58 Rents, Wages, and Profits in Agriculture 



change from cultivation in common which 

 calls for special notice in dealing with capital 

 and profits, is the effect of the abandonment 

 of the old customs on the relations of 

 landlord and tenant. Under the old system 

 the villein had fixity of tenure at what 

 came to be, in time, a moderate quit rent 

 of a mixed kind service, produce, and 

 money. There were no changes in the 

 methods of cultivation, which indeed were 

 impossible with cultivation in common. 

 Under the new system, especially after the 

 enclosures, as we learn from the work of 

 Fitzherbert (1523), the tenants in some cases 

 suffered from insecurity of tenure. The land 

 was let on short leases, and the landlord 

 could raise the rents on any improvement 

 being made. It was calculated that land 

 that was enclosed even with the old methods 

 of cultivation yielded 25 per cent, more than 

 the land in the open fields, and consequently 



