I. The Agricultural
Revolution The English countryside was
transformed between 1760 and 1830 as the open-field
system of cultivation gave
way to compact farms and enclosed fields. The rotation of nitrogen-fixing and
cereal crops obviated the necessity of leaving a third or half the land fallow
each planting. Another feature of the new farming was the cultivation of
turnips and potatoes. Jethro Tull (1674-1741) and Lord Townshend popularized
the importance of root crops. Tull''s most original contributions were the seed
drill and horse hoe. The seed drill allowed a much greater proportion of the
seed to germinate by planting it below the surface of the ground out of reach
of the birds and wind. ''''Turnip'''' Townshend was famous for his cultivation of
turnips and clover on his estate of Raynham in Norfolk.
He introduced the four-course rotation of crops:
wheat , turnips , oats or barley ,
clover.
Robert Bakewell
(1725-1795) pioneered in the field of systematic stock breeding. Prior to this,
sheep had been valued for wool and cattle for strength; Bakewell showed how to
breed for food quality. Bakewell selected his animals, inbred them, kept
elaborate genealogical records, and maintained his stock carefully. He was
especially successful with sheep, and before the century''s end his principle of
inbreeding was well established. Under Bakewell''s influence, Coke of Holkham in
Norfolk not only improved his own farms, but every year held ''''sheep
shearings'''' to which farmers from all over Europe came for instruction and the
exchange of knowledge.
Propaganda for the new
agriculture was largely the work of Arthur Young. In
1793 the Board of Agriculture was established, and Arthur Young was its
secretary. Although a failure as a practical farmer, he was a great success as
a publicist for scientific agriculture. Even George III ploughed some land at Buckingham Palace and asked his friends to call him
''''Farmer George.''''
II. Technological Change since
1700
The technological changes
of the eighteenth century did not appear suddenly. During the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries the methods of making glass, clocks, and chemicals
advanced markedly. By 1700 in England,
and by 1750 in France,
the tendency of the state and the guilds to resist industrialization was
weakening. In fact, popular interest in industrialization resembled the wave of
enthusiasm elicited by experimental agriculture.
By the beginning of the eighteenth century in England, the use of machines in
manufacturing was already widespread. In 1762 Matthew Boulton built a factory
which employed more than six hundred workers, and installed a steam engine to
supplement power from two large waterwheels which ran a variety of lathes and
polishing and grinding machines. In Staffordshire an industry developed which gave
the world good cheap pottery; chinaware brought in by the East India Company
often furnished a model. Josiah Wedgewood (1730-1795) was one of those who
revolutionized the production and sale of pottery. From 1700 on, the
Staffordshire potters used waterwheels or windmills to turn machines which
ground and mixed their materials. After 1850 machinery was used extensively in
the pottery-making process. The price of crockery fell, and eating and drinking
consequently became more hygienic.
The textile industry had some special problems. It took four spinners to keep
up with one cotton loom, and ten persons to prepare yarn for one woolen weaver.
Spinners were busy, but weavers often had to be idle for lack of yarn. In 1733
John Kay, a Lancashire mechanic, patented his
flying shuttle. Weaving could then be done more quickly, but it still was
delayed until yarn was available in more abundance. In 1771 Richard Arkwright''s
''''water frame'''' was producing yarn. About the same time, James Hargreaves (d.
1778) patoperator could spin many threads
simultaneously. Then in 1779 Samuel Crompton combined the jenny and the water
frame in a machine known as ''''Crompton''s mule,'''' which produced quantities of
fine, strong yarn. The yarn famine had come to an end.
Between 1780 and 1860 other textile processes were mechanized. In 1784 a
machine was patented which printed patterns on the surface of cotton or linen
by means of rollers. In 1894 Northrup produced an automatic loom, and when the
power loom became efficient, women replaced men as weavers, although there were
still hand weavers in the paisley shawl trade as late as 1850. By 1812 the cost
of making cotton yarn had dropped nine-tenths, and by 1800 the number of
workers needed to turn wool into yarn had been reduced by four-fifths. And by
1840 the labor cost of making the best woolen cloth had fallen by at least
half.