surveying,1 complained about it both in sermons and other writings. For all these reasons English agriculture did not improve very materially between the days of Henry III. and of Elizabeth. But in this queen's reign, as we saw, several improvements were made under the influence of foreign refugees. For the inhabitants of the Low Countries and Holland have been our pioneers not only in commerce and finance, but in agriculture also.2 It was these people who now introduced into England the cultivation of winter roots (the want of which, it will be remembered, greatly embarrassed the English farmer in the medieval winter), and in the eighteenth century that of artificial grasses. The introduction of hops also was of great importance.5 § 159. Progress in James I.'s Reign. Influence of Landlords. 3 Of course the greatest industrial progress of this period was made in the direction of foreign trade, and in James's reign progress in agriculture was slow as compared with that in commerce, but it was substantial-substantial enough, at any rate, for the landlords to exact an increased competitive rent, as we know from Norden's work, The Surveyor's Dialogue (1607). Norden also notes that tenants were eager to take land even at high rents, and this shows that they expected to make good profits. Whether they always made them is another question. But this development of competitive, as contrasted with the old customary, rents is certainly worthy of attention. It was, however, complained that the action of the landlords tended to discourage progress, for when a tenant wished to renew a lease he was threatened with dispossession if he did not pay an increased rent for the very improvements he had made himself.8 1 Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. 41. 2 Hartlib's Legacy, p. 54, and passim. 3 Weston, Discourse of Husbandrie used in Brabant (1652), p. 25; Worlidge, Systema Agriculturæ, p. 46; Rogers, Six Centuries, p. 453. Rogers, Hist. Agric., iv. 57. 7 Ib. Norden, by the way, is corroborated by Best, author of Rural Economy in Yorkshire in 1641, p. 129. Lands (he says) which had let formerly at 2s., then at 2s. 6d., and again at 3s., had now risen to thrice as 8 See the Preface to Hartlib's Legacy, probably by Dymock. much. 7 Still, from the facts given by Norden, and also by another writer-Markham, the author of The English Husbandman (1613)—it is evident that there was considerable improvement, development, and variety now shown in English agriculture.1 Arable farming was prosecuted with increased energy,2 and both to farmers as well as to merchants the seventeenth century brought increased prosperity.3 The special, characteristic feature of the seventeenth century is the utilisation of the fallow for roots, though these had been known in gardens in the previous century. The most fertile land was to be found in Huntingdon, Bedford, and Cambridge shires, the next best being in Northampton, Kent, Essex, Berkshire, and Hertfordshire. Land was still largely cultivated in common fields, and was, of course, much subdivided. But the practice was now increasing of making enclosures, not as before, for the sake of sheepfarming, but in order to carry on an improved method of tillage. It was recommended by agricultural writers, and their recommendations seem to have been widely adopted, though it is very doubtful whether many of those who enclosed land had personally read their books, for agriculture owes but little to literature. The enclosures thus made for tillage certainly conduced to the improvement of agriculture, though in many cases it is to be feared that the interests of those who had a right to common lands were disregarded, and both the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed steady progress. § 160. Writers on Agriculture. Improvements. Game. One noticeable improvement is the attention now paid to the various kinds of manures, 10 on which subject Markham 1 See Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. pp. 40 to 65. 2 Cunningham, Growth of Industry, ii. 185. 3 Rogers, Six Centuries, 459. 4 Ib., 468. 6 Markham, quoted by Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. 55. 5 Above, p. 249. 7 It remained so in numerous instances till after the middle of the eighteenth century. Toynbee, Industrial Revolution, p. 39. 8 Cunningham, Growth of Industry, ii. 181. 9 Hartlib's Legacy, p. 54; Worlidge, Systema, p. 10; Taylor, Common Good, p. 13. 10 Cunningham, Growth of Industry, ii. 185; Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. 52. 3 was the first to write specially, though there are several other authors who have dealt with it.1 The fact that agriculture was now made the topic of various treatises proves that important development was taking place. Besides the works already mentioned, we have the Systema Agricultura by Worlidge, a farmer of Hampshire, the second edition of which appeared in 1675. He is a strong advocate of enclosures, as against the old common field system, on the plea that the former is more conducive to high farming; but he also is in favour of small holdings thus enclosed.2 Though at first local and somewhat spasmodic, and hindered no doubt by uncertainty of tenure and by the landlord's power of appropriating the results of increased skill on the part of the tenant, under the head of "indestructible powers of the soil," yet the progress made was sufficient to increase very largely the population of England, an increase aided also by the growth of manufactures. A curious fact in the agriculture of the seventeenth century may be here mentioned in passing that is, the existence of a very large amount of waste land, and the use made of it for purposes of breeding game. At that time it is evident that killing game was not the exclusive right of the landowners, but was a common privilege. Large quantities of game were sold, and at a cheap price, and "fowling" must evidently have been an important item in the farmer's and labourer's means of livelihood. § 161. Drainage of the Fens. A most important feature in the development of agriculture in the Eastern counties was the drainage of the fens-i.e., all that large district which extends inward from the Wash into the counties of Lincoln, Cambridge, Northampton, Huntingdon, Norfolk, and Suffolk. This district For an excellent 1 Blith, Husbandry, 60; Plato, Jewel House, 21. account of these writers on agriculture see Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. pp. 40 to 65, frequently copied by other authors. 2 Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. 62. 3 Plattes, essay on Husbandry, quoted by Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. 56. Rogers, Six Centuries, p. 463; Hist. Agric., v. 64. "Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. 27. had been partly reclaimed by the Romans, and had been for a time a fertile country. But in the time of the Domesday Book it was once again a mere marsh, owing to incursions of the sea, which the English at that time had not the ability to prevent. Although even in 1436, and subsequently, partial attempts had been made to reclaim this vast area, the first effectual effort was begun only in 1634, by the Earl of Bedford, who received 95,000 acres of the reclaimed land as a reward for his undertaking.2 The contract was fulfilled under the superintendence of the engineer Vermuyden, a Dutchman, in 1649, and a corporation was formed to manage the "Bedford level,” as it was now called, in 1688. The reclaiming of so much land naturally increased the prosperity of the counties in which it stood, and their agriculture flourished considerably in consequence, Bedfordshire for instance being now the most exclusively agricultural county in the kingdom. Similar operations were effected in Hatfield Chase. 3 § 162. Rise of Price of Corn and of Rent. The price of corn, meanwhile, was now steadily rising. From 1401 to 1540-i.e., before the rise in prices and the debasements of the coinage-the average price had been a farthing under six shillings per quarter; after prices had recovered from their inflation, and settled down to a general average once more, taking the price from 1603 to 1702, corn was forty-one shillings per quarter. The average produce had apparently declined, or, at any rate, had not increased since the fifteenth and before the improvements of the seventeenth century. In the former period it was about twelve bushels per acre, and in 1 See article on Bedford Level in Chambers' Encyclopædia (ed. 1888), and Denton, Fifteenth Century, pp. 140-141; also Smiles, Lives of the Engineers, Vol. I., p. 10. 2 See more fully Gardiner, History of England, ch. lxxxiv., Vol. VIII., p. 295. As the rent was, after the draining, about 30s. an acre, the earl's reward was very substantial. 3 Ib., Vol. VIII. p. 292. This was in 1626, and Vermuyden was knighted for his efforts (1629); cf. Smiles, Lives of the Engineers, Vol. I., for Life and Works of Vermuyden. Rogers, Hist. Agric., iv. 292. was the first to write specially, though there are several other authors who have dealt with it.1 The fact that agriculture was now made the topic of various treatises proves that important development was taking place. Besides the works already mentioned, we have the Systema Agricultura by Worlidge, a farmer of Hampshire, the second edition of which appeared in 1675. He is a strong advocate of enclosures, as against the old common field system, on the plea that the former is more conducive to high farming; but he also is in favour of small holdings thus enclosed.2 Though at first local and somewhat spasmodic, and hindered no doubt by uncertainty of tenure and by the landlord's power of appropriating the results of increased skill on the part of the tenant, under the head of "indestructible powers of the soil," yet the progress made was sufficient to increase very largely the population of England, an increase aided also by the growth of manufactures. A curious fact in the agriculture of the seventeenth century may be here mentioned in passing that is, the existence of a very large amount of waste land, and the use made of it for purposes of breeding game. At that time it is evident that killing game was not the exclusive right of the landowners, but was a common privilege. Large quantities of game were sold, and at a cheap price, and "fowling" must evidently have been an important item in the farmer's and labourer's means of livelihood. § 161. Drainage of the Fens. A most important feature in the development of agriculture in the Eastern counties was the drainage of the fens-i.e., all that large district which extends inward from the Wash into the counties of Lincoln, Cambridge, Northampton, Huntingdon, Norfolk, and Suffolk. This district For an excellent 1 Blith, Husbandry, 60; Plato, Jewel House, 21. account of these writers on agriculture see Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. pp. 40 to 65, frequently copied by other authors. 2 Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. 62. 3 Plattes, essay on Husbandry, quoted by Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. 56. Rogers, Six Centuries, p. 463; Hist. Agric., v. 64. 5 Rogers, Hist. Agric., v. 27. |