10 POPULATION 



". . . After 1751 great numbers of them 

 (landed proprietors) devoted intelligence and 

 capital to the improvement of their estates. 

 They encouraged societies of agriculture. 

 The farmers adopted new processes. The 

 increased produce of the farm was improved 

 in quality ; commons were enclosed ; marshes 

 were drained ; machinery was introduced. 

 The breeds of cattle, sheep, and horses were 

 sensibly improved ; and an impulse was thus 

 given to the cultivation of the finest part of 

 agricultural science." 



The result of all this activity, which is 

 described in detail by Mr. R. E. Prothero in 

 English Farming Past and Present, was that 

 the land increased greatly both in produc- 

 tivity and in population. It was able to feed 

 a nation growing at a more rapid rate than 

 has ever since been reached and to give em- 

 ployment and maintenance to an increasing 

 number of persons. As already explained, we 

 have no figures earlier than 181 1, but between 

 that year and 182 1 the number of families 

 engaged in agriculture increased in England 

 from 697,353 to 773,732, and in Great 

 Britain from 895,998 to 978,656. During this 

 decade the population of England advanced 

 at the rate of 18 per cent., which has never 

 since been approached. 



Absolute Decline. 

 After 1821, however, the relative decline, 



