24a HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



mutton from 4s. to 4^. 6d.^ This great drop in prices was 

 accompanied by an increase in wages, the labourer from 1804 

 to 1810 getting on an average j2s. a week;'^ the cost of 

 implements rose, so did the rate of interest, and the cry of 

 agricultural distress in 1804 was heard everywhere. More 

 protection was demanded by those interested in the land, 

 and accordingly a duty of 24s. 3^. was imposed when the 

 price was 63J. or under ; a bounty was paid on export when 

 it was 40s. or under ; and wheat might be exported without 

 bounty up to 54^. 



However, 1804 was a very deficient harvest, owing to blight 

 and mildew, and by the end of the year wheat was 86^. 2d. 

 The harvests till 1808 were not as bad as that of 1804, 

 but not good enough to lower the prices. Also, owing to the 

 Berlin and Milan Decrees of Napoleon and the Non-intercourse 

 Act of the United States of America, imports were restricted 

 so that at the end of 1808 wheat was g2s. In this year the 

 exports of wheat exceeded the imports, but it was due to the 

 requirements of our army in Spain; and 1789 was the last year 

 when exports were greater under normal circumstances.^ 

 1809 was a bad harvest, so was 18 10; in the former rot 

 being very prevalent among sheep; and by August, 1810, 

 hay was ;^ii a load and wheat ii6s., only large imports 

 (1,567,126 quarters) preventing a famine. Down wool was 

 2s. id. per lb., beef and mutton 8^d., cheese Sd.* 



^ Tooke, History of Prices, \. 236. 



* Thorold Rogers, Work and Wages, c. 18. In many cases he was 

 getting isj. and i6i-. a week all the year round. The Parliamentary 

 Committee of 1822 put his wages during the war at from 15^. to i6j. 

 a week. Parliamentary Reports Cotnmittees, v. 72 ; but it is difficult to 

 say how much he received as wages, and how much as parish relief. 

 Recruiting for the war helped to raise wages, as did the increased 

 growth of corn. 



^ M<=Culloch, Cotmnercial Dictionary (1847), P- 438. See Appendix, ii. 



* Tooke, i. 319, and Pamphleteer, vi. 200 (A. Young). Since 1770, says 

 the latter, labour by 1810-11 had doubled, but meat had risen 146 per 

 cent., cheese 153 per cent., bread 100 per cent. Wages therefore had 

 not risen in proportion to prices. 



