220 LARGE FARMS AND CAPITALIST FARMERS 



he guaranteed to improving farmers a return for their energy and 

 outlay. Two years before the expiration of a lease, the tenant 

 was informed of the ne\v rent proposed, and offered a renewal. 

 " My best bank," said one of his farmers, " is my land." At the 

 same time he guarded against the mischief of a long unrestricted 

 tenancy by covenants regulating the course of high-class cultivation. 

 Though management clauses were then comparatively unknown 

 in English leases, his farms commanded competition among 

 the pick of English farmers. " Live and let live " was not 

 only a toast at the Holkham sheep-shearings, but a rule in 

 the control of the Holkham estate. Cobbett was not prejudiced 

 in favour of landlords. Yet even he was compelled to admit 

 the benefits which Coke's tenants derived from his paternal 

 rule. " Every one," he writes in 1821, " made use of the 

 expressions towards him which affectionate children use towards 

 their parents." 



One great obstacle to the improvement of Norfolk farming 

 remained. Farmers of the eighteenth century lived, thought, and 

 farmed like farmers of the thirteenth century. Wheat instead of 

 rye might be grown with success ; turnips, if drilled, were more 

 easily hoed and yielded a heavier crop than those which were sown 

 broadcast ; marl and clay might help to consolidate drifting soil. 

 But the neighbouring farmers were suspicious of new methods, and 

 distrusted a young man who disobeyed the saws and maxims of 

 their forefathers. Politics ran so high that Coke's Southdowns 

 were denounced as " Whiggish sheep." It was nine years before 

 he found anyone to imitate him in growing wheat. " It might be 

 for Mr. Coke ; but it was not good enough for them." As 

 to potatoes, the best they would say was, that " perhaps they 

 wouldn't poison the pigs." Even those who had given up broad- 

 cast sowing still preferred the dibber to the drill. Sixteen years 

 passed before the implement was adopted. Coke himself calculated 

 .at his improvements travelled at the rate of a mile a year, The 

 Holkham sheep -shearings did much by ocular demonstration to 

 >reak down traditions and prejudices. These meetings originated 

 in 1778, in Coke's own ignorance of farming matters ; small parties 

 of farmers were annually invited to discuss agricultural topics at 

 his house and aid him with their practical advice. Before many 

 years had passed, the gatherings had grown larger, and Coke had 

 become a teacher as well as a learner. The Holkham sheep- 



