1846. Repeal of the Corn Laws.

1855-75. Great agricultural prosperity.

1875. English agriculture feels the full effect of unrestricted
competition with disastrous results.

" First Agricultural Holdings Act.

1879-80. Excessive rainfall, sheep-rot, and general distress.




CHAPTER I

COMMUNISTIC FARMING.--GROWTH OF THE MANOR.--EARLY PRICES.--THE
ORGANIZATION AND AGRICULTURE OF THE MANOR


When the early bands of English invaders came over to take Britain
from its Celtic owners, it is almost certain that the soil was held by
groups and not by individuals, and as this was the practice of the
conquerors also they readily fell in with the system they found.[1]
These English, unlike their descendants of to day, were a race of
countrymen and farmers and detested the towns, preferring the lands of
the Britons to the towns of the Romans. Co-operation in agriculture
was necessary because to each household were allotted separate strips
of land, nearly equal in size, in each field set apart for tillage,