The Development of British Agriculture 21 



could find them food in winter and keep them in pretty 

 good condition. Before winter roots were discovered, 

 surplus cattle and sheep were killed in November, and 

 salted for winter provisions. This bad system was 

 not only injurious to health, but it was a great hindrance 

 to agricultural progress. 



The latter part of the eighteenth and the early 

 years of the nineteenth century witnessed the enclosure 



An old farmhouse, near Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire 



of millions of acres of waste land, common land, and 

 open-field farms. During this period the great land- 

 owners set examples in improved agriculture and estate 

 management, and British agriculture then assumed the 

 leading position, which it still maintains in spite of 

 foreign competition and other difficulties. 



The nineteenth century may be divided into several 

 very distinct periods of alternating prosperity and 



