agriculture

enclosures - copnsolidating scattered holdings into blocks of land ran by a sole landowner or tenant

water meadows - diverting water to a field to prodcue damp fields

employment growth

reasonas for growth

new farming technqiues

specialised farming- diofferent regions specialise in different farming types based on condiitons

meant that livestock could eat the grass earlier produced so then farmers could maintain more livestock

increase in working animals 1700- 630000 horses.

increase in non working Oxen- 130000 in 1700

cause: increase in improving transport infrastructure leads to national markets so farmers focus on their own conditioins

not good for husbandmen as they dont have as much money so take up specialisation slower

can imrove yeomen as they have minety and land so they can experiment and introduce new crops

  • crop rotation made easier

crops not duplicated as there are fewer rivals

protest by samll landowners

countries without enclosures like oxfordshire also were agriculturally successful so shows insignificance of enclosures

lets new farming techniques be used like less fields left fallow and differebnt soil types for differen crops

individual breeds kept together so breeds that made more wool selected which helped cloth prodcution

cause: increased literacy leveles of yeomen and husbandmen meant that they could read books on agriculture and dutch immigration lead to new crops andn improved irrigation

as much land used and little fallow fields as possibe

crops selected based on soil type

crop rotation- initially 1/3 fields left fallow for nutrietn restoration leading to low yield. 1420- 7 million agricultural and 3 million fallow 1700- nine million arable and 1.8 million fallow. crop rotation meant that more crops and experimentation can occur leading to frost resistant turnip which is more economical anmd it benefited crops that aid industry such as flax for linen

nitrogen rich crops used to provide nutrients and fertilise soil so the next year could have a higher yield

enclosures meant that small teneants suffered from copmpetition

wage dependent labourers grew with low wages due to inflation however had secure employment

settlement act 1662- landowners found it easier to hire labourers from other parishes and fire them after the harvest as workers were settled in other areas so employees didnt have to worry about contribution to poor rates

growth of towns and ports meant that stable employment grew

hjob security was poor if they didnt have a 7 yuear apprenticeship

thuis had a mixed impact on agricultural labourers

1688- 364000 families of agricultural labours so one million people agricultural labourers

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