Agricultural Capital and Profits 71 



common rent of land was 6d. an acre. 

 Thus in Young's time rents in money 

 being los. an acre had risen twentyfold. 

 A good part of the rise, however, was only 

 nominal, i.e., due to a change in the value 

 of money, and Rogers, for purposes of com- 

 parison in dealing with mediaeval prices, 

 multiplies by 12 to get the modern equiva- 

 lent. On this basis the mediaeval rents 

 expressed on the modern standard would 

 be 6s. an acre as against los. in the time 

 of Young. This, considering the great in- 

 crease in produce i.e., fourfold is a very 

 moderate rise. 



The progress of agriculture in the first 

 half of the nineteenth century has been 

 admirably described by Porter in one of 

 the sections of the " Progress of the Nation.'* 

 The evidence is partly indirect, but none 

 the less convincing. In this period (1800- 

 1850) there was a great increase in popula- 



