52 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



At the time of which we speak, the internal 

 communication of the northern counties was 

 bad indeed. The roads were so narrow that 

 only pack-horses could travel along them, and 

 in this way the traffic of the dales was con- 

 ducted. Carriage roads there were none, and 

 it was probably owing to this fact that, just as 

 the yeomen spun their own wool, so they grew 

 sufficient grain to last them through the year. 

 Marks of the plough are often to be seen on the 

 Commons and moorlands ; and in these marks 

 we may read one reason of the rapid decline 

 of the 'Statesman class. About the beginning 

 of the present century thousands of acres of 

 the lower-lying Commons were enclosed. The 

 Continental wars then raging had sent up all 

 kinds of grain to a price unknown before. The 

 yeomen reaped a rich harvest ; fresh land was 

 broken up, and some of it yielded enormously. 

 Every available bit of land was ploughed, and 

 corn crop after corn crop taken off. These were 

 flush times for the 'Statesman, and lavish habits 

 were contracted. Peace came, and brought its 

 natural consequences. 



The spell of agricultural depression from 

 which we are still suffering has dealt the death- 



