PART FOUR 



THE AFTERMATH OF THISTLES 

 THE 'EIGHTIES. 



ALL those who gained their living from the land will remem- 

 ber 1879 as the " Black Year." To the pessimistic it came as 

 an evil omen of the era of agricultural depression which was 

 to follow. It was the worst of a succession of wet seasons, 

 and the winter of 1880-1 was one of the severest ever known. 

 The land, saturated and chilled, produced coarse herbage, 

 since the finer grasses languished and were destroyed. Fod- 

 der and grain were imperfectly matured, mould and ergot 

 were prevalent amongst plants, and fluke produced liver-rot 

 amongst live-stock. In 1879 3,000,000 sheep died or were 

 sacrificed from rot in England and Wales. 1 By 1881 

 5,000,000 sheep had perished, at an estimated loss of 

 10,000,000. 



Besides this great calamity this year was distinguished 

 by one of the worst harvests of the century ; by outbreaks 

 of foot and mouth disease and of pleuro-pneumonia. 8 



The steam whistle of factory and train sounded the 

 death-knell to many a village industry. In many a parish 

 the village tailor crossed his legs for the last time. The 

 smithy stood black and silent, and children no longer loitered 

 by the anvil from which no music was hammered. Wind- 

 mills beat their arms in vain on hill or plain. No grist was 

 brought to their moveless stones. No dusty miller lingered 

 by the mill-pond, which poured its wealth of shining liquid 

 power past an unresponsive wheel. The click of hand- 

 looms worked by village maidens was no longer heard at 



1 R.A.S.E. Journal, 1881. . 



2 A Short History of English Agriculture, by W. H. R. Curtler. 



67 



