I04 ^^^ ENCLOSURES IN ENGLAND [260 



At Heacham the common fields were enclosed by act in 

 1780, and Young notes : 



Before the enclosure they were in no regular shifts and the field 

 badly managed ; now in regular five-shift Norfolk management.^ 



At Northwald, about 3,000 acres of open-field land were 

 enclosed in 1796 and clover was introduced. The comment 

 made is th«t " the crops bear quite a new face." The com- 

 mon field of Brancaster before enclosure in 1755 " was in 

 an open, rude bad state ; now in five or six regular shifts." ^ 



Hitherto there had been only one way of restoring fer- 

 tility to land ; converting it to pasture and leaving it under 

 grass for a prolonged period. Now it could be speedily 

 improved and used intensively. Arthur Young describes 

 the modem method of improvement in his account of the 

 changes made in Norfolk husbandry before 1771 : 



From forty to fifty years ago, all the northern and western 

 and a great part of the eastern tracts of the county were sheep 

 walks, let so low as from 6 rf. to u. 6 d, and 2 s. an acre. 

 Much of it was in this condition only thirty years ago. The 

 improvements have been made by the following circumstances. 



First. By enclosing without the assistance of Parliament. 



Second. By a spirited use of marl and clay. 



Third. By the introduction of an excellent course of crops. 



Fourth. By the introduction of turnips well hand-hoed. 



Fifth. By the culture of clover and ray-grass. 



Sixth. By the lords granting long leases. 



Seventh. By the country being divided chiefly into large 

 farms.* 



The evidence which has been examined in this mono- 



1 Ibid., ch. vi. 



^Ibid. 



3 Bland, Brown and Tawney, op. cit., pp. 530-531. 



