The Progress of British Agriculture 17 



increased; the large estates were broken up into 

 smaller farms ; and free play was allowed to the new 

 tendencies of the age so that in course of time better 

 relations existed between masters and men. 



4. THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH 

 AGRICULTURE 



British agriculture has gone through very varied 

 experiences of prosperity and depression. The Tudor 

 period seems to mark a transition time when new ideas 

 on the land and its cultivation took hold of men's 

 minds. The year 1534 was notable in the annals of 

 agriculture, for there was then issued Fitzherbert's 

 The Book of Husbandry, which is considered to be the 

 first English treatise on the subject. In queen Eliza- 

 beth's reign there were other writers, the chief of 

 whom, Tusser, wrote the One Hundred Good Points of 

 Husbandry. From these and other books of a like 

 nature we learn about farming in Tudor times. 



It was then that the old three-field system was 

 giving way to large, independent holdings ; and 

 perhaps even more important was the conversion of 

 arable into pasture land, when large areas too were fenced 

 off into sheep-walks, for wool was then needed for the 

 cloth industry. These and other changes resulted in 

 the migration of the rural population and considerable 

 discontent. 



We must, also remember that the Reformation was 

 the cause of much economic change. A large amount 

 of land that had been held by the monasteries went 



B.A. 2 



