TOWNSHEND 183 



whole being let at 15^. an acre, or ten times its orignal 

 value. Townshend's two special hobbies were the field 

 cultivation of turnips, and improvement in the rotation of 

 crops. Pope says his conversation was largely of turnips, and 

 he was so zealous in advocating them that he was nicknamed 

 ' Turnip Townsend '. l He initiated the Norfolk or four-course 

 system of cropping, in which roots, grasses, and cereals were 

 wisely blended, viz. turnips, barley, clover and rye grass, 

 wheat. He also reintroduced marling to the light lands of 

 Norfolk, and followed Tull's system of drilling and horse- 

 hoeing turnips, with the result that the poor land of which his 

 estate was largely composed was converted into good corn and 

 cattle-growing farms. Like all the progressive agriculturists of 

 the day, he was an advocate of enclosures, and he had no small 

 share in the growth of the movement by which, in the reigns 

 of Anne and the first two Georges, 244 enclosure Acts were 

 passed and 338,177 acres enclosed. The progress of enclosure 

 was alleged as a proof that England was never more pros- 

 perous than under Walpole ; the number of private gentlemen 

 in Britain of ample estates was said to exceed that of any 

 country in the world proportionately, and was far greater than 

 in the reign of Charles II. The value of land at twenty-six 

 or twenty-seven years' purchase was a conclusive proof of the 

 wealth of England. 2 



Though, however, the first half of the century was gen- 

 erally prosperous there were bad times for farmer and land- 

 lord. We have seen that wheat-growing paid little, although 

 from 1689 to 1773 the farmer was protected against imports and 

 aided by a bounty on exports. In 1 738 Lord Ly ttelton wrote : 

 ' In most parts of England, gentlemen's rents are so ill paid and 

 the weight of taxes lies so heavy upon them that those who 

 have nothing from the Court can scarce support their families.' 3 



1 R. A. S. E. Journal (3rd Series), iii. I. 



2 See the Hyp Doctor, No. 49. 



3 Tooke, History of Price $, i. 42, 



