II. AGRICULTURAL HISTORY 



A. EUROPEAN 



AGRICULTURE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



By William Francis Allen 



IT SHOULD be observed in general that when we speak of 

 the progress of agriculture during the five hundred years that 

 have elapsed since the period which I am about to describe, 

 the progress must be understood to consist rather in improved 

 methods and a greater variety of crops than in care and thorough- 

 ness of cultivation. The English estates in the fourteenth century 

 were devoted to the production of a very few crops, of a quality 

 no doubt far inferior to those of the present day, with clumsy 

 and inefficient tools, by unskillful processes, and with no basis of 

 scientific knowledge ; but, assuming all these deficiencies in mat- 

 ters of detail, the cultivation was as a whole careful and system- 

 atic. They made the most of what knowledge and facilities they 

 had. It would probably be safe to say that at the present day, 

 with all the unquestioned advance in processes and materials, 

 there is more superficial and slipshod farming than there was 

 five hundred years ago. Our opportunities are greater, and we 

 get better results on the average ; but our better results are 

 perhaps due to our superior opportunities more than to the use 

 we make of them. 



I have said that the progress of agriculture in modern times 

 has consisted mainly in improved processes and greater variety of 

 crops. The first point of inquiry is, therefore. What crops were 

 cultivated, and for what object ? Agricultural operations are de- 

 signed either to supply the immediate wants of men in the 

 production of food or to provide materials for manufactures ; or, 



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