88 



STATE OF LANDS AND FARMS 

 DURING THE LONG WAR. 



Few of the present generation of landowners 

 can form any idea of tlie exhausted condition 

 of the land in our own and the adjoining 

 division of the county of Chester, during 

 the continuance of the long war and at the 

 close of it. The high price of grain, flour, 

 and oatmeal, being nearly equal in price not 

 unfrequently, and the latter in greater con- 

 sumption among the middle and working 

 classes than in the present day, was an en- 

 couragement to the tenant-farmer, to con- 

 vert into tillage every part of his occupancy 

 which would yield a crop of wheat and oats 

 at from 10s. to 12s. and 15«, the bushel. 



