PIONEEES AND PEOGKESS 



OP 



ENGLISH FARMING. 



CHAPTER I. 



SELF-SUFFICING FARMING. 



The practice of English Agriculture was in its infancy 

 solely determined by the growth of population. No rota- 

 tion of crops was necessary till advancing numbers limited 

 the extent of the unoccupied land. While people were 

 few and land was abundant, grain crops were only raised 

 on light soils. Dry uplands, where the least labour told 

 the most, were first cultivated ; rich valleys, damp and 

 filled with forest growth, remained uninhabited. Sandy 

 soils or chalky highlands are the sites of the oldest villages. 

 Patches of the slopes of downs were cleared of self-sown 

 beech, and sheltered dips tilled for corn ; the high ground 

 behind was grazed by the flocks and herds ; the beech 

 woods supplied mast for the swine. On Salisbury Plain, 

 a century ago, there was no sign of human life except 

 the proverbial ' thief or twain ; ' no contemporary mark of 

 the hand of man but the gallows and their appendages. 

 Yet here are to be found traces of numerous villao-es. The 



