iv] ENCLOSURES AND EXHAUSTION 53 



fields can be traced around Harpenden; Manland, 

 Westfield and Pickford Commons are divided by 

 balks into strips as in medieval times. During the 

 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the enclosure was 

 accompanied by the wholesale conversion of arable 

 into grassland induced by the high price of wool, and 

 both processes were much resented by the peasantry, 

 who pulled down the new hedges in many places, and 

 in Norfolk broke out into open rebellion under Kett 

 in 1549. Shrewd writers of the period saw, however, 

 that only on enclosed land could a higher level of 

 productiveness be attained, and history has shown 

 that only on such land were improved methods 

 adopted. 



Under the new conditions each man could grow 

 what he liked (unless the landlord forbade him), and 

 he was no longer tied down to follow ancient custom. 

 There was a greater incentive to industry, more 

 manure could be obtained and greater care could be 

 taken with the cultivations and to keep down weeds. 

 In consequence larger crops were now obtained ; the 

 yield of wheat has been estimated for certain districts 

 at about 20 bushels, barley at 30, oats and pulse at 

 40 bushels per acre at this period. There can be little 

 doubt that at this pace exhaustion would have been 

 hastened, and the more so as chalking, marling and 

 other permanent improvements were falling into dis- 

 use through the insecurity of the tenant's position. 



