34 AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH RURAL HISTORY 



siderable loss, both with regard to plants and animals. 

 Experiments proved that when the land was drained it 

 became lighter in weight, warmer, easier to work, and 

 not so liable to the attacks of noxious insects which appeared 

 to thrive in damp ground. Crops produced in the drier 

 soil were also more nourishing for cattle, whose condition 

 consequently improved rapidly. 



Most of the flat Eastern counties, the Fens, were still 

 marsh. Attempts had been made in the fifteenth century 

 to improve this vast swamp, but with little success. In 

 1634, however, the Earl of Bedford set on foot a scheme 

 for draining the Eastern tract. With the aid of Dutch 

 engineers, no less an area than 95,000 acres had been drained 

 and reclaimed by 1649. This immense tract proved ulti- 

 mately to be of great service to farmers. To the Dutch 

 we are also indebted for the introduction of grasses and 

 clover. 



Large sums were also expended in improving the soil 

 by the process known as " marling." This consists in the 

 addition of a mixture of chalk and clay to sandy soils, 

 and of sand to the heavier soils. These improvements led 

 to increased crops of various kinds, especially corn, of 

 which sufficient was produced for the entire population of 

 the country. The price of corn, however, varied consider- 

 ably from year to year, though on the whole it was steadily 

 rising. It has been estimated that the average price of 

 corn during the seventeenth century was 41s. per quarter. 



The great Civil War, which broke out in 1642, was not 

 without its effect upon farming. To some extent the 

 progress of agriculture was arrested by the war. It is 

 said, however, that the struggle resulted in spreading a 

 knowledge of the agricultural processes adopted in various 

 parts of the country. 



