HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 27 



country, but the process was slow up to the Napoleonic 

 wars. One of the most baneful eflects of these wars was 

 the practical extinction of the yeoman class. Carried 

 away by the high price of wheat, the small ow^ners were 

 tempted to speculate and to live extravagantly ; in 

 consequence they were obliged to sell to rich to\msmcn, 

 and to the great landowners of England w ho at this period 

 from one cause or another had become possessed of great 

 wealth. There was little opportunity for foreign invest- 

 ment and the chief object was to buy more land — to lay 

 farm to farm ; so the great landowners became greater, 

 and the land was vested in fewer hands than ever before 

 in the history of England and the class of tenant farmers 

 increased in consequence. 



It is worthy of note that throughout the Feudal times, 

 and until dispossessed by Henry VIH, the Church was 

 a great landowner, and as a rule this land was the best 

 cultivated in the kingdom ; this was largely because 

 it was less aflected by the imsettled conditions than the 

 the land of the great barons who gave much of their 

 time to fighting for the King. 



The following are the chief points which emerge from 

 a study of our agricultural history for the last thousand 

 years. 



(i) That prior to the nineteenth century agricultural 

 labourers had a more direct interest in the land owing 

 to the fact that considerable numbers had access to 

 common lands. 



(2) That the proportion of occupying owners was 

 higher before 1800 than it has been since ; the reduction 

 in the number of owners was largely due to the effects of 

 the Napoleonic wars. 



(3) That State interference in agriculture is no new 



