32 THE ENCLOSURES IN ENGLAND [i88 



arable land was no longer being converted to pasture. We 

 are told by Meredith, for instance, that " Moneyed men 

 at the end of Elizabeth's reign were beginning to find it 

 profitable to sink money in arable farming, a fact which 

 points to the conclusion that there was no longer any dif- 

 ferential advantage in sheep-raising." ^ Cunningham is 

 also of the opinion that " So far as such a movement can 

 be definitely dated, it may be said that enclosure for the 

 sake of increasing sheep-farming almost entirely ceased with 

 the reign of Elizabeth." ^ Innes gives as the cause of this 

 supposed check in the reduction of arable land to pasture that 

 " The expansion of pasturage appears to have reached the 

 limit beyond which it would have ceased to be profitable." ^ 

 It is indeed reasonable that the high prices which are sup- 

 posed to have been the cause of the sudden increase in wool 

 production should be gradually lowered as the supply in- 

 creased, and that thus the inducement to the conversion of 

 arable to pasture would in time disappear. The theory that 

 the enclosure movement was due to an increase in the price 

 of wool would be seriously weakened if the movement con- 

 tinued for a time longer than that required to bring about 

 an adjustment of the supply to .the increased demand. 



For the sake of consistency, then, this point in the account 

 of the enclosure movement is necessary. It would follow 

 naturally from the original explanati9n of the movement as 

 the response to an increased demand for wool, as reflected 

 in high prices. With the decrease in prices to be expected 

 as the supply increased, the incentive for converting arable 

 to pasture would be removed. Historians sometimes speak 

 of other considerations which might have contributed to 



1 Outlines of the Economic History of England (London, 1908), p. 118. 



2 Growth of Eng. Ind. and Commerce (Cambridge, 1892), p. 180. 

 "England's Industrial Development (London, 1912), p. 247. 



