xiv CONTENTS 



ecclesiastical penalties for non-payment ; a legal liability : tithes as 

 parochial endowments ; the Reformation ; the collection of tithes in 

 kind unpopular and expensive to tithe-owners ; substituted forms of 

 payment ; the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 ; its object and machinery. 



Pp. 332-345 



CHAPTER XVII. 

 HIGH FARMING. 1837-1874. 



Condition of agriculture in 1837 ; current explanation of the distress ; pre- 

 paration for a new start in farming ; legislative changes ; development of 

 a railway system ; live-stock in 1837 ; the general level of farming ; 

 foundation of the Royal Agricultural Society ; notable improvements, 

 1837-74 ; extension of drainage ; purchase of feeding stuffs ; discovery 

 of artificial fertilisers ; mechanical improvements and inventions ; Repeal 

 of tho Corn Laws ; the golden age from 1853 to the end of 1862 ; rapid 

 progress in the " Fifties " ; pedigree mania in stock-breeding. 



Pp. 346-373 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

 ADVERSITY. 1874-1912. 



Industrial crisis; special difficulties of farmers; the weather, and foreign 

 competition; Richmond Commission, 1879-82; second agricultural crisis, 

 1891-99; Royal Commission of 1893; changes in farming; the day of 

 small things ; progress ; the aid of science ; management of dairy pro- 

 duce ; agricultural education ; effects of present elementary education. 



Pp. 374-392 



CHAPTER XIX. 

 CONCLUSION. 



1888 and 1912 : political agitation then and now; the situation contrasted 

 and compared ; the position of landowners ; of tithe-owners ; of tenant- 

 farmers ; tenant-right as a defence against sales ; agricultural labourers, 

 their slow progress between 1834 and 1884, and their Unions ; their 

 improved position in 1912. The problem of the future ; the reconstruction 

 of village life : the necessity of an agricultural policy : the prospect of 

 increased burdens on agricultural land. Pp. 393-418 



APPENDICES. 

 APPENDIX I. 



Chronological list of Agricultural Writers down to 1700. Pp. 419-430 



