Note 240n — INDEX

[504] R.A.S.E. Journal, 1896, p. 1, and 1898, p. 1.

[505] Autobiography, p. 242.

[506] Eden, State of the Poor, i. 18.

[507] 'Had his industry been under the direction of a better judgement, he would have been an admirable president.'—Young, Autobiography, p. 316.

[508] The Report of the Committee on Waste Lands, 1795, estimated wastes and commons at 7,800,000 acres, p. 221.

[509] The Merino was largely imported into England by the efforts of George III, and a Merino Society was formed in 1811; but many circumstances made it of such little profit to cultivate it in preference to native breeds, that it was diverted to Australia.—Burnley, History of Wool, p. 17.

[510] The first, the Bath and West of England, was established in 1777.

[511] R.A.S.E. Journal, 1899, p. 7.

[512] Higher prices had been realized for the improved Longhorns; in 1791, at the sale of Mr. Fowler of Little Rollright, Sultan a two-year-old bull fetched 210 guineas, and a cow 260 guineas; and at Mr. Paget's sale in 1793, a bull of the same breed sold for 400 guineas.—Culley on Live Stock, p. 59.

[513] R.A.S.E. Journal, 1899, p. 28.

[514] Culley on Live Stock (1807), pp. 46-7.

[515] Culley on Live Stock, p. vi.

[516] R.A.S.E. Journal, 1892, p. 27.

[517] Morton, Cyclopaedia of Agriculture, ii. 964.

[518] Northern Tour, iii. 49. Clarke also experimented on the effect of electricity on vegetables, electrifying turnips in boxes with the result that growth was quickened and weight increased.

[519] R.A.S.E. Journal, 1896, p, 93.

[520] Tooke, History of Prices, p. 182.

[521] Autobiography of A. Young, p. 256.

[522] State of the Poor, i. 565 et seq.; Thorold Rogers, Work and Wages, p. 487. It is difficult to calculate the exact income of the labourer; besides extras in harvest, and relief from the parish, he might have a small holding, or common rights, also payments in kind and the earnings of his wife and children.

[523] Hasbach, op. cit. p. 181; Eden, op. cit. li. 27.

[524] Imports of wheat and flour in 1796 were 879,200 quarters.

[525] Yet imports were comparatively large; 1,264,520 quarters of wheat, against 463,185 quarters in 1799.

[526] Tooke, History of Prices, p. 219.

[527] Farmer's Magazine, 1817, p. 60.

[528] Thorold Rogers, Work and Wages, c. 18.

[529] Annals of Agriculture, xxxvii. 265. In 1805, in Herefordshire, the labourer was getting about 6s. 6d. a week—See Duncumb, General View of Agriculture of Herefordshire. Those who lived in the farm-house often fared best: in 1808 the diet of a Hampshire farm servant was, for breakfast, bacon, bread, and skim milk; for lunch, bread and cheese and small beer; for dinner, between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., pickled pork or bacon with potatoes, cabbages, turnips, or greens, and broths of wheat-flour and garden stuff. Supper consisted of bread and cheese and a pint of ale. His bread was usually made of wheat, which, considering the price, is remarkable. On Sundays he had fresh meat. The farmers lived in many cases little better; a statement which must be compared with others ascribing great extravagance to them.—Vancouver, General View of the Agriculture of Hants (1808), p. 383.

[530] Tooke, History of Prices, i. 236.

[531] Thorold Rogers, Work and Wages, c. 18. In many cases he was getting 15s. and 16s. a week all the year round. The Parliamentary Committee of 1822 put his wages during the war at from 15s. to 16s. a week. Parliamentary Reports Committees, v. 72; but it is difficult to say how much he received as wages, and how much as parish relief. Recruiting for the war helped to raise wages, as did the increased growth of corn.

[532] McCulloch, Commercial Dictionary (1847), p. 438. See Appendix, ii.

[533] Tooke, i. 319, and Pamphleteer, vi. 200 (A. Young). Since 1770, says the latter, labour by 1810-11 had doubled, but meat had risen 146 per cent., cheese 153 per cent., bread 100 per cent. Wages therefore had not risen in proportion to prices.

[534] Inquiry into Agricultural Distress (1822), p. 38.

[535] Thoughts on Present Depressed State of Agricultural Industry (1817), p. 6.

[536] Vancouver, General View of the Agriculture of Devon, p. 357.

[537] See 14 Eliz., c. 11, and 39 Eliz., c. 18.

[538] Transactions of the Devon Association, xxix. 291-349.

[539] Average annual prices of wheat were: 1812, 126s. 6d.; 1813, 109s. 9d.; 1814, 74s. 4d.; 1815, 65s. 7d.

[540] Porter, Progress of the Nation, p. 149.

[541] A Defence of the Farmers and Landowners of Great Britain (1814), p. 49.

[542] Ibid. p. x.

[543] Ibid. p. 7.

[544] Agricultural State of the Kingdom, p. 67.

[545] Parliamentary Reports (Committees), v. 72.

[546] Thoughts on the Present Depressed State of the Agricultural Interest (1817), p. 4.

[547] Duncumb, General View of the Agriculture of Hereford, 1805. The writer of A Defence of the Farmers and Landowners of Great Britain (1814) puts the average crop of wheat in the United Kingdom at 15 or 16 bushels an acre, p. 28. A very low estimate.

[548] Duncumb, General View of the Agriculture of Hereford, p. 140.

[549] Tooke, History of Prices, ii. 4.

[550] Farmer's Magazine (1817), p. 69.

[551] The duties were often evaded by smuggling; coasting vessels met the foreign corn ships at sea, received their cargoes, and landed them so as to escape the duty.

[552] Agricultural State of the Kingdom, p. 5.

[553] Observations for the Use of Landed Gentlemen (1817), p. 7.

[554] Defence of the Farmers, &c. (1814); and Parliamentary Reports, v. 72.

[555] Agricultural State of the Kingdom, p. 64.

[556] Ibid. p. 105.

[557] The agricultural horse tax was repealed in 1821, the tax on ponies and mules in 1823.

[558] There were some exceptions, but the overwhelming majority of replies to the letters were couched in the above spirit.

[559] At a time when landlords formed the majority in Parliament, it is curious to find a substantial farmer asserting that 'the landed interest has been, since the corn law of 1773, held in a state of complete vassalage to the commercial and manufacturing, and the farmers of the country in a state very little superior to that of Polish peasants.'

[560] Review of Western Department, pp. 249, 250.

[561] Morton, Cyclopaedia of Agriculture, ii. 26.