THE SPEENHAMLAND ACT 237 



Mr. Aitchison, of Drumore in East Lothian, first applied 

 steam to threshing. It was some time, however, before this 

 beneficent invention was generally used, and when the 

 machines were used they were usually driven by horse- or 

 water-power until about 1850. In 1883 Messrs. Howard, of 

 Bedford, adapted a sheaf-binding apparatus to the threshing 

 machine. With new implements came new crops ; the Swede 

 turnip was grown on some farms in Notts, just before 1800, 

 but it is not known who introduced it. 1 The mangel wurzel 

 was introduced about 1780-5 by Parkyns, and prickly comfrey 

 in 1811. 



The year 1795 was one of great scarcity owing to the wet 

 and stormy summer, and in August wheat went up to io8j. 

 a quarter. 2 As usual many other causes but the right one 

 were put forth, and the old accusations of monopoly, fore- 

 stalling, and regrating were heard again. The war with 

 France, with more reason, was considered to have helped in 

 raising prices, but the chief cause was the bad season. The 

 members of both Houses of Parliament bound themselves to 

 reduce the consumption of bread in their homes by one-third, 

 and recommended others to a similar reduction. It was 

 a period of terrible distress for the agricultural labourer. His 

 wages were about gs. a week, and it was impossible for him to 

 live on them, so that what is known as ' the allowance system \ 

 came in. At Speenhamland in Berkshire, in this year, the 

 magistrates agreed that it was not expedient to help thej 

 labourer by regulating his wages according to the statute of/ 

 Elizabeth, but recommended the farmers to increase their pay 

 in proportion to the present price of provisions, and they also 

 granted relief to all poor and industrious men according 

 to the price of bread. They were merely giving effect to 

 Gilbert's Act of 1782, which legalized the supplementing of 

 the wages of able-bodied men from the rates, and the decision 



1 R. A. S. E. Journal, 1896, p. 93. 



2 Tooke, History of Prices, i. 182. 



