 69, 241, 243, 262, 323-4, 328; + livestock in, 334; + wheat crops in, 332n. + +Gilbert, 275. + +Gilbert's Act, 237. + +Gilbey, Sir W.,335. + +Glamorganshire, vineyards in, 145. + +Glastonbury Abbey, 13. + +Gleaning, 133. + +Gloucestershire, 19, 78, 128, 136, 143, 144, 173, 207, 295, 344. + +Gloves, gifts of, 62. + +Gold premium, 305. + +Googe, Barnaby, 144, 173. + +Gooseberries, 331. + +Grafting in seventeenth century, 130. + +Grain crops, chief source of lord's income, 25. + +Grapes, 136, 329 (_see_ Vineyards). + +Grass, acreage under, in 1877 and 1907, 331-2; + in 1850, 353; + arable land laid down to, 56, 58, 75, 79, 91, 93-4, 117-9, 120, 196, + 219, 231, 305; + converting, to tillage, 231, 263; + more profitable than arable, 199; + seeds, 165, 191, 194, 226-7. + +Grass land, price of, _see_ Pasture and meadow, price of; + ploughed up, 186, 218, 245. + +Grass section of England in 1893, 306n. + +Grasshoppers, plague of, 185. + +Graziers, profits of, 184, + +Greycoats of Kent, 259. + +Ground Game Act, 303. + +Guano, 232, 276. + +Guernsey cattle, 342, 343. + +Gun, the, in seventeenth century, 140. + + +H + +Haggard, Rider, Mr., 314-5. + +Hallam, 210. + +Hambleton, Sir A. Barker of, 142. + +Hamlets, 5. + +Hampshire, 28, 36, 79, 116, 132, 145, 165n., 240, 253, 266, 268, 306n., + 309, 314; + sheep, 275, 288, 344, 345. + +Handborough, 53. + +Harrison, 'Description of England,' 19, 28, 50, 56, 86, 91, 95, 101, + 104, 149. + +Harrow, the, and harrowing, 17, 65, 84, 125, 135, 141, 153-4, 166, + 176, 176, 179, 194, 201, 203, 246. + +Hartlib, Simon, 127, 128, 130, 131, 132, 142-3. + +Harvest, importance of, 9, 108. + +Harvest homes, 104, 269. + +Harvest work, 25, 62, 125, 138, 209. + +Hatfield Chase, 78. + +Hawsted, 20, 30, 35, 54, 57, 58, 62, 63, 67, 112, 115, 116, 178, + 179, 205, 207. + +Hay, 112; + price of, _see_ Prices; + carrying off, 178, 219, 302; + imports of, 262. + +Hay tedder, 304. + +Haymaking, 4, 44, 124, 125, 138, 142. + +Headlands, 3. + +'Heaths', Shropshire, 220. + +Hedges, 124, 148, 150, 163, 178, 282. + +Hemp, 100, 105, 135, 151. + +Henley, Walter of, 19n., 31, 36, 83. + +Henry of Huntingdon, 327. + +Hens, number of eggs from, 35. + +Herdwick sheep, 344, 346. + +Hereford cattle, 233, 235, 274, 288, 336, 338-40, 342. + +Herefordshire, 5, 40, 128, 130, 132, 136, 143, 171, 186-7, 188, 240, + 247, 249, 250, 267, 291, 306, 309, 316. + +Hertfordshire, 150, 174, 179, 225, 238, 306n. + +Hentzner's description of English fanning, 104. + +Hide, 16. + +Highland, West, cattle, 217, 343. + +Hoeing, 153, 166, 188, 201-2, 354; + horse, 198, 201. + +Holder, the small, 73, 76, 119, 121-2, 164, 191, 195, 202, 205, 220, + 253-61, 268, 308, 310, 311, 316-9; + decrease of, causes of, 122, 259; + new class of, 260. + +Holderness cattle, 337. + +Holdings, various sizes of, 334. + +Holland, + Shorthorns from, 337; + live stock in, 334; + wheat crops in, 332n. + +Honey, 10, 144. + +Hops, 28, 86-7, 89-91, 111, 125, 128, 143, 149, 150, 171, 297-9, + 329-30, 331; + acreage of, in 1729, 171, 297-8, 329; + average crop, 333; + duty on, 297-8; + imports of, 329-30; + profit on, 90, 150, 171, 298-9, 330; + substitutes, 298, 329. + +Horse fairs, 105. + +Horse shoes, 36. + +Horses, + deterioration of; 85, 146; + export of, 325-6; + kinds of, 274, 335; + number of, 333; + size of, 104, 105, 217; + tax on, 249; + working powers of, 31, 153, 204. + (_See_ Prices.) + +Houghton, account of potatoes, 106, 127, 165. + +Houses, wooden, 50 (_see_ Farmhouses); + of the squire and yeoman, 103, 212. + +Housing cattle and horses, 126. + +Howberry, 175-6. + +'Hubback', 234. + +Hundred Rolls, 28, 76, 327. + +Hunting, 140, 210. + +Huntingdonshire, 3, 25n., 72, 120, 123, 222, 306n., 309. + +Hurdles, 354. + +Husbandry, old and new, _see_ Cultivation. + + +I + +Implements, cost of, rises, 242; + in seventeenth century, 135, 152-3, 154; + in eighteenth century, 188, 194, 203, 229, 236; + in nineteenth century, 271, 273-5, 276, 287n., 303-4, 316; + improvement in, 113; + list of, in eleventh century, 17-52; + prices of, 83, 138. + +Importing country, England becomes an, 163. + +Imports cause low prices, 295. + +Imports + of clover seed, 166; + of corn, 20, 63n., 66, 69, 70, 159-61, 183, 184, 223, 224, 230, 240, + 241-4, 247, 248, 249, 262, 266, 267, 277-80, 287, 293, 305, 323-4, + 330, 348-9; + of dairy produce, 325; + of fruit, 188, 329; + of hops, 150; + of linen, 105; + of livestock, 161, 280-1, 305, 324-6, 337; + of meat, 161, 305, 325, 330; + of wool, 39, 161, 305, 328, 354. + +Improvements, amount expended in, 320-1; + needed in eighteenth century, 191; + in farming in eighteenth century, 192 (_see_ Agriculture, state of), 193, + 204 (_see_ Farming). + +Inbreeding, Bakewell and, 214; + the Collings and, 234-5. + +Income and expenditure of landed classes (1688), 156. + +Incubators, early, 132. + +India, + imports from, 324; + wool from, 328. + +Ine, laws of, as to fencing, 5. + +Inherent capabilities of the soil, 301. + +Inns, markets for produce, 323. + +Inoculation of fruit trees, 131. + +Intensive cultivation, 2. + +Irish imports, 161, 262, 324-5, 328; + labourers, 209, 306. + +Irrigation, 113, 132, 217. + +Isle of Wight, 172n. + +Italy, exports to, 349; + wool exported to, 39, 327. + + +J + +Jamaica, wool from, 328. + +Jersey cattle, 275, 339, (_See_ Alderney.) + +Jus faldae, 64. + +Justices regulate wages, 107. + + +K + +Kent, 40, 128, 143-7, 157, 171, 173, 186, 259, 265, 283, 295, 306n., 309. + +Kentish + cattle, 168; + sheep, 343, 344. + +Kerry cattle, 343. + +Kett, rising of, 96. + +Ketton, 233, 235. + +Kilns, hop, 151. + +King's, Gregory, statistics, 120, 140, 141, 155, 258-9, 260, 353. + +Kingston, Lord, estate rents of, 116. + +Knights Hospitallers' estates, 40. + + +L + +Labour, + cost of, per acre, 313; + services, 6, 12, 25, 27, 42, 45, 56, 61. + +Labourer, character of, in eighteenth century, 175, 184, 201, 204, + 205, 210; + condition of, at end of eighteenth century, 237-9; + condition of, in nineteenth century, 257, 266-8, 269, 270, 279, + 283-4, 285, 290-2, 297, 311-2, 313-4, 315, 320, 355; + decrease of, 305, 311n., 315; + life of, in Middle Ages,53, 54, 67, 71, 103; + made a land-less man by enclosure, 196, 257; + number of (1688), 156; + savings of, 102-3, 156; + sports of, 55; + the home of the, 52, 158; + wages of, _see_ Wages. + +Lambs, to fall March 25, 126. + +Lammas, 4, 112, 137. + +Lancashire, 44, 78, 106, 110, 147, 163, 167, 207, 216, 219, 282, + 283, 284, 309, 312, 316, 320, 343, 346. + +Land, value of, 19, 36, 40, 66, 117, 133, 149, 183, 243, 286-7, + 293, 304, 310, 328, 348. + +Landlords, + absentee, 184, 191; + of the fourteenth century, 48; + new class of, 59; + houses of the 103 (_see_ Cottages); + improve estates, 132, 162, 224, 232, 255, 268, 320; + protectionists, 160-1; + ignorant of estate management, 175, 193, 249, 281; + in nineteenth century, 265, 281, 304, 307, 309, 320-2; + position, weakened, 309; + relations of, and tenant, 218, 226, 282-3, 299, 301, 322; + suffered most from present depression, 320; + reserve sporting rights, 115; + take to farming, 182. + +Landlordship, 6. + +Lawes, Sir John, 275, 276, 314, 319. + +Lawrence, John, 152, 165, 166, 167, 173, 337. + +Laxton, Notts, 22. + +Leases,45, 56, 57, 65, 81, 97, 113, 115-6, 121-2, 178, 218, 219, + 263n., 272, 282, 283. + +Leicester sheep, 215-6, 235, 274, 275, 343, 344. + +Leicestershire, 8, 78, 79, 120, 151, 172, 174, 214-6, 268, 306n., + 309, 343. + +'Lemmons', 93. + +Leominster, + manor of, 18; + wool, 40, 171, 172n. + +Liberi homines, 7. + +Liebig, 275, 276. + +Lime, 112, 141, 177, 187, 197. + +Limestone sheep, 344, 346. + +Liming the land, 77, 113, 218, 219, 246, 300. + +Lincoln + red cattle, 343; + sheep, 215, 235, 275, 288, 343, 344, 346. + +Lincolnshire, 3, 8, 40, 99, 100, 103, 123, 151, 168, 172, 250, 252, 255, + 283, 306n., 307, 318, 321. + +Liquorice, 143, 191. + +Liverpool, + apples at, 188; + wheat at, 185. + +Liverpool, Lord, 232, 264. + +Live stock, + depreciation of, 306, 330; + exports of, 325-6, 330; + number of (1877 and 1907), 333-4; + in England (1688), 155, 164; + duty on, repealed, 280. + +Locusts in England, 185. + +London, + affects wages, 205; + attracts country folk, 209, 210; + potato grown near, 106; + carrots grown near, 167, 168; + roads near, 222; + sheep and cattle driven to, 221. + +Longhorn cattle, 167, 216-7, 233, 234, 274, 275n., 336, 343. + +Longmynd, 345. + +Lonk sheep, 344, 346. + +Lord of the manor, 6, 14, 19, 25, 42, 121, 127, 255; + small holder suffers at his hand, 121. + +'Lord Wilton', 340. + +Lucerne, 143, 167n., 191, 201. + +Luffenham, + South, 22; + North, 103. + +Luxury, spread of, an, 243, 264. + +Lyttelton, + Sir H., 145; + Lord, 183. + + +M + +Macadam, 220, 223, 230. + +Machinery, use of, 271. + +Madder, 17, 143, 191, 194. + +Maidstone hops, 171. + +Maize, imports of, 262, 296, 313. + +Mangolds, 237, 331-2, 333, 353. + +Manor, regulations of the, 13, 99. + +Manor, the typical, 14. + +Manorial balance sheets, 26, 65. + +Manorial system, 6, 7, 18, 24, 45, 76, 97. + +Manors, 6, 7, 14, 18, 25, 42, 45, 65, 97, 99, 118. + +Mansion house, 14, 50. + +Manufactures, influence of, on wages, 284, 297, 315. + +Manures, 113, 119, 136, 144, 150-4, 177, 178, 179, 187, 191, 197, 201, + 219, 221, 254, 275-6, 296, 299, 300, 304, 305, 314. + +Manydown, Hants, 13. + +Market gardening, 306, 308, 319. + +Markham, Gervase, 127, 134-7, 146, 151, 171. + +Marling, 77, 113, 183, 191, 197, 202, 219, 300. + +Marshall, William, 188, 204, 207, 213, 222, 298, 314, 336, 338, 340. + +Maryland, wool from, 328. + +Mattocks for breaking clods, 129. + +McCormick, 303. + +McCulloch, 281, 324, 349. + +Meadowland, 2, 19, 22, 40, 58, 155. + +Meadows, + 16, 30, 73, 99, 100, 118, 124, 148, 253, 258; + value of, 40, 58, 115-6, 139, 231. + +Meat, imports of, 161, 305, 325. + +Medlars, 136. + +Meikle, 230, 236. + +Menzies, 236. + +Merino sheep, 233, 328n. + +Messor, the, 13. + +Middlesex, 41, 145, 306n. + +Midland counties, + enclosure in, 120; + sheep in, 216, 218. + +Migration of labourers, 44, 158n., 209, 238. + +Milk, 63n., 168 (_see_ Dairy), 170, 205, 275, 297, 330. + +Mill, suit of, 9. + +Mills, excessive number of, 114. + +Minimum wage proposed, 241. + +Minister of Agriculture, 305. + +Mixtil, or mastlin, or mesling, 9, 102, 125, 138, 207n. + +Moles, 114, 124. + +Molton Market, 341. + +Monasteries, 68, 81. + +Money payments, 24, 27, 45, 56. + +Mortimer abuses the law, 74. + +Moryson, 102, 105, 122. + +Mountain sheep, 344, 346. + +Mowing corn, + Fitzherbert's advice, 84, 125, 135, 138, 199, 354; + machines for, 303-4. + +Mowing grass, + cost of, 34, 44, 65, 71, 109, 138, 142, 348, 354; + Fitzherbert's advice, 84. + +Mulberries, 15, 146. + +Murrain, 13, 42n., 68. + +Mutton, price of, _see_ Prices. + + +N + +New world, influx of precious metals from, 89, 111. + +New Zealand, wool from, 328. + +Newark, 157. + +Nitrate of soda, 276. + +Non-intercourse Act of United States, 242. + +Norden, Sir John, 127-8, 220. + +Norfolk, 8, 40, 45, 63n., 94, 96, 97, 167n., 169, 170, 182, 217, + 224-8, 306n., 308, 340. + +Norfolk, or four-course rotation, 183. + +Normandy, 338. + +North, + difference of wages between, and South, 283-5; + superior thrift in, 207-8. + +Northamptonshire, 8, 78, 79, 120, 151, 157, 172, 222, 306n. + +Northleach, rates at, 295. + +Northumberland, 193n., 256, 295, 303, 309, 346. + +Norwich, 169, 182. + +Nottinghamshire, 8, 22, 78, 116, 144, 172, 237, 276, 283, 306n., 308, 309. + +Nowton, Suffolk, 57. + +Nucleated villages, 5. + +Nuts, 136. + + +O + +Oak timber, + value of, 137; + Coke's, 225-6. + +Oakham, 110. + +Oats, 20, 33, 65, 91, 124, 135-8, 142, 155, 227, 305, 331-2, 353; + cost of growing, in 1770, 199; + produce, per acre, in 1712, 105n.; + in 1770, 197-9; + profit on, 180. (_See_ Prices.) + +Occupiers of land, 355. + +'Old Comely', 216. + +Olives, 93, 136. + +Onions, 143, 332. + +Open parishes, 158, 284. + +Oranges, 93. + +Orchards, 17, 128, 131, 143, 186, 188, 255, 332; + seventeenth century, 135-6. + +Owners and occupiers, percentage of, 334. + +Owners of Land, return, 260-1. + +Owners, small, _see_ Holders, small. + +Ox teams, 16, 31, 64, 84, 143, 147, 153, 191, 204, 340. + +Oxen, + description of, in 1592, 104; + value of, 19, 20, 35, 57, 66, 114. (_See_ Cattle, price of.) + +Oxford, 63, 273, 338. + +Oxford Down sheep, 275, 288, 344, 345. + +Oxfordshire, 24, 40, 78, 99, 145, 151. + + +P + +Pack-horses, use of, 138. + +Packing fruit in seventeenth century, 129, 130. + +Paring and burning, 141, 153. + +Parsnips, 143. + +Pasture, breaking up, 218. + +Pasture, + common, 2, 4, 16, 19, 73, 99, 113, 195; + often worth little, 256; + permanent, in Holdings Act, 299; + extent of, in 1688, 155; + in 1770, 196; + ploughed up during French War, 243; + sparing, 124. + +Pasture land, price of, 41, 59, 115-7, 139. + +Patents, 113, 236. + +Peaches, 15, 93, 136. + +Pears, 15, 93, 130, 131, 136, 143, 329, 333. + +Peas, 33, 69, 124, 155, 200, 227, 331-2, 353. + +Peasants' revolt, 60. + +Peel's drainage loans, 272. + +Penalty for breaking up pasture, 178. + +Perry, 130. + +Pestilences, 38, 42, 68, 79. + +Piecework, 28, 163, 206. + +Pigeons, number of, 49, 96, 105, 143, 244, 274, 275. + +Pigs, + export of, 330; + feeding, 16, 125; + foot-and-mouth disease attacks, 290; + import of, 326; + number of, 333-4; + profit on, in 1763, 200; + size of, in 1592, 104; + value of, 20, 35n., 96, 200-3; + varieties of, 170, 346. + (_See_ Prices.) + +Pinchbeck, 103. + +Pitt, William, 238, 239. + +Plat, Sir Hugh, 127, 152. + +Plattes, Gabriel, 76, 127. + +Pleuro-pneumonia, _see_ Cattle plagues. + +Plot, 145. + +Plough, eleventh- and twelfth-century, 17. + +Ploughing, + cost of, 33, 65, 135, 141, 177, 179, 246; + months for, 17, 124. + +Ploughland, the, 16, 18. + +Ploughs and ploughing, 65, 83, 113, 125, 129, 135, 143, 150, + 153, 177, 191, 203, 217, 218, 225, 273, 342, 354. + +Plums, 15, 93, 130, 131, 136, 329, 332. + +Poaching, 48; + by labourers, 55, 210, 248, 282, 291. + +Population of England, 79, 89, 111, 120, 140, 156, 160, 163, 211, 240, 287. + +Pork, price of, _see_ Prices. + +Porter, 'Progress of Nation,' 276, 279, 286, 287. + +Portugal, exports to, 349. + +Potatoes, 106, 107, 112, 187, 191, 194, 227, 318, 331-3, 353; + disease, 277. + +Poultry, 41n., 66, 80, 132, 169, 170 (_see_ Prices); + carrying, to London,171. + +Praepositus, 12. + +Precarii, or boon days, 9. + +Precious metals, + influx of, 89, 111; + scarcity of, 66n. + +Prices: + Apples, 15, 65, 188, 189. + Bacon and pork, 96, 102, 238, 239, 263, 313, 334. + Barley, 20, 35, 69, 114, 133, 138, 142, 155, 179, 223, 247, + 312, 347, 350-3. + Beans, 35, 155, 180, 347. + Beef, 96, 102, 114, 164, 206n., 239, 240, 241, 242, 247, 262, 263, 265. + Bread, 206n., 207n., 223, 230, 242n., 280, 285, 286, 291. + Butter, 33, 66, 114, 206n., 241, 247, 285-6, 312, 334, 347. + Carts, 203. + Cattle, 19, 20, 35, 41, 65, 89, 105, 114, 119, 133, 146, 163, 165n., + 167, 169, 203, 235, 263, 307, 312, 347. + Cheese, 173-4, 206n., 241, 242, 312, 334, 347. + Clover, 166. + Eighteenth century, 145, 160, 163, 164, 165n., 166, 167, 169, 170, + 172, 173-4, 179, 180, 186, 188, 189, 200, 203, 206n., 222, 223, 227, + 229, 230, 231, 237, 238, 239, 240, 285, 341, 355. + Fifteenth century, 40, 66, 69, 355. + Fourteenth century, 39, 40, 41, 59, 65, 327, 355. + Flax,152. + Grapes, 144. + Harness, 203. + Hay, 157, 165n., 166, 241-2, 262, 347. + Hops, 87, 89, 150, 247, 298, 330, 347. + Horses, 19, 20, 35, 36, 114, 142, 165n., 203, 347, 355. + Horse-shoes,96. + Implements, 83, 138. + Malt, 89, 240, 241. + Milk, 168, 170, 312. + Mutton, 96, 10-2, 206n., 239, 240, 241, 247, 262, 263, 265, 313, 334. + Nineteenth century, 227, 235, 240, 242-4, 245, 247-8, 262, 263, 264-6, + 267, 277-81, 285, 287, 293, 295, 296, 305, 306, 307, 312, 324, + 329, 330, 334. + Oats, 20, 35, 69, 114, 138, 155, 180, 223, 241, 312, 347, 350-3. + Peas, 69, 155, 200, 247. + Pedigree cattle, 234, 235. + Pigs, 20, 41, 96, 200, 203, 347. + Potatoes, 106. + Poultry and eggs, 41, 96, 114, 133, 170, 247, 347. + Rabbits,174. + Rams, 202, 215, 235. + Rollers, 203. + Rye, 4, 16, 91, 125, 133, 138, 155, 347. + Saffron, 106. + Seventeenth century, 89, 110, 111, 114, 118, 119, 127, 133-4, 138, + 142, 144, 146, 150, 152, 157, 159, 160, 328, 355. + Sheep, 20, 3511., 36, 41, 80, 114, 138, 165n., 203, 206n., 263, + 312, 347. + Sixteenth century, 80, 87, 89, 95, 96, 102-6, 109, 355. + Straw, 179, 180. + Tenth century, 19. + Thirteenth century, 33, 35, 39, 355. + Twelfth century, 20. + Vetches, 155. + Waggons, 203-4. + Wheat, 20, 35, 66, 69, 89, 110, 114, 133, 134, 138, 142, 155, + 157, 160, 163, 164, 179, 186, 223, 231, 237, 238, 239, 240, + 241, 242-4, 247-8, 262, 265, 277-8, 281, 293, 306, 312, + 334, 347, 350-3, 355. + Wine, 145. + Wool, 39, 40, 80, 89, 96, 114, 118, 119, 142, 163, 172, 173, + 223, 239, 242, 285-6, 306, 312, 327, 328, 329, 347. + +Prickly comfrey, 237. + +Proclamation as to wages and prices, 42. + +Production, increased cost of, 295, 313. + +Prosperity, + agricultural, 28, 101, 114, 103, 183, 210-1, 229, 243-4, 246, + 264, 287; + during French War, 243-6, 247, 264. + +Protecting fruit from blight, Sec., 187. + +Protection, + effect of, 250, 278-9, 281; + highest limit of, 248; 265, 266, 277-9. + +Provender rents, 6. + +Pruning fruit trees, 131, 136. + +Pulverization of soil, 175. + + +Q + +Quarter Sessions, assessment of wages by, 108. + +Quartly, Francis, 341. + +Quiet Emptores, statute of, 29. + +Quinces, 15, 136. + +Quit, notice to, 300, 301, 302. + + +R + +Rabbits, + rearing, 174; + reserved to landlord, 115. + +Railway rates, 295-6. + +Rake, horse, 304. + +Raleigh introduces potatoes, 106. + +Rams, + ewes to, 126, 138; + price of, 202, 215, 235. + +Ramsey, 72. + +Raspberries, 331. + +Rates, 229, 238, 241, 245, 247, 248, 249, 255, 269, 284, 295, 296, + 307, 314. + +Rathgib, Jacob, 104., + +Reaping, + cost of, 34, 44, 65, 71, 109, 110, 138, 177, 179, 180, 246, 348, 354; + machines, 303-4; + time for, 124; + versus mowing corn, 135. + +Red Polled cattle, 343. + +Reeve, 12; + duties of a, 17. + +Reigate, Flaunchford near, 64. + +Rents: + Twelfth century, 27. + Thirteenth century, 36, 57, 75, 348. + Fourteenth century, 40, 41, 46, 65, 75, 348. + Fifteenth century, 57, 58, 66, 348. + Sixteenth century, 66, 76, 95, 115, 116, 348. + Seventeenth century, 115, 116, 117, 127, 133, 139, 143, 155, 161, + 348, 354. + Eighteenth century, 116, 177, 179, 183, 189, 193n., 224, 227, 328, + 348. + Nineteenth century, 243, 246, 248, 264, 266, 278, 285-6, 287, 297, + 304, 306-9, 310, 319n., 321-2. + +Repairs, _see_ Buildings, farm. + +Restrictive covenants, _see_ Cultivation clauses. + +Revival, recent, in agriculture, 320. + +Revolt, Peasants', 60. + +Revolution, agricultural and industrial, 162. + +Ridges, high, 129, 175. + +Rinderpest, _see_ Cattle plagues. + +Riots, 185, 223, 262, 366, + +Ripon, 147. + +Roads, 21, 68, 105, 138, 171, 175, 182, 204, 210, 219, 220-3, 269, + 274, 295. + +Rock and Far Forest district, 318, + +Rogers, Thorold, 107, 229. + +Roller, farm, in seventeenth century, 135. + +Rolling, 166, 194. + +Romney Marsh sheep, 344. + +Romsey Abbey, 15n. + +Roots, few, used for cows, 200 (_see_ Turnips). + +Roscommon sheep, 343. + +Roses, 143. + +Ross, John, of Warwick, 76. + +Rot, _see_ Sheep rot. + +Rotation of crops (_see_ Four-course and Three-field system) 225, 275. + +Rothamsted, 275. + +Roundsman system, 239. + +Royal Agrlctttonal Society, 273-4, 281, 308. + +Royal Society, helps agriculture, 114. + +Russia, + imports rom, 323-4; + wool from, 328. + +Rutland, 22, 102, 109, 110, 120, 134, 143, 151, 255, 268, 306n.; + Dukes of, 115, 286. + +Rye, 4, 16, 91, 125, 133, 138, 155; + in Norfolk, 182, 276; + produce, per acre, in 1770, 197. + +Rye-grass, 178-9, 218, 276. + +Ryeland sheep, 344, 345, 346. + + +S + +Saffron, 62, 106, 143, 167; + Walden, 106, 167. + +Sainfoin, 112, 115, 143, 191, 194, 225, 331. + +Saint Paul's, manors of, 16, 29, 50, 57, 58. + +Sales, famous, 234n., 235, 338, 339. + +Salt, value of, 26. + +Samford Hall, 190. + +Scotland, + cattle of, 336, 343; + wheat crop in, 332n. + +Scott, Reynold, 89, 151. + +Scottish cattle, 168-9. + +Scudamore, Lord, 132, 3^8. + +Seasons, + bad, 20, 42n., 66, 69, 89, 115, 157, 179, 184, 185, 186, 210, + 223, 224, 237, 239, 242, 243, 247, 262, 265, 277, 292, 293, + 294, 295, 297, 305; + good, 239, 244, 262, 266, 287. + +Seed, + amount of, for wheat, 33, 67n.,84, 177, 179, 180, 227, 246; + for clover, 112, 166, 176, 218; + clover, price of, 166. + +Sefton, Lord, estate of, 320n. + +Selions, 318. + +Self-binding reaper, 304. + +Seneschal, 12. + +Settled Land Acts, 305. + +Settlement, law of parochial, 157-8, 209, 238, 269n., 284. + +Settlements, family, 123, 259-60. + +Seventeenth century, characteristics of, 111. + +Sheaf-binding apparatus, 237. + +Shearing sheep, 125. + +Sheep, 94, 104, 126, 137, 146, 161, 200, 225, 233, 236, 263, 274, + 275, 288, 290; + diseases of, 84; + export of, 326, 330 (_see_ Live stock); + improvement of, 37, 164, 202; + number of, + in 1867, 288; + in 1877 and 1907, 333-4; + price of, _see_ Prices; + varieties of, 171, 172, 215-7, 233, 235, 275, 288, 343-6; + washing, cost of, 65, 125, 354. + +Sheep-rot, 184, 242, 265n., 294. + +Shepherd, wages of, 61, 71, 87, 109. + +Shire horse, 35, 335; + Society, 335. + +Shoeing, 36, 65, 84, 203. + +Shorthorn cattle, 167, 225, 233-5, 274, 288, 336-8, 339, 342. + +Shows, Agricultural, 233, 273-5, 341. + +Shropshire, 11n., 16n., 159, 173, 219, 220, 225, 250, 339; + sheep, 275, 288, 344, 345, 346. + +Siberian Railway, 324. + +Sicks, uncultivated patches, 99n. + +Sinclair, Sir J., 229, 230, 232. + +Sittingboume, 128, 143. + +Sixteenth century, character of, 89. + +Slaves, 8, 11, 20. + +Smith, Adam, 134, 210. + +Smith of Deanston, 214, 271-2. + +Smithfield, 168, 169; + cattle show, 218, 273, 339; + prices at, 239, 240, 241, 247, 265. + +Smyth, John, 111. + +Society, Royal Agricultural, 193. + +Society for Encouragement of Arts, &c., 194> 227, 303. + +Socmen, 7. + +Somerset, 19, 58, 107, 168, 250, 309, 340; + sheep, 344. + +Somerville, Loid, 231. + +Southams cattle, 342. + +Southdown sheep, 217, 225, 233, 236, 263, 274, 275, 344, 345. + +Spade, prejudice against, 112, 143; + for hops, 150. + +Spain, + exports to, 349; + imports from, 323. + +Spanish wool, 38-9, 328. + +Speculation, + in land, 243; + in produce, 305. + +Speenhamland Act, 237-8. + +Spencer, Earl, 273. + +Sporting rights reserved, 115. + +Spraying fruit, 136. + +Squatters, 220, 256. + +Squire, the, 103, 128, 137, 140, 193, 211-2. + +Stafford, Marquis of, 219. + +Staffordshire, 3, 44, 78, 122, 219, 286, 295, 309. + +Statesmen, 311. + +Statistics, agricultural, 230, 231, 232, 277, 288 (_see_ King, Gregory), + 331-2, 353. + +Statute of labourers, 43. + +Statutes _quoted_: + 20 Hen. III. c. 4, 73. + 25 Edw. III. 2. c. 1, 43. + 34 Edw. III. c. 20, 63. + 12 Ric. II. c. 4, 61. + 12 Ric. II. c. 5, 64. + 12 Ric. II. c. 6, 55. + 13 Ric. II. c. 13, 55. + 15 Ric. II. c. 5, 71. + 17 Ric. II. c. 7, 63. + 4 Hen. IV. c. 14, 67n. + 7 Hen. IV. c. 17, 70. + 9 Hen. V. c. 5, 68n. + 3 Hen. VI. c. 2, 326. + 3 Hen. VI. c. 4, 327. + 4 Hen. VI. c. 5, 64. + 15 Hen. VI. c. 2, 69. + 23 Hen. VI. c. 12, 71, 87. + 3 Edw. IV. c. 2, 70. + 3 Edw. IV. c. 5, 7in. + 22 Edw. IV. c. 1, 7in. + 4 Hen. VII. c. 19, 79, 94, 117. + 11 Hen. VII. c. 13, 325. + 11 Hen. VII. c. 22, 87. + 6 Hen. VIII. c. 3, 87. + 6 Hen. VIII. c. 5, 79. + 21 Hen. VIII. c. 8, 86. + 22 Hen. VIII. c. 7, 326. + 24 Hen. VIII c. 3, 102. + 24 Hen. VIII. c. 4, 105. + 24 Hen. VIII. c. 10, 82n. + 25 Hen, VIII. c. 1, 86. + 25 Hen. VIII. c. 13, 80. + 27 Hen. VIII. c. 6, 85. + 27 Hen. VIII. c. 22, 94. + 32 Hen. VIII. c. 13, 85. + I Edw. VI. c. 5, 326. + 3 and 4 Edw. VI. c. 19, 86. + 5 Edw. VI. c. 14, 86. + 2 and 3 Phil. and Mary, c. 3, 96. + 5 Eliz. c. 4, 107. + 5 Eliz. c. 5, 105. + 8 Eliz. c. 3, 326. + 8 Eliz. c. 15, 82n. + 13 Eliz. c. 25, 96. + 14 Eliz. c. 11, 82n. + 31 Eliz. c. 7, 121n., 159. + 39 Eliz. c. 1, 117. + 39 Eliz, c. 2, 118. + 39 Eliz. c. 18, 82n. + 43 Eliz. c. 2, 296. + 1 Jac. I. c. 18, 150. + 21 Jac. I. c. 28, 118n. + 12 Car. II. c. 4, 161. + 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 18, 326, 327. + 14 Car. II. c. 12, 157. + 15 Car. II. c. 7, 134, 326. + 18 Car. II. c. 2, 161, 326. + 22 Car. II. c. 13, 326. + 32 Car. II. c. 2, 161, 326. + 3 W. and M. c. 2, 158. + 8 and 9 W. and M. c. 30, 158. + 7 and 8 Wm. III. c. 28, 327. + 36 Geo. III. c. 23, 238. + 41 Geo. III. c. 109, 231-2. + 9 Geo. IV. c. 60, 278. + 4 and 5 Wm. IV. c. 76, 269. + 6 and 7 Wm. IV. c. 71, 270. + 5 Vict. c. 14, 278. + 9 and 10 Vict. c. 22, 280. + 9 and 10 Vict. c. 23, 280. + 14 and 15 Vict. c. 25, 301. + 30 and 31 Vict. c. 130, 292. + 38 and 39 Vict. c. 92, 299. + 43 and 44 Vict. c. 47, 303. + 46 and 47 Vict. c. 61, 300. + 59 and 60 Vict. c. 16, 314n. + 63 and 64 Vict. c. 50, 301. + 1 Edw. VII. c. 13, 314n. + 6 Edw. VII. c. 56, 301. + 7 Edw. VII. c. 54, 316. + +Steam, + applied to threshing, 237; + cultivator, 304. + +Stilton cheese, 173-4. + +Stinting the common pasture, 4. + +Stock and land leases, 57. + +Stocking a farm, 170, 203. + +Stores, public grain, 133, 264. + +Stott, the, or affer, 35, 57, 65. + +Stourbridge Fair, 171, 172n. + +Stratfieldsaye, 272. + +Straw, + as winter food for cattle, 126, 217; + carrying off, 178, 219, 302; + price of, 179, 180, 330. + +Strawberries, 15, 329, 331. + +Stubble, grazing of, 4, 125. + +Suffolk, 8, 30, 40, 57, 63n., 78, 112, 128, 147, 166, 168, 170, + 173, 174, 188, 207, 225, 238, 284, 306n., 309, 313; + Punch, 335; + sheep, 275, 344, 345. + +Supplies of com per head, 330 (_see_ Wheat, home supplies). + +Surrey, 64, 128, 143, 144, 168, 180, 283, 306n. + +Surveyor, the seventeeiith-century, 127. + +Sussex, 54, 78, 259, 263, 283, 306n.; + cattle, 274, 288, 336, 340, 343. + +Swanage, 262. + +Swedes, 227, 237, 276, 288, 331-2, 333. + +'Swing' riots, 266. + + +T + +Taltarum's case, effect of, 122. + +Tamworth pigs, 346. + +Taunton, + manor of, 18; + good fanning near, 128. + +Taxes, 247, 263-4, 307, 310; + weight of, 183, 191, 229, 245, 246, 249, 250, 263, 320, 321. + +Tea, + drinking, 205, 207, 213, 291; + price of, 205. + +Teams, composition of, 16. + +Telford, 220, 222. + +Tenant farmers, + assist in agricultural progress, 162; + number of, 141, 156; + origin of, 46, 119. + +Tenant-right, 283. + +Teeswater cattle, 337. + +Tewkesbury, 255. + +Thatchers, 139, 354. + +Thomson of Banchory, 276. + +Thorney and Woburn estates, 321. + +Three-field system, 4, 99. + +Threshing, + cost of, 34, 44, 65, 163, 179, 180, 198-9, 246; + machine, 230, 236-7, 282; + time for, 17, 126. + +Tillage, + decrease of, 79, 80, 94; + encouragement of, 79, 108, 117-8; + reaction against, 118. + (_See_ Arable, _and_ Grass.) + +Timber (_see_ Oak timber), 227; + spoils crops, 282. + +Tiptree, 319. + +Tithe, + dispute, 102; + on turnips, 166; + rent charge, 270. + +Tithes, 116, 144, 151, 189, 195, 230, 332, 247, 248, 249, 250, + 270, 305, 307. + +Tooke, 179, 266. + +_Tours_, Young's, 190, 192. + +Towns, movement of rural population towards, 64, 70, 108, 185, 192, + 195, 209, 315, 316-7. + +Townshend, Lord, 163, 182-3, 192, 193. + +_Treatise on Husbandry_, 33, 54. + +Tull, Jethro, 152, 163, 174-7, 178, 180, 183, 193, 200-1, 204. + +Turkeys, 170. + +Turkish dominions, imports from, 323. + +Turnip cutters, 276. + +Turnip fly, remedies for, 166. + +Turnips, 93, 111, 112, 115, 141, 143, 157, 164, 166, 168, 178, 183, + 251, 331-2, 333; + cost of growing, in 1770, 198; + injure wool, 329; + sheep first fattened on, 112; + spread of, in eighteenth century, 165, 166, 179, 191, 194, 200, + 201, 225; + varieties of, in 1720, 165. + +Tusser, 63, 90, 91, 92, 101, 102, 105, 111, 124, 126. + +Two-field system, 3. + +'Twopenny', 216. + + +U + +Underwood, value of, in seventeenth century, 137. + +Unions, Agricultural Labourers', 291-2. + +United States, _see_ America. + +Unreasonable disturbance, 302. + +Upwey, 318. + + +V + +Vanghan, Rowland, 132-3. + +Vegetables, 15, 93, 106, 112n., 143, 236n. + +Ventnor, vineyard at, 145. + +Vermin, destruction of, 82, 100, 244. + +Vermuyden, Cornelius, 123. + +Vetches, 125, 155, 331. + +Village, the, of the eighteenth century, 164. + +Village smith, the, 35. + +Villeins, 6, 7, 8, 18, 24, 29, 42, 45; + disappearance of, 46, 59, 60, 105. + +Vills or villages, 2, 5, 7, 15, 98, 119. + +Vineyards, 15, 16, 111, 144-5. + +Virgate, 8. + +Virginia, + potatoes from, 106; + wool from, 328. + + +W + +Wages: + Twelfth century, 27. + Thirteenth century, 27, 28, 34, 348, 355. + Fourteenth century, 27, 28, 41, 43, 59, 61, 62, 348, 355. + Fifteenth century, 67, 71, 348, 355. + Sixteenth century, 67, 87, 348, 355. + Seventeenth century, 119, 138, 139, 348, 355. + Eighteenth century, 163, 164, 184, 203, 205-6, 210, 237, + 238, 240, 285, 348, 354-5. + Nineteenth century, 241, 242, 249, 267, 268, 283-4, 285, 290-2, 297, + 309, 311, 312, 313, 315, 355, 356. + +Wages, + on a farm in 1805, 247; + regulated by statute, 43, 61, 71, 87; + by Justices, 107, 109, 110. + +Waggons, 153, 204. + +Wainage, 8. + +Wales, cattle of, 167, 336, 338, 343. + +Wallachia and Moldavia, imports from, 323. + +Walsingham states demands of villeins, 60. + +Wars, effect of, 38, 68, 71, 193, 205, 212, 229, 237, 260, 286, 287, 341. + +Warwickshire, 40, 77, 78, 94, 110, 172, 173, 213, 215, 216, 272, 282, + 290, 306n., 309, 343. + +Waste land, 231; + committee on, 255n., 256; + good crops from the, 119; + Young and, 191. + +Water carriage, cheapness of, 21, 173. + +Weaning lambs, time for, 125. + +Weaving, 70, 76, 110, 257. + +Webster of Canley, 216. + +Weeding hook and tongs, 84, 152. + +Weeds, 125, 180, 201. + +Week work, 8. + +Welsh mountain sheep, 344, 346. + +Wensleydale sheep, 343, 345. + +Westcar of Creslow, 339. + +Westcote, 128. + +Westmoreland, 216, 295, 346. + +Weston, Sir R., introduces clover, 111, 127, 141. + +Weyhill Fair, 172. + +Wheat, + acreage tinder, in 1907, 331-2; + consumption of, per head, 279; + cost of growing, 177, 180, 198, 199, 246, 307; + crops, 33, 67, 77, 91, 129, 142, 155, 165, 179, 180, 197-9, 227, + 246, 282, 285, 286, 332; + cultivation of, 4, 16, 32, 36, 113, 125, 135, 177-9, 180, 184, 353; + different kinds of, 146, 107; + home supplies of, 277, 279, 313, 330; + price of, _see_ Prices. + +White, Gilbert, 223. + +Wilton, hops near, 171. + +Wiltshire, 143, 174, 253, 268, 283, 286, 309, 312, 313; + sheep, 345. + +Winchelsea, Lord, 255, 257, 268. + +Winchester, 147, 150. + +Wine, 144-5. + +Wire binder, 304. + +Wirral, 66. + +Wisbech, 318. + +Woad, 17, 152. + +Women, work of, on the farm, 62, 85, 206, 316. + +Wood, W. A., 304. + +Woods, 2, 16, 59, 74, 78, 115, 125, 136, 155. + +Woodstock, 53. + +Wool, 37, 38-41, 69, 75, 80, 94, 104, 114, 118, 119, 142, 161, + 163, 171-3, 184, 223, 285, 329, 354, 355; + export of, _see_ Exports; + import of, _see_ Imports; + price of, _see_ Prices. + +Wool, + custom of picking refuse, 100; + storing, 125. + +Worcestershire, 74, 128, 136, 143, 171, 306. + +Work, hours of, 87, 147, 291. + +Worlidge, John, 127, 131, 132, 142-8, 150-4, 165. + +Worsley, Sir R., 145. + + +Y + +Yeoman, the, 50, 71, 123, 128, 140, 156, 207, 258-61, 310, 320; + house of, 103. + +Yeomen purchase lands of gentry, 122. + +Yorkshire, 15, 78, 110, 138-9, 167, 168, 207, 225, 253, 283, 295, 306n., + 309, 337, 343, 346. + +Young, Arthur, 160, 162, 163, 172, 180, 182, 188, 190-3, 194, 197, 200-6, + 210, 211, 222, 224, 230, 232, 236, 240, 253, 255, 257, 260, 284, + 285, 288n., 298, 314, 317, 335, 336, 337, 343, 353, 355; + opposed to drilling, 178; + pet aversions of, 191; + statements of, as to growth of clover, 112. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short History of English Agriculture +by W. 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