CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



1 N the first two volumes of my History of Agriculture and 

 Prices, I dealt with a period which was marked by two great 

 domestic events, the Black Death and the Peasants' War. 

 The former completely altered the relations of labourers and 

 employers, of tenants and landowners. Despite the incessant 

 efforts of the Parliament and the Administration, the Statute 

 of Labourers failed of effecting its object ; the restoration of 

 those old rates of wages which prevailed before the Black Death 

 reduced the numbers of the people. The indirect effects of 

 this great event were even more remarkable. The great land- 

 owner ceases to carry on agriculture with his own capital, and 

 farmers' rents of a fixed and almost invariable amount take the 

 place of the lord's cultivation by bailiffs. Attempts were 

 made for varying periods of time to continue the old system, 

 especially by corporations. It is possible that the system of 

 stock and land leasing, which became very general after the 

 change commenced, may have been suggested by the hope that 

 the old state of things might be restored. But it may have 

 been necessitated by the temporary scantiness of the yeoman's 

 capital, and his consequent inability to undertake the risks of a 

 greatly extended tenancy. But the system of stock and land 

 leasing rarely continues for more than sixty years after it is first 

 introduced on any particular estate. Some landowners adopted 



VOL. IV. B 



