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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 L4 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