22 FARMING FOR PROFIT 



The growth of woollen manufactories raised the price 

 of English wool, which commanded the market at home 

 and abroad. Edward III. encouraged Flemish wool- 

 workers to settle in England and improve domestic 

 manufactures, which hitherto had aspired to nothing more 

 than a coarse frieze. He settled his Flemings in every 

 part of England, but especially in the eastern counties 

 and the south-west. At the same time English wool 

 was indispensable to the manufacturers of Flanders, who 

 mixed it with the produce of Spain, so that Europe was 

 clothed by Engli.sh farmers. Wool was easy of transport, 

 little liable to damage, subject to no duties. Baltic corn, 

 on the other hand, competed successfully with English 

 grain in foreign markets ; as a merchandisable commodity 

 corn was liable to every tax and damage. Arable farming 

 was expensive and uncertain ; sheep-feeding sure and 

 cheap. 



The high and certain profits of sheep-farming encou- 

 raged not only the consolidation of holdings, but a revolu- 

 tion in agricultural practice. Hitherto but little attention 

 had been paid to grass farms. Now tillage gave way to 

 pasturage. The new commercial aristocracy converted 

 their land into parks or sheep-walks, where only a 

 shepherd found employment. They encroached upon and 

 enclosed the commons by force or connivance with the 

 principal commoners. The purchase of common rights 

 must have been rare, for in the reign of Edward VI. the 

 Statute of Merton was re-enacted. Tenants were encou- 

 raged to consolidate their holdings, to exchange open 

 fields for separate farms, to divide the common pasture 

 with the landlord. Small tenants were evicted from their 

 holdings on the demesne ; farm servants who had boarded 

 with them were dismissed ; the cottages of the married 



