A Short History of English Agriculture by Curtler
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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
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Short History of English Agriculture by Curtler
- 2: Harrison's Description CHAPTER X1540 1600
- 3: Fitzherbert's Surveying and Husbandry
- 4: And co ownership is ownership by individuals
- 5: The size of the strips of land in the arable fields varied
- 6: These rights including the feorm or farm
- 7: The villeins and the freeholders
- 8: Gafol or tribute fixed payments in money or kind
- 9: Were the buri or coliberti who
- 10: A sort of foreman nominated from among the villeins
- 11: After the ploughing of the second arable field
- 12: Thus the villeins had 30 acres each
- 13: In Somerset in 1086 there were 577
- 14: Maintained by the trinoda necessitas
- 15: English Society in the Eleventh Century
- 16: 23 In Domesday they number 108
- 17: Victoria County History Shropshire
- 18: Each of the villeins had a messuage and half a virgate
- 19: And the process of commutation grew steadily
- 20: The greater part of the lord's demesne was arable
- 21: And twelve pennyworth of grass in the summer
- 22: Now two bushels at Michaelmas are worth at least 12d
- 23: The average price of wheat from 1259 to 1400 was 5s
- 24: The annual rent of land was from 4d
- 25: Says that rent in the fourteenth century was commonly 4d
- 26: Chapter iiithe fourteenth century
- 27: The manorial accounts of the Knights' Hospitallers
- 28: And a mower of meadows for the acre 5d
- 29: The economic position of the villeins
- 30: The villein was bound to the lord
- 31: Sometyme at sport in the field
- 32: Farmed the demesnes of a quantity of manors
- 33: And the thalamus was 22 feet long
- 34: And was a mere hovel without floor
- 35: A statute at the end of the fourteenth century 12 Ric
- 36: Arable land had been until now largely in excess of pasture
- 37: With the land went 360 wethers
- 38: The villein himself was becoming a copyholder
- 39: Notably Essex where Saffron Walden recalls its use
- 40: The custom was still observed at Hawsted in 1784
- 41: And of heifers used for harrowing
- 42: Which continued longer than villein tenure
- 43: On imports of corn there had been no restriction until 1463
- 44: History of Agriculture and Prices
- 45: Enclosing the common arable fields for grazing
- 46: Besides causing many of the landlords to let their demesnes
- 47: Having begun the depopulation thereof
- 48: And Leicestershire for peas and beans
- 49: 201 and the best landowners in England
- 50: England in the Fifteenth Century
- 51: ' 207 He recommends that grass be mown early
- 52: Though a man might buy cattle anywhere for his own use
- 53: And from Michaelmas to Easter 1 1 2d
- 54: The average price of wheat from 1540 1583 was 13s
- 55: Writing in the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign
- 56: 2 messuages in Warwickshire 600 660 1567
- 57: Which now costeth me double and triple
- 58: Pightling 60 10
- 59: 24 to 28 3 4 acres of arable land
- 60: And of mutton and veal at 5 8d
- 61: Thomas Tusser was born in Essex
- 62: There is abundance of sheep and wethers
- 63: By the end of the sixteenth century
- 64: The rates of wages of artificers
- 65: And cannot expertly make a rick
- 66: If the common labourer at Hawsted received his food
- 67: A Devonshire land agent of the eighteenth century
- 68: Per acre and of permanent grass at 8s
- 69: And tillage was as profitable as grass
- 70: As an example of the unenclosed fields
- 71: The amount of enclosure in the fifteenth
- 72: The owners of land constantly multiplied
- 73: Cleanse winter corn from thistles and weeds
- 74: And that sheep fatten very well on turnips
- 75: Sir John Norden printed his Surveyor's Dialogue in 1608
- 76: ' But Devon and Hereford were also famous
- 77: The best for the table were the Jennetings
- 78: It was one of these Herefordshire gentlemen
- 79: Between 1617 and 1621 the price of wheat fell from 43s
- 80: Should be mown close to the ground
- 81: Per cubic foot and ash about 10d
- 82: Economically they were about on a level with the yeoman
- 83: And the turnips were to be followed by clover
- 84: ' produced 66 hogsheads of wine worth L10 a hogshead
- 85: Hartlib was no friend of commons
- 86: 313 Farming and Account Books of Henry Best of Elmswell
- 87: 324 Compleat Husbandman 1659
- 88: ' The manure recommended by Worlidge was good mould
- 89: Worlidge mentions 347 an engine for setting corn
- 90: There were also ploughs with a harrow attached
- 91: The tenant farmer saved considerably less than the artisan
- 92: In 1692 a series of very bad seasons commenced
- 93: And this system lasted till 1773
- 94: In his Horseshoeing Husbandry p
- 95: And according to that the ordinary labourer earned 10d
- 96: If sheep were fattened on them the tithe was paid
- 97: They were also found in Lincolnshire and some other counties
- 98: Generally arrived at Smithfield in good condition
- 99: The great market for hops was Stourbridge Fair
- 100: Good cheese came also from Gloucestershire and Warwickshire
- 101: Tull invented his drill about 1701 at Howberry
- 102: He considered fallowing and manure unnecessary
- 103: This is the earliest mention in a Hawsted lease of rye grass
- 104: 45 acres of barley 12 bushels per acre
- 105: 387 A General Treatise on Husbandry 1726
- 106: He was an advocate of enclosures
- 107: Wheat didn't pay and graziers were doing badly
- 108: 434 In 1756 came another bad year
- 109: The cider makers were quite convinced
- 110: But this was considered too close
- 111: And an accurate comparison of the old and new husbandry
- 112: In 1793 the Board of Agriculture was formed
- 113: Open field arable twenty families
- 114: So enclosure caused distress to many individuals
- 115: 450 Marl was applied in huge quantities on arable and grass
- 116: Kept on the surplus dairy food
- 117: Tull perhaps again invented it
- 118: To improve the breed of his sheep
- 119: And Young favoured the use of oxen
- 120: Acknowledges that many insisted on wheaten bread
- 121: At a draught was no uncommon feat
- 122: Labourers came from neighbouring counties
- 123: 'Their entertainments are as expensive as they are elegant
- 124: Of Princethorpe in Warwickshire
- 125: Got by 'Twopenny' out of a Canley cow 'His head
- 126: The relations between landlord and tenant
- 127: I slept at Doncaster and had a bad night
- 128: Were splendid markets for the farmers' oats
- 129: Fattening two Devons against one Shorthorn
- 130: So Coke set the example of using two whenever possible
- 131: The annual income of timber and underwood was L2
- 132: Yet in 1766 the quartern loaf in London was 1s
- 133: And Bakewell vastly improved it
- 134: 16 ex officio and 30 ordinary members
- 135: Which was tested in Hyde Park in 1801
- 136: 509 Most of the cattle shown were Shorthorn
- 137: So that the cattle fetched less than at Ketton
- 138: In the same year as the Speenhamland Act the statute 36 Geo
- 139: Arthur Young 529 tells of a person living near Bury in 1801
- 140: 1804 was a very deficient harvest
- 141: In 1786 East Budleigh in Devonshire
- 142: And constable rates doubled and trebled
- 143: Butcher's meat in 1760 was 1 1 2d
- 144: In 1815 protection reached its highest limit
- 145: And a Merino Society was formed in 1811
- 146: 514 Culley on Live Stock 1807
- 147: 550 Farmer's Magazine 1817
- 148: His rents doubled on enclosure
- 149: Composed almost entirely of landowners
- 150: That when enclosure was most active domestic industries
- 151: Smaller arable farms did not pay as well as large ones
- 152: English Peasantry and Enclosure
- 153: 572 Agricultural State of the Kingdom 1816
- 154: Prime beef was sold in Salisbury market at 4d
- 155: While in 1825 beef at Smithfield was 5s
- 156: Whom Cobbett saw by the roadside in Hampshire
- 157: Give the tithe owners notice to set out their tithes
- 158: And the drainage system of Smith of Deanston
- 159: With the exception of the Kirkleavingtons
- 160: To their landlords for expenditure in bone manure
- 161: In the ten years from 1837 to 1846
- 162: Or two and a quarter gallons per head
- 163: Threshed by steam at a cost of 3s
- 164: 641 Leases were the exception throughout England
- 165: Between 1840 and 1850 the labourer had
- 166: Porter said rents had doubled since 1790
- 167: Of which drainage was the foundation
- 168: His wages by 1872 had increased to 12s
- 169: In 1899 a Longhorn Cattle Society was established
- 170: 1844 5 was a very abundant crop
- 171: In 1879 in England and Wales 3
- 172: The education rate and the sanitary rate
- 173: Largely owing to the competition of other industries
- 174: Generally with quassia chips and soft soap and water
- 175: This Act was amended by the Act of 1900 63 64 Vict
- 176: Terminates a tenancy by notice to quit
- 177: Improvements in dairying appliances have also been great
- 178: The small occupiers were better off than the freeholders
- 179: This farm consisted of 522 acres
- 180: In 1894 only eighteen years' purchase
- 181: Triennial average prices of british cattle
- 182: Which Act was continued in 1901
- 183: The County Council may itself provide them
- 184: Mainly by celery and early potatoes
- 185: The landlords have suffered most
- 186: 668 Parliamentary Reports of Commissioners
- 187: Yet the census returns of 1871
- 188: 706 Allotments and Small Holdings 1892
- 189: While in Argentina an addition of 70 per cent
- 190: The export was again prohibited in 1337
- 191: In 1907 Leicester wool was 12 1 2d
- 192: The decrease in the acreage of hops
- 193: 885 Mangels 348
- 194: Cows and heifers in milk or in calf 1
- 195: As cattle require more acreage
- 196: The Shire and the Suffolk Punch
- 197: Who farmed his own estate of Killerby in Yorkshire
- 198: 300 guineas for Fifth Duchess of Hillhurst
- 199: Those of North Devon taking the lead
- 200: And they are good milkers and fatteners
- 201: Has approximated to the shortwool type
- 202: Risdon says of Devonshire 'As to cattle
- 203: 1401 1540 moderate increase 14s
- 204: Exports played a very small part
- 205: 759 FOOTNOTES 757 McPherson
- 206: A Short History of English Agriculture by Curtler
- 207: 000 acres in 1907 they were 24
- 208: In 1816 there were said to be 589
- 209: A Short History of English Agriculture by Curtler
- 210: Pamphlet on Agricultural Statistics
- 211: Seventeenth century writers on
- 212: 'the necessary meate' of the labourer
- 213: Causes of high prices at end of eighteenth century
- 214: A Short History of English Agriculture by Curtler
- 215: Communities and corporations contrasted
- 216: Enclosers prosecuted in Star Chamber
- 217: Families employed on common and on enclosed land
- 218: Fruit growing in seventeenth century
- 219: Grafting in seventeenth century
- 220: In farming in eighteenth century
- 221: Suffered most from present depression
- 222: Small holder suffers at his hand
- 223: Non intercourse Act of United States
- 224: Packing fruit in seventeenth century
- 225: Foot and mouth disease attacks
- 226: Proclamation as to wages and prices
- 227: A Short History of English Agriculture by Curtler
- 228: Society for Encouragement of Arts
- 229: Assist in agricultural progress
- 230: Walsingham states demands of villeins
- 231: Yeomen purchase lands of gentry