The Nineteenth Century 127 



become practically exhausted, " and were only temporarily revived during 

 the Great War of 1914-18. 



Despite the coprolite prosperity, Cambridgeshire shared in tlie general 

 ebb that marked English agriculture from the seventies onwards. An 

 idea of the nature of farming in the County is provided by the following 

 figures,- derived from the Agricultural Returns of 1874: 



The type of farming indicated by these figures made the district very sus- 

 ceptible to the depression that started^ between 1875 and 1879. Mr Druce, 

 who visited the County in 1880, attributed the depression, first and 

 foremost, 



to a succession of four or five years' deficient harvests [due to wet seasons], accom- 

 panied with extremely low prices, occasioned by the excessive importations from 

 America. Among the contributory causes were increased rates of wages and the 

 difficulty of obtaining juvenile labour due to the Education Acts.'' 



In those districts of the County where attention had been directed to 

 the production of meat, the depression was not so much felt; but the 

 tenor of Mr Druce's report leaves no doubt about the general situation. 

 In the Fenland, "one-half the farmers were absolutely insolvent, and the 

 other half gready reduced in circumstances". On the upland, "there were 

 considerable quantities of land unlet and which could not be let". 



Nor did the story end there. In another report, made in the following 

 year, Mr Druce found "that the depression has very much increased" ;5 

 and he added that the Agricultural Returns for 1881 "afford confirmatory 

 evidence of the continuance and depth of the depression in this coimty". 

 The numbers of stock were continuing to decrease, notwithstanding an 

 earher decrease since 1875. Mr Druce graded the intensity of the depres- 

 sion among the counties that comprised his district as: (i) Huntingdon, 

 (2) Essex, (3) Cambridge. 



' E. Conybeare, A History of Cambridgeshire (1897), p. 269. See also T. M. Hughes 

 and M. C. Hughes, Cambridgeshire (1909), p. 112. 



* F. CUfford, The Agricultural Lock-Out 0/1874 (1875), pp. 339-40- 



3 Royal Commission on Agriculture: Report on Cambridgeshire, Report by Mr Wilson 

 Fox (1895), p. 25. 



^ Royal Commission oti Agriculture, Report by Mr Druce (1881), p. 365. 



5 Royal Commission on Agriculture, Report by Mr Druce (1882), pp. 14-20. 



