I02 THE ENCLOSURES IN ENGLAND [258 



periodically withdrawing portions of it from cultivation 

 and laying it to grass? In the one case, cultivation was com- 

 pletely suspended for a number of years, but was gradually 

 reintroduced as it became evident that the land had recovered 

 its strength while used as pasture. In the other, the graz- 

 ing of sheep and cattle was introduced as a by-industry, 

 for the sake of utilizing the land which had been set aside 

 to recover its strength, while the better land was kept under 

 the plow. Whether enclosures were made for better agri- 

 culture, then, as Mr. Leadam contends, or for pasture, as is 

 argued by Professor Gay,^ the arable enclosures were used 

 as pasture for a part of the time and the enclosed pastures 

 came later to be used for tillage part of the time, and the two 

 things amount to the same thing in the end. 



This end, however, had still not been reached in a great 

 number of open-'field villages by the beginning of the eigh- 

 teenth century, and we should expect to find that the history 

 of the land in this century was but a repetition of what had 

 gone before, in so far as the fields which had not hitherto* 

 been enclosed are concerned. 



But, during the seventeenth century, an agricultural revo- 



/ lution was taking place. Experiments were being made 



I with new forage crops. For one thing, it was found that 



/ turnips could be grown in the fields and that they made 



"^ excellent winter forage ; and grass seeding was introduced. 



The grasses and clovers which were brought from Holland 



not only made excellent hay, but improved the soil rapidly. 



The possibility of increasing the amount of hay at will put 



an end to the absolute scarcity of. manure — the limiting 



factor in English agriculture from the beginning. And the 



comparative ease with which the artificial grasses could bel 



^ For this controversy see, " The Inquisitions of Depopulation in 1517 

 and the ' Domesday of Inclosures,' " by Edwin F. Gay and I. S. Leadam, 

 Royal Hist, Soc. Trans., 1900, vol. xiv, pp. 231-303. 



