312 THE RURAL POPULATION, 1780-1813 



ployment, though in the eastern part of the county lace-making still 

 flourished. 1 In Dorsetshire the principal manufactures were in the 

 neighbourhood of Bridport and Beaminster, where in 1793, " all 

 sorts of twine, string, packthread, netting, cordage, and ropes are 

 made, from the finest thread used by saddlers, in lieu of silk, to 

 the cable which holds the first-rate man of war." 2 In this neigh- 

 bourhood also were made the sails for shipping, sacking for ham- 

 mocks, and all kinds of bags and tarpaulin. Here too were braided 

 nets for the Newfoundland fishery and for home use. At Loders 

 sail-cloth was woven. At Shaftesbury and Blandford, and in the 

 surrounding villages on all sides, to seven or eight miles distance, 

 was carried on the manufacture of shirt-buttons. 



Two other changes were in progress which in a minor degree 

 added to the misfortunes of the labouring classes in country districts. 

 In the first place, trade in agricultural produce was rapidly becoming 

 wholesale instead of retail. Dairy-farms contracted for the supply 

 of milk to towns, and milk was more easily obtained by the urban 

 than the rural population. The produce of corn-farms was sold in 

 bulk to corn-dealers or millers. Labourers could rarely purchase a 

 bushel of wheat direct from the farmer. They could no longer 

 carry their corn to the miller, pay for grinding, and take away the 

 pure flour, and the offals for the pigs. Now they were obliged to buy 

 from the miller or the baker, not only the flour, but the bran, with 

 the profits of each trader added to the price of both. In the second 

 place, a number of crops, some of which required much labour for 

 their cultivation or special preparation, were dying out, because 

 the industries which they served had migrated, or from some change 

 of taste or fashion. As the linen trade became more concentrated 

 in particular localities, flax was more rarely cultivated. The hemp- 

 yards, which were once attached to many cottages and farm-houses, 

 were similarly abandoned. The use of teasels by clothiers was 

 displaced by machinery, and the crop was no longer cultivated. 

 Woad, madder, and saffron found cheaper substitutes. Liquorice 

 disappeared from Nottinghamshire, camomile from Derbyshire, 

 canary seed from Kent, carraway seed from Essex. 



The rapid increase in the price of provisions from 1793 onwards 

 struck yet another, and a crushing, blow at the position of the land- 

 less labourer. The rise came with startling suddenness, and it 



1 Vancouver's Devonshire (1808), p. 464. 



2 Claridge's Dorsetshire (1793), p. 37. 



