CHAPTER XIV 



I 7CO-I 765 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 



CENTURY— CROPS.— CATTLE.— DAIRYING.— POULTRY.— 



TULL AND THE NEW HUSBANDRY.— BAD 



TIMES.— FRUIT-GROWING 



The history of agriculture in the eighteenth century is 

 remarkable for several features of great importance. It first 

 saw the application of capital in large quantities to farming, 

 the improvements of the time being largely initiated by rich 

 landowners whom Young praises rightly as public-spirited 

 men who deserved well of their country, though Thorold 

 Rogers attributes a meaner motive for the improvement of 

 their estates, namely, their desire not to be outshone by the 

 wealthy merchants.^ They were often ably assisted by 

 tenant farmers, many of whom were now men with con- 

 siderable capital, for whom the smaller farms were amalga- 

 mated into large ones. After the agricultural revolution of 

 the latter half of the century, the tendency to consolidate 

 small holdings into large farms grew apace and was looked 

 on as a decided mark of progress. This agricultural revolu- 

 tion was largely a result of the industrial revolution that then 

 took place in England. Owing to mechanical inventions and 

 the consequent growth of the factory system, the great manu- 

 facturing towns arose, whence came a great demand for food, 

 and, to supply this demand, farms, instead of being small self- 

 sufficing holdings just growing enough for the farmer and his 

 family and servants, grew larger, and became manufactories 

 of corn and meat. The century was also remarkable for 

 another great change. England, hitherto an exporting 

 ' Six Centuries of Work and Wages, p. 472. 



