SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



machinery was early introduced, not, however, without temporary and here 

 and there violent opposition from the labourers. Very many of the farmers 

 early showed their appreciation of the value of artificial manures ; in some 

 cases loss was suffered through inexperience in the use of these manures, but 

 this no longer happens. Bedfordshire has, necessarily, had to endure its share 

 of seasons of agricultural depression ; but the strain upon the industry has 

 probably been less here than in some counties, and at present there is no 

 evidence of any difficulty in finding good tenants for land. On the one 

 hand, there has been a tendency to consolidate adjoining farms ; and there 

 has been some increase in the land laid down to grass. On the other hand, 

 a large amount of land has been divided into allotments in the neighbourhood 

 of the towns and villages. 



The two principal towns, Bedford and Luton, have been very much 

 enlarged owing to local conditions. In Bedford, the introduction of the 

 agricultural implement manufacture, then the very great expansion of the 

 Harpur Trust Secondary Schools, and subsequently the setting up of a number 

 of engineering and other mechanical works, have completely changed the 

 character of the place. At present, Bedford, with its large parks, its fine 

 river, its riverside promenades, and its new residential avenues, is one of the 

 most attractive of the smaller towns in the Midlands. Luton, which now 

 has a larger population than Bedford, owes its prosperity and its general 

 character to the unique development of its straw hat and bonnet industry. 

 Several of the smaller towns and some of the villages have also, to a less 

 extent, increased in size by becoming the seats of small local industries, or 

 the sites of railway junctions. 



Bedfordshire has been fortunate in having had, throughout the last 

 century, many among the nobility and gentry of the county, and also among 

 the leading men in the towns, who have been conspicuous for their practical 

 sympathy with the several political, social, and intellectual progressive move- 

 ments of the times. This fact has inevitably had a good influence upon 

 the intelligence and habits of the population ; and though there remains, of 

 course, much to be desired in this respect, the general character of the 

 people, as a whole, undoubtedly compares favourably with that of the people 

 of many other counties. 



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