Note 197 — Chapter IV · AGRICULTURAL TRIBES.

The landlords remained in this difficult position till about 1450197, when a new and very efficacious remedy was suggested to them: they applied a new mode of working their estates, which rendered them the practical command over the land, without need of a denser population. The extension of the wool trade and the dearth of labour made it far more profitable to keep large flocks of sheep than to grow corn. Consequently much land was laid down in pasture; there was a steady increase of sheep farming during the 15th century and a corresponding decrease of corn growing198.