354 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



Davenant, at the end of the seventeenth century, made the following 

 estimate showing the importance of wool in English trade 1 : 



Annual income of England ... ^4 3,000,000 



Yearly rent of land 10,000,000 



Value of wool shorn yearly 2,000,000 



woollen manufactures ... 10,000,000 



Thus the rents of land formed nearly one-fourth the total income of the 

 country, and wool paid one-fifth of the rents. 2 



In the eighteenth century a great quantity of wool was smuggled out of 

 England in defiance of the law; in the space of four months in 1754, 

 4,000 tods was ' run ' into Boulogne. 8 



FOREIGN AND COLONIAL WOOL IMPORTED INTO ENGLAND.* 



Ib. 



1766 ... 1,926,000 



1771 ... 1,829,000 



1780 ... 3 2 3 



1790 ... 2,582,000 



1800 ... 8,609,000 



1810 ... 10,914,000 



Ib. 



1820 ... 



1830 ... 32,305,000 



1840 ... 49,436,000 



1850 ... 74,326,000 



1855 ... 99,300,000 



1857 ... 127,390,000 



PRICES OF LABOUR IN SURREY IN i78o. s 



j. d. 



Day labourer, per day, in winter ... ... ... ... 14 



in summer ... ... ... ... I 6 



Reaping wheat, per acre ... ... ... ... ... 7 o 



,, and according to the crop up to ... 12 o 



Mowing barley, per acre ... ... ... ... ... 2 6 



oats, . ... ... ... ... is. 6d. to 2 o 



grass 2 6 



Hand-hoeing turnips, per acre, first time ... ... ... 60 



,, second time ... ... ... 4 o 



Thatching hayricks, per square of 100 ft. ... ... ... I o 



Washing and shearing sheep, per score ... ... ... 3 o 



Ploughing light land, per acre ... ... ... ... 5 



,, stiff ... - 7s. to 10 o 



Common hurdles, each ... ... ... ... ... 5 



1 Smith, Memoirs of Wool, i. 157. 



2 In 1908 the rental of agricultural land was 3^ per cent, of the total 

 income of the country. See The Times, May 13, 1909. 



3 Ibid. ii. 264. 



4 Cunningham, Industry and Commerce, ii. 693. Cf. above, p. 328. 

 8 Trusler, Practical Husbandry, p. 153. 



