174 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



and 2s. 6d. at the Bell Inn, Stilton, where it seems to have 

 first been sold in large quantities, though Leicestershire 

 perhaps claims the honour of first making it.^ 



The eastern side of Suffolk was, in Defoe's time, famous 

 for the best butter and perhaps the worst cheese in England, 

 the butter being ' barrelled and sometimes pickled up in small 

 casks '.- 



Rabbits were occasionally kept in large numbers for profit ; 

 at Auborne Chase in Wilts, there was a warren of 700 acres 

 surrounded by a wall — a most effective way of preventing 

 escape, but somewhat expensive. In winter time they were 

 fed on hay, and hazel branches from which they ate the bark. 

 They were never allowed to get below 8,000 head, and from 

 these, after deducting losses by poachers, weazles, polecats, 

 foxes, &c., 24,000 were sold annually. These rabbits, owing 

 to the quality of the grass, were famous for the sweetness 

 of their flesh. The proprietor, Mr. Gilbert, began to kill them 

 at Bartholomewtide, Aug. 24, and from then to Michaelmas 

 obtained ^s. a dozen for them delivered free in London ; but 

 those from Michaelmas to Christmas realized loj-. 6d. a dozen. 



The difference in price at the two periods is accounted 

 for by the fact that their skins were much better in the 

 latter, and the rabbits kept longer when killed ; they must 

 also have been larger. A skin before Michaelmas was only 

 worth id., but soon after nearly 6d. ; and in Hertfordshire was 

 a warren where rabbit skins with silvery hair fetched is. each.^ 



We have now reached the period when the result of Jethro 

 Tull's labours was given to the world, his Horse-hoeing 

 Husbandry ^^^tdivrng m 1733. It is no exaggeration to say 

 that agriculture owes more to TuU than to any other man ; 



* See Victoria County History: Rutland, Agriculture. Stilton was 

 eaten in the same condition as many prefer it now, ' with the mites round 

 it so thick that they bring a spoon for you to eat them.' 



' Defoe, Tour, i. (i) 78. Cheshire cheese was 2d. to 2\d. per lb., 

 Cheddar (id. to %d. in 1724, an extraordinary difference. 



^ Bradley, i. 172. 



