I 



THE STAFFORD ESTATES 219 



Shall spend on the premises all hay, straw, and manure, or 



leave them at the end of the term. 

 Tenant on quitting to be allowed for hay left on the premises, 



for clover and ryegrass sown in the last year, and for all 



fallows made within that time.'^ 



A striking picture of the conditions prevailing in many parts 

 of England at this period is given by Mr. Loch in his account 

 of the estates of the Marquis of Stafford.^ When this nobleman 

 inherited his property in Staffordshire and Shropshire, much 

 of the land, as in other parts of England, was held on leases 

 for three lives, a system said to have been ruinous in its effects. 

 Although the farms were held at one-third of their value, 

 nothing could be worse than the course of cultivation pursued, 

 no improvements were carried out, and all that could be hoped 

 for was that the land would not be entirely run out when the 

 lease expired. The closes were extremely small and of the 

 most irregular shape ; the straggling fences occupied a large 

 portion of the land ; the crookedness of the ditches, by keeping 

 the water stagnant, added to, rather than relieved, the wetness 

 of the soil. Farms were much scattered, and to enable the 

 occupiers to get at their land, lanes wound backwards and 

 forwards from field to field, covering a large quantity of 

 ground. 



It is to the great credit of the Marquis of Stafford that this 

 miserable state of things was swept away. Lands were laid 

 together, the size of the fields enlarged, hedges and ditches 

 straightened, the drainage conducted according to a uniform 

 plan, new and substantial buildings erected, indeed the whole 

 countryside transformed. 



Another evil custom on the estate had been to permit huts 



* In Lancashire at this date it was not uncommon, when a tenant 

 wished for his farm or a particular field to be improved by draining, 

 marling, liming, or laying down to grass, to hand it over to the landlord 

 for the process; who, when completed, returned it to the tenant with an 

 advanced rent of 10 per cent, upon the improvements. — Marshall, Review 

 of Reports to Board of Agriculture (under Lancashire). 



* 1820, p. 173 et seq. 



