But the greatest progress in the first half of the eighteenth century seems to have taken place in Norfolk.Every one has heard of Townshend growing turnips at Raynham,after his quarrel with Walpole;and Young,writing in 1812,after speaking of the period 1700-1760 as one of stagnation,owing to low prices ('it is absolutely vain to expect improvements in agriculture unless prices are more disposed to rise than to remain long without variations that give encouragement to the farmer'),admits that the improvements made in Norfolk during that time were an exception,in his Eastern Tour (1770),he had spoken of the husbandry 'which has rendered the name of this county so famous in the rming world".and given seven reasons for the improvements.These were:(1)Enclosing without assistance of Parliament.Parliamentary enclosure 'through the knavery of commissioners and attorneys,'was very expensive.'Undoubtedly many of the finest loams on the richest marls would at this day have been sheep-walks had there been any right o*commonage on them.'(2)Marling,for there was plenty of marl under the sand everywhere;(3)An excellent rotation of crops-the famous Norfolk four years'course of turnips,barley,clover (or clover and rye-grass),and wheat;(4)The culture of turnips well hand-hoed;(5)The culture of clover and rye-grass;(6)The granting of long leases;(7)The division of the county chiefly into large farms.
'Great farms,'he says,'have been the soul of the Norfolk culture,though in the eastern part of the county there were little occupiers of *100a year.
Throughout the whole of the South of England,however,there had been a certain amount of progress.Hoeing turnips,according to Young,was common in many parts of the south of the kingdom,although the extensive use of turnips -i.e.all their uses for fattening cattle as well as feeding lean sheep -'is known but little of,except in Norfolk,Suffolk,and Essex.'Clover husbandry,on the other hand,was 'universal from the North of England to the further end of Glamorganshire.'Clover,the 'great clover,'had been introduced into England by Sir Richard Weston about 1645,as had probably been turnips also.Potatoes at the beginning of the century were only garden crops.Hemp and flax were frequently grown,as were also hops,which had been introduced in the beginning of the sixteenth century.
If we turn from the cultivation of the soil to the management and breeding of live stock,we shall find that no great progress had been made in this branch during the years 1700-1760.Davenant in 1700 estimated the net carcase of black cattle at 370lb.,and of a sheep at 28lb.A century later Eden calculated that 'bullocks now killed in London weigh,at an average,800lb.,sheep 80lb.,and lambs about 50lb.each".and Young in 1786 put the weight of bullocks and sheep at 840lb.and 100lb.respectively.But this improvement seems to have come about after 1760.It was not until 1760-85 that Bakewell perfected the new breed of sheep -the Leicesters -and improved the breed of long-horned cattle,and that the brothers Culley obtained the short-horn,or Durham cattle,from the breed in the valley of the Tees.Some improvements in the breed of sheep,however,had already been made.'The wool of Warwickshire,Northamptonshire,Lincolnshire,and Rutland,with some parts of Huntingdon,Bedford,Buckinghamshire,Cambridgeshire,and Norfolk has been accounted the longest and finest combing wool.But of late years' (this was written in 1739)'there have been improvements made in the breed of sheep by changing or rams and sowing of turnips and grass seeds,and now there is some large fine combing wool to be found in most counties in England,which is fine,long,and soft,fit to make all sorts of fine stuff and hose of.'Still improvements in feeding sheep were by no means universally adopted for half a century later.Agricultural implements,too,were still very primitive,wooden ploughs being commonly in use,while the small,narrow-wheeled waggon of the North held 40or 50bushels with difficulty.
Arthur Young constantly attributes much of the bad agriculture to the low rentals prevalent.'Of so little encouragement to them,'he writes of the farmers of Cleveland,'is the lowness of their rents,that many large tracts of land that yielded good crops of corn within thirty years are now overrun with whins,brakes,and other trumpery....If I be demanded how such ill courses are to be stopped,I answer,Raise their rents.First with moderation,and if that does not bring forth industry,double them.'At the same time Young strongly advocated long leases.But it must be remembered that besides tenant farmers there were still a large number of freeholders and still more copyholders either for life or by inheritance.
