A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



favoured the large Holderness breed, called ' Yorkshires.' These were sometimes crossed with long- 

 horned breeds. There was little dairying in the northern part of the county where the grass-land 

 was poor. Little artificial food — chafF, turnips, &c. — was used. The summer food was principally 

 pasture, and something more than half the pasture-land was mown for the support of the cows in 

 winter. It was estimated that a cow would require two acres and a half of pasture for its support 

 through the year. In the southern part of the county, whence butter was sent to London fetching 

 from IS. to IS. 3^. per pound, churning was performed twice a week. The use of oxen for work 

 had, except in a very few cases, practically ceased in this county. 



As to sheep, the increase of inclosures and the influence of the Dukes of Bedford had — since 

 Mr. Stone's Report -wslS published in 1794 — materially improved the sheep of the county. The 

 New Leicesters had found their way into many fresh parishes, and crosses of them with Wiltshire* 

 and other breeds had become numerous. There were still a few horned sheep on uninclosed lands. 

 In winter, the flocks were kept on the grass-land, or sent to turnips, or fed with bean-straw, hay, &c., 

 in littered yards. Folding was almost universally adopted, on both common and inclosed lands. It 

 was held to be particularly advantageous to the wheat crop. A sheep's manure was held to be worth 

 a farthing per night, and a farmer of long experience said that ' 300 sheep folded for one week on an 

 acre of land would increase the produce five bushels per acre.' There were, however, farmers who 

 questioned the advantages of folding. 



Little change had taken place in horses. Most of the farmers' teams were kept up by 

 purchasing colts from the fens of Huntingdonshire and Lincolnshire. Some farmers bred colts which 

 at two years old would fetch from £2^ to £^2. The pigs were mostly of mixed breeds, with more 

 or less of the Berkshire strain, and in some cases a cross between the Suffolk and the spotted Leicester. 

 The rabbit warrens of Sandy, Ampthill, Millbrook, and other places had ceased to be sources of 

 profit, except in the case of a small warren at Steppingley. No special attention appears to have 

 been given to poultry, though many fowls, geese, ducks, turkeys (notably at Oakley) were kept. 

 They were regarded as sources of profit especially to the poor in the neighbourhood of extensive 

 commons. Pigeons had ceased to be encouraged. Bees were kept with profit by small farmers and 

 cottagers, particularly in favourable situations. 



In the western and northern parts of the county the weekly pay of labourers ranged from 8s. 

 to 91., generally with an allowance of small beer, and in some cases a mess of milk and bread in the 

 morning. In the southern and eastern districts, between Eaton Socon and Dunstable and Luton, 

 the weekly pay ranged from gs. to ioj. The wages of the maid-servants appear to have been 

 influenced in the south-east district by the straw-plait industry. The custom of housing the single 

 men in the farmer's house, as well as of boarding the harvesters, appears still to have existed to a 

 considerable extent. An interesting light is thrown upon the domestic habits of the period by 

 Mr. Batchelor's remark that ' it is common for the servants, including men, to dine at the same table 

 as their master, wherever the farms are not very large ; some little distinction is occasionally made, 

 but the servants seldom look forward with eager expectation to the pleasures of a separate table.' 

 The harvest-hire varied in different parts of the county, but Mr. Batchelor estimated that the average 

 expense per man ' of the first month in harvest may be stated at 481. or 2s. per day, exclusive of food, 

 liquor and wood-carting, or other equivalents.' It may be interesting to quote Mr. Batchelor's 

 description of the food given to the harvesters : — 



With some it is customary to give seed cakes and ale for breakfast, as well as at wheat harvest- 

 home, &c. ; but in general, meat is allowed three times a day, which consists of pork, bacon, &c., with 

 from one-fourth to one-third of butcher's meat, and in general plum-puddings ; and three meals on each 

 of the four Sundays in the month. It is customary to allow three pints and a half of ale per day, viz., 

 in the morning at eleven o'clock, and at four in the afternoon ; but in some places the allowance of ale 

 extends to four or five pints, and one pint per man on a Sunday. 



When the month was finished, the plum-pudding disappeared, and the daily pay was reduced to 

 from IS. to IS. 3^. or is. 6d. with food and beer as before. 



An interesting glimpse of the condition of agriculture in Bedfordshire about thirty years later is 

 afforded by the evidence given by Mr. Thomas Bennett, steward to the Duke of Bedford, before the 

 select committee appointed to inquire into the state of agriculture in 1836. Few farms in the 

 county were then untenanted. Great advantage had accrued from the large amount of draining 

 which had been carried out, particularly on tenacious land, on which farmers were enabled to get 

 forward with their spring crops earlier than before the draining. Nearly the whole of the Duke's 

 estate had been relet, principally to the same tenants, within the previous five years. Mr. Bennett 

 thought that, on most farms, a flock of sheep was almost necessary to the farmer if he were to be able to 

 pay his rent. There had been three or four successive seasons of rot, particularly in 1828-9, ^""^ 

 some flocks had died entirely out. The condition of the tenantry was better in 1836 than it had 

 been in 1833 ; this was due partly to better management and partly to the goodness of the seasons. 



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