p. 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
acr