; 1814, 74s. 4d.; 1815, 65s. 7d.

[540] Porter, _Progress of the Nation_, p. 149.

[541] _A Defence of the Farmers and Landowners of Great Britain_
(1814), p. 49.

[542] Ibid. p. x.

[543] Ibid. p. 7.

[544] _Agricultural State of the Kingdom_, p. 67.

[545] _Parliamentary Reports (Committees)_, v. 72.

[546] _Thoughts on the Present Depressed State of the Agricultural
Interest_ (1817), p. 4.

[547] Duncumb, _General View of the Agriculture of Hereford_, 1805.
The writer of _A Defence of the Farmers and Landowners of Great
Britain_ (1814) puts the average crop of wheat in the United Kingdom
at 15 or 16 bushels an acre, p. 28. A very low estimate.

[548] Duncumb, _General View of the Agriculture of Hereford_, p. 140.

[549] Tooke, _History of Prices_, ii. 4.

[550] _Farmer's Magazine_ (1817), p. 69.

[551] The duties were often evaded by smuggling; coasting vessels met
the foreign corn ships at sea, received their cargoes, and landed them
so as to escape the duty.

[552] _Agricultural State of the Kingdom_, p. 5.

[553] _Observations for the Use of Landed Gentlemen_ (1817), p. 7.

[554] _Defence of the Farmers, &c._ (1814); and _Parliamentary
Reports_, v. 72.

[555] _Agricultural State of the Kingdom_, p. 64.

[556] Ibid. p. 105.

[557] The agricultural horse tax was repealed in 1821, the tax on
ponies and mules in 1823.

[558] There were some exceptions, but the overwhelming majority of
replies to the letters were couched in the above spirit.

[559] At a time when landlords formed the majority in Parliament, it
is curious to find a substantial farmer asserting that 'the landed
interest has been, since the corn law of 1773, held in a state of
complete vassalage to the commercial and manufacturing, and the
farmers of the country in a state very little superior to that of
Polish peasants.'

[560] _Review of Western Department_, pp. 249, 250.

[561] Morton, _Cyclopaedia of Agriculture_, ii. 26.

CHAPTER XVIII

ENCLOSURE--THE SMALL OWNER

The war period was one of great activity in enclosure; from 1798 to
1810 there were 956 Bills; from 1811-20, 771.[562]

It must be remembered, however, that the number of Acts is not a
conclusive test of the amount of enclosure, as there was a large
amount that was non-parliamentary: by the principal landlord, and by
freeholders who agreed to amicable changes and transfer, as at
Pickering, in Yorkshire.[563] Roughly speaking, about one-third of the