ii6 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



flourished, they were yet able to pay greatly increased 

 rents, so that his rent-roll went up from a few 

 thousands a year to many thousands. His methods, 

 then new, now seem obvious. To his land he applied 

 marl, clay and manures. He drained and irrigated, 

 and when the land was brought into condition he 

 sowed seed with drills and kept it clean. He intro- 

 duced wheat in place of rye, and used to boast that he 

 had changed West Norfolk from a rye-producing to a 

 wheat-growing district. He farmed with the improved 

 rotation of crops growing turnips, clover and other 

 roots and grasses. He bred the best class of stock, 

 particularly South Down sheep and Devon cattle. His 

 tenants were treated extremely well, provided they 

 farmed well. A man of great power, energy and 

 personal attraction, Coke, ' the handsome Englishman,' 

 was one of the most famous figures of his time. He 

 entered Parliament in 1776 as member for Norfolk, and 

 remained in the House of Commons with two intervals 

 until the Reform Parliament of 1832. In 1837 he was 

 made Earl of Leicester. Holkham and its master were 

 for many years one of the sights of England, to be 

 visited not only by all the great personages of our 

 country, but also by those from abroad who came to 

 England in that time. He kept open house on the 

 occasion of his annual sheep-shearings, and at the last 

 of these functions, which was held in 1821, it was said 

 that 7,000 people took part. 



There was one other man of the time who had 

 remarkable influence. Arthur Young (1741-1820), who 

 ultimately became Secretary of the first Board of 

 Agriculture (a semi-official body founded in 1795 and 

 dissolved in 1822), started life as a farmer; he very 

 quickly failed, probably because of his unlimited en- 



