290 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



rinderpest, or steppe murrain, is said ^ to have first appeared 

 in England in 1665, the year of the Great Plague, and re- 

 appeared in 1 714, when it came from Holland, but did little 

 damage, being chiefly confined to the neighbourhood of 

 London. The next outbreak was in 1745, and lasted for 

 twelve years, undoubtedly coming from Holland ; it is said 

 to have caused such destruction among the cattle, that much 

 of the grass land in England was ploughed up and planted 

 with com, so that the exports of grain increased largely. In 

 1769 it came again, but only affected a few localities, and 

 disappeared in 1771, not to return till 1865. 



Foot and mouth disease was first observed in England 

 in 1839,2 and it was malignant in 1 840-1, when cattle, sheep, 

 and pigs were attacked as they were during the serious out- 

 break of 1871-2. In 1883 no less than 319,289 cattle were 

 attacked, besides 217,492 sheep, and 24,332 pigs, when the 

 disease was worse than it has ever been in England. Since 

 then, though there have been occasional outbreaks, it has 

 much abated. Another dread scourge of cattle, pleuro-pneu- 

 monia, was at its worst in 1872, a most calamitous year 

 in this respect, when 7,983 cattle were attacked. In 1890 

 the Board of Agriculture assumed powers with respect to 

 it under the Diseases of Animals Act of that year, and their 

 consequent action has been attended with great success in 

 getting rid of the disease. 



At the end of this halcyon period farmers had to contend 

 with a new difficulty, the demand for higher wages by their 

 labourers at the instigation of Joseph Arch.^ This famous 

 agitator was born at Barford in Warwickshire in 1826, and 

 as a boy worked for neighbouring farmers, educating himself 

 in his spare time. The miserable state of the labourer which 

 he saw all around him entered into his soul, meat was rarely 

 seen on his table, even bacon was a luxury in many cottages. 



* R.A. S. E. Journal (2nd ser.), ii. 270. ' Ibid. ix. 274. 



' See Autobiography of Joseph Arch. 



