AGRICULTURE 



arable was cropped mainly with wheat and oats, 

 together with some barley, peas, beans, turnips, 

 and clover. 14 



Leases were not usual in Nottinghamshire at 

 this time, but among the covenants in a Lady- 

 Day lease of 1786 common to Nottinghamshire 

 and the Midlands were the following : Tenant 

 to pay double rent so long as he continues to 

 hold after notice given. To repair buildings, 

 accidents by fire excepted, also gates and fences. 

 To repair hedges and ditches and pay to the 

 landlord is. per rood for such as shall not be 

 done after three months' notice has been given 

 in writing. Not to break up certain lands 

 specified in the schedule under a penalty of 20 

 per acre. Not to plough more than a specified 

 number of acres in any one year under the same 

 penalty. To forfeit the same sum for every acre 

 that shall be ploughed for any longer time than 

 three crops successively without making a clean 

 summer fallow after the third crop. And the 

 same penalty for mowing more than a specified 

 number of acres, clover excepted, in any one 

 year. At the time of laying down the arable 

 lands to grass he shall manure them with eight 

 quarters of lime an acre, and sow I 2 Ib. of clover 

 seed, and one strike of rye-grass seeds per acre. 

 To spend on the premises all the hay, straw, 15 and 

 manure, or leave them at the end of the term. 

 Tenant to be allowed on quitting for hay left on 

 premises, all clover and rye-grass sown in last 

 year, and lime expended in last year, and fallows 

 made in the same time. 



The farm buildings at the same date were 

 not large or commodious ; but the walls were 

 mostly brick, the timber-work oak, and the cover- 

 ing 'knob tiles' which had replaced thatch. In 

 most parts of the county, except in the new 

 inclosures, they were crowded together in villages 

 as they had been for centuries, a relic of the old 

 common-field system. The older farmyards 

 were principally open, with mangers round the 

 inside of the fences, and cribs in the centre. In 

 the common-field townships still remaining, 

 where the farming was always inferior to that 

 on the inclosed land, temporary winter roofs of 

 bean stacks were erected. 



The roads until about 1770 were in a state of 

 almost total neglect, then a spirit of improvement 

 set in, but until the period when Macadam and 

 Telford began their work there was no substan- 

 tial advance. 



The price of provisions in 1795-6 was high, 

 beef and mutton being 6d. and 6^. a Ib. but in 

 1 798 they were down to $d. and 4^., little more 

 than their price in 1770. Tithes at the same 

 date were taken in kind in many parts of the 

 county, but were more frequently compounded for, 

 and in the new inclosures land was universally 

 given in lieu of tithes. The compositions, from 



14 Young, Eastern Tour, \, 150. 



14 Marshall, Rut: Econ. of Mid. Cos. \, 24. 



the desire of the clergy to live well with their 

 parishioners, are described as much lower than 

 the general value of the tithe. The greater part 

 of the farms were let to tenants at will who 

 were completely satisfied with this arrangement, 

 and on the same holding son succeeded father for 

 generations. Many of the small copyholds 

 preserved the custom called borough English, 

 that is they descended to the younger son. 

 Farms were generally small, few exceeding ^300 

 a year, and more were under 100 than above 

 that sum, while in the clay district many were 

 as low as 20 or under. In the vale of Belvoir 

 a considerable part of the land was uninclosed, 

 and cultivated on the ancient three-course sys- 

 tem, the inclosed portion having a four-course 

 rotation of (i) wheat ; (2) barley ; (3) beans ; (4) 

 fallow. 



The wages of labourers rose in the latter years 

 of the 1 8th century, and in Nottinghamshire 

 they were getting is. ^d. and is. 6d. a day, and 

 for the three harvest months 2s. with beer. 16 

 Threshing wheat was 45. a quarter, barley 

 2s. 6d., oats is. 6d. Lowe says in his report : 

 ' There are few counties in England where they 

 (the labourers) will be found better lodged, 

 clothed, or fed.' Yet as prices had risen greatly 

 the rise in wages helped them little, and this was 

 the commencement ' of the worst time in the 

 history of agricultural labour, which lasted for 

 twenty-five years.' 17 In Nottinghamshire, how- 

 ever, there were many alleviations in the 

 labourer's lot. Most of the cottagers had a garden 

 and potato garth ; there were few who did not 

 supplement their earnings by spinning ; and man}', 

 particularly in the clay district, had a few acres 

 adjoining their dwellings which enabled them 

 to keep a cow or two and some pigs. 18 



Nearly all the draught work on the farms was 

 now done by horses, chiefly a ' middling kind 

 of black cart-horse ' improved lately by Leices- 

 tershire stallions, and oxen were only used on 

 some of the larger estates. The most common 

 plough was the Dutch swing plough, but in the 

 vale of Belvoir the two-wheeled one was popu- 

 lar, and south of the Trent, near Nottingham, 

 a one-wheeled plough with two horses. The 

 kinds of whe ,t commonly sown were the ' red 

 lammas,' ' Kentish or white chaffed,' and a 

 bearded wheat called 'Yeograve,' about two 

 Winchester bushels (somewhat smaller than the 

 imperial bushel) per acre being the ordinary 

 amount, and this in the common fields yielded 

 from 1 6 to 24 bushels per acre, and in the in- 

 closed 2O to 32 bushels. Rye was little sown, 



" According to Thorold Rogers, Six Cents, of Work 

 and Wages, chap. 1 8, the average wages in England 

 1799-1803 were lot. a week. 



" Thorold Rogers, op. cit. chap. 1 7. 



18 Lowe, Gen. View of Agrlc. of Notts. 1 40. This 

 contemporary account inclines one to accept Thorold 

 Rogers's statement with considerable qualification. 



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