AGRICULTURE. 



riod when the Romans invaded this island, and 

 the annals of even that period are meager and 

 unsatisfactory. 



When Ccesar arrived in England, about 55 

 B. c., he describes the Cantii, or inhabitants of 

 Kent, and the Belgoe, inhabiting the modern 

 counties of Somerset, Wilts, and Hants, as 

 much more advanced than the rest of the peo- 

 ple in the habits of civilized life. They culti- 

 vated the soil; employed marl as manure; 

 stored their corn unthreshed, and freed it from 

 the chaff' and bran only as their daily demands 

 required. The interior inhabitants lived chiefly 

 upon milk and flesh, being fed and clothed by 

 the produce of their herds. " The country," 

 adds Ccesar, " is -well-peopled, and abounds in 

 buildings resembling these of the Gauls, and 

 they have a great abundance of cattle. They 

 are not allowed to eat either the hen, the goose, 

 or the hare, yet they take pleasure in breeding 

 them." (Caes. v. c. 10 ; Strabo, iv. 305 ; D';t>dor. 

 Sic. v. 301 ; Pliny, xvii. 4.) Cicero, in one of 

 his letters, says, " There is not a scruple of 

 money in the island ; nor any hopes of booty > 

 but in slaves; (Lib. iv. Ep. 17) ; a description, 

 that the industry and intelligence of succeed- 

 ing ages has rendered singularly inapplicable. 

 The first steps in that improvement were owing 

 to the Romans themselves. Rutilius has ele- 

 gantly and correctly said, that Rome filled the 

 world with her legislative triumphs, and caused 

 all to live in one common union, blending dis- 

 cordant nations into one country, and, by im- 

 parting a companionship in her own acquire- 

 ments and laws, formed one great city of the 

 world. 



Agricola was the chief instrument in impart- 

 ing to the Britons the improved arts and civi- 

 lization of the Romans. "To wean them from 

 their savage habits, Agricola held forth the 

 baits of pleasure, encouraging the natives, as 

 well by public assistance as by warm exhorta- 

 tions, to build temples, courts of justice, and 

 commodious dwelling-houses. He bestowed 

 encomiums on such as cheerfully obeyed ; the 

 slow and uncomplying were branded with re- 

 proach ; and thus a spirit of emulation diffused 

 itself, operating like a sense of duty. To es- 

 tablish a plan of education, and give the sons 

 of the leading chiefs a tincture of letters, was 

 part of his policy. By way of encouragement 

 he praised their talents, and already saw them, 

 by the force of their natural genius, rising su- 

 perior to the attainments of the Gauls. The 

 consequence was, that they who had always 

 disdained the Roman language began to culti- 

 vate its Beauties. The Roman apparel was 

 SI^MI \vithout prejudice, and the toga became a 

 fashionable part of dress. By degrees, the 

 charms of vice gained admission to their 

 hearts ; baths, porticos, and elegant banquets 

 grew into vogue ; and the new mannprs, which 

 in fact served only to sweeten slavery, were by 

 the unsuspecting Britons called the arts of 

 polished humanity." (Tacitus, A gricola. xxi.) 

 Thus eloquently does Tacitus describe the dif- 

 fusion of the Roman arts among the early na- 

 tives of England ; and that agriculture was 

 one of those in which they so rapidly improved, 

 is attested by the fact that in the fourth century 

 the Emperor Julian, having erected here gra- 



AGRICULTURE. 



naries in which to store the tributary corn that 

 he exacted from the natives, at one time sent a 

 fleet of 600 large vessels to convey away the 

 store they contained. Julian himself particu- 

 larizes the transaction. " If," says Gibbon, 

 " we compute those vessels at only seventy 

 tons each, they were capable of exporting 

 120,000 quarters ; arid the country which could 

 bear so large an exportation must have attained 

 an improved state of agriculture." (Dec. and 

 Fall of Rom. Emp. c. xix.) 



Possessing this improved agriculture, Eng- 

 land was successively subdued by the Saxons, 

 the Danes, and the Normans ; but as these all 

 came to improve their fortunes, and to win the 

 comforts of life, agriculture continued to flou- 

 rish : her operations were interrupted, her pro- 

 ducts destroyed, in whichever direction swept 

 the tide of war ; but no sooner was peace re- 

 stored than the inhabitants, though of varied 

 extraction, united their knowledge in the pur- 

 suit of this art, on which not only their com- 

 fort, but their existence chiefly depended. A 

 similar summary observation applies to all 

 succeeding ages ; and our agriculture has con- 

 tinued slowly to improve in spite of every ob- 

 stacle that has occasionally delayed, or that 

 has permanently retarded its advance. 



1. Tenures Size of Estates. The native 

 Britons, it is very certain, appropriated but 

 small portions of the land for raising corn, or 

 other cultivated vegetables, and the rest of the 

 country was left entirely open, affording a 

 common pasturage for their cattle, and pan- 

 nage for their swine. Under the Roman 

 government, we have seen that the extent of 

 cultivated ground must have considerably in- 

 creased, yet the oldest writers agree, that by 

 far the greatest proportion of the country was 

 occupied by heaths, woods, and other unre- 

 claJmed wastes. 



When the Saxons established themselves in 

 the island, an almost total revolution in the 

 proprietorship of the lands must have occur- 

 red. The conquest was only accomplished 

 after a bloody struggle ; and what was won 

 by the sword was considered to possess an 

 equitable title, that the sword alone could dis- 

 turb. In those days it was considered that the 

 lands of a country all belonged to the king ; 

 and on this principle the Saxon monarchs 

 gave to their followers whatever districts they 

 pleased, as rewards for the assistance afforded 

 in the conquest, reserving to themselves cer- 

 tain portions, and imposing certain burdens 

 upon each estate granted. (Cuke's Littleton, 1. 

 58. 2 ; Blackstone's Comm. 45. &c.) This was 

 only a continuance of that feudal system that 

 prevailed upon the Continent. 



As this feudal system declined, and was 

 finally extinguished in the twelfth year of 

 Charles II., so proportionally did the landed 

 interest increase in prosperity. Freed from 

 the burden of furnishing a soldier and hi" 

 armour for every certain number of acre*,, 

 and all restrictions as to lands changing hands 

 being removed, and the numerous impositions 

 being got rid off, with which the lords op- 

 pressed their sub-inf eudatories, it soon became 

 a marketable species of property; and, as 

 money and merchandise increased, and the 



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