Land Tenure and Agriculture. 85 



attributed to the spade liusbandry of some pre-Aryan race. 

 But apart from this form of agriculture, the rest of England's 

 soil seems to have been split up and uniformly distributed 

 in the manner described, i.e. the demesne lands nearest the 

 villages, the common arable field next, and the lord's waste 

 farthest off. 



It may at first cause some wonder why this should have 

 been uniformly so throughout the country. It must be, 

 however, borne in mind that the most fertile and accommoda- 

 ting land first attracted the human settlement, and that inter- 

 vening wastes would isolate such from similar communities. 



On the appearance of the overlord, the cultivated centres 

 would pass into his possession. Then his subjects (for they 

 were little less) would reserve, and he would assume, the usual 

 rights over the surrounding rim of waste, thus bringing about 

 that uniformity of land distribution, our reader's wonder at 

 which we have already anticipated. As in process of time the 

 cultivated oases around each village spread wider and wider, 

 they would come in contact with other cultivated districts, until 

 both the outer and inner circles of people's common and lord's 

 waste respectively, not only absorbed the whole uncultivated 

 area between village and village, but were themselves brought 

 under the mellowing influence of the plough. This process, 

 however, cannot even yet be called complete, as long as an acre 

 of untilled, unenclosed soil has escaped the inroads of the 

 Enclosure Acts. 



How far back in England's history this system of common 

 field cultivation, with its contingent people's waste, really 

 goes, is a difficult question. We have evidence of it in 

 Britain at a very primitive stage. Mr. Seebohm has drawn 

 attention to various codes of "Welsh legislation which tend 

 further than any other record to support the theory that it 

 orginated in the agricultural economy of some tribal com- 

 munity. Without traversing in detail the ground already 

 trodden by this well-known author, it will suffice if we say 

 that he traces out to a legitimate conclusion a Welsh system 

 of common field culture, which in all its salient features is 

 reconcilable with that similar economy adopted by Anglo- 



