134 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



farmers about half must have been what are now called 

 small holders, men who tilled the land with the help 

 of their wives and families, while the other farmers 

 were large holders, employing hired labourers. 



The development of this characteristic XlXth cen- 

 tury system of landlord, leasehold tenant and hired 

 labourer, working on enclosed farms, brought with it 

 further great improvements in farm buildings and in 

 agricultural machinery and implements, changes for the 

 better in character of stock, heavier crops and con- 

 tinuous cropping, and, indeed, progress in agriculture 

 in every direction. This progress was largely due to 

 the considerable amount of capital spent on the land 

 by landlords and tenant farmers. 



The new system was of necessity accompanied by 

 the general adoption of the lease or agreement, designed 

 to fix the rent to be paid by the tenant, 



Classreia- anc j to j ay ^own t h e conditions for the 

 tionsnips. 



cultivation of the land. These rents and 



conditions have, of course, varied throughout England 

 from time to time as prices and other conditions have 

 changed. 1 



One might expect to find difficulties arising out of 

 the conflict of interests between landlords and tenants, 

 created by the leasehold system so regulated, but as 

 a matter of fact there has been little serious friction. 

 This was due, in the first instance, to certain special 

 conditions prevailing in England. The landlords and 

 farmers, it should be observed, had a common interest 

 in keeping up the price of corn and stock. These 

 prices the landed gentry, during the period that they 

 controlled Parliament, were able to regulate by adjust- 

 1 See Appendix, p. 166. 



