The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-02-25
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cheap throughout the middle ages.
~.
Such was the agricultural situation during
the early years after the Conquest Nowlst US
see what changes two centuries had made Ihe
most notable alterations we're the Increasing
main. which most landowners about the reign
OF Henry III. began to take In superintendlnR
and developing their estates. and the silent
hut eteady Improvement during the whole
psrioJ in the position OF the actual cultivators
~ the soil The former OF these changes 10
the easier to trace. but the latter is by Tar the
NOR. important for By It the great mass OF
the peasantry. from being seris owing
compulsory services to the lords Of the
manors on which they had been born. grad
ually became converted into free labor
ers earning daily wages. with power to
work for whom and where they pleased.
In the wake Of this great revolution came
eventually an entire change in the methods by
which Englieh agriculture was carried on. and
the tenant farmer, for the FIRST time comes
upon the scene as an important and ordinary
factor in village life. But. though there are
several instances OF manors being let to farm
In the thirteenth century. 1t cannot be said
that lease holding ne a system had been gen
orally adopted. even at the beginning OF the
reign Of Edward Ill In many places the
older system Of communal farming under
capitalist landlords. though IL showed signs
Of breaking down, never actually became OBJ
solets until the whole country had been de-
vastnted and every economic relation disar-
ranged by the Great Plague. which first broke
out in 134S and which OF necessity forms
the starting point for completely new period.
Up to this year comparatively few outward
alterations had occurred. men being appa-
rently contented with their surroundings and
10 a uradual IN OF
agriculture on the old lines being Observable
This state OF things 10 attributed to the COM
paratiyely peaceful character Of the reiRns OF
Henry Ill. and his two successors. and to the
fact that. with the exception OF the ten years
13l1-1 the time. rs q whole. was one OF
prosperous seasons and plenty OF harvests.
during which there was little cause to- Rrum-
bic or think about making material altera-
tions. The ten excepted Years. however. show
a general rise in prices. and must all
be admitted to have been years OF scarcity.
while It 10 known from many independent
sources that in 1915 and 1917 there was an alb
solute and perhaps unexampled famine. This
was caused by tho exceptionally wet summers.
which not in one district only but all over the
country were experienced IN 1915 and 1915.
and which. in both years. brought about an
almost total failure OF the grain crop. Tho
famine, in fact. was SO bad and SO general
that In ROme plhces IL Thisou 'ho piico VI
wheat In the first year to nearly five times the
amount 1t ordinarily sold for, and. in the sec
ond year. to about four times the amount,
while. Mt the same time. the prices OF all other
com ODDITIES rose in proportion. What an
amount Of misery and even OF starvation this
must have meant to the great bulk OF the
people. is best indicated by stating that never
in the 800 years that have elapsed since 1882
has the English farmer been able to sell his
corn at much moro than double the ordinary
price current before doarth. and certainly
ney err for two years in succession. We should
mention another misfortune which overlook
tho AGRICULTURAL at this period. and that was
the outbreak OF a new disease among the
sheen. Just as they were beginning to be Kept
in large numbers and to assume an important
place In the economy OF English farms. This
was the scah. which seems first to have ap-
psared in 1898. and which has renamed
common disease ever since.