open-field system: greatest accomplishment of Medieval agriculture

village agriculture; 1/3 to ½ of fields lay fallow.

Common land: used by village for livestock – fields shared by peasants.

serfs in eastern Europe were worst off; many sold with lands (like slavery)

Field left fallowPeople have to walk over your strips to reach theirs

No proper drainage

Animals can trample crops and spread disease

Difficult to take advantage of new farming techniques

Because land in different fields takes time to get to each field

No hedges or fences

Agricultural Revolution: The innovations in farm production that began in the 18th century and led to a scientific and mechanized agriculture

Major milestone in human civilizationImpact of the scientific revolution’s

experimental method was greatApplication of scientific ideas - crop rotation

most important feature.

This meant enclosing the land.end to common lands and open-field systemThe open fields were divided up and everyone

who could prove they owned some land would get a share. Dividing the open land into small fields and putting hedges and fences around them. Everyone had their own fields and could use them how they wished.

Open land and common land would also be enclosed and divided up.

traditional view of enclosure (Marx): poor people driven off the land

recent scholarship: negative impact of enclosure may have been exaggerated

As much as 50% of lands enclosed already by 1750 (much by mutual consent)

1700: ratio of landless farmer to landowner = 2:1; not much greater in 1800

What type of farmland was lost during enclosure?

Enclosure might have increased the efficiency of farming in England, but it wasn’t good news for everyone who lived in the countryside.

How might this have made life more difficult for some villagers?

Many poorer people relied on the common land to supplement their tiny incomes. After enclosure, there was nowhere for them to graze a few animals, collect tinder or pick berries.

Yes, the better off farmers and landowners gained the most - the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. People who had no written proof of ownership lost their land altogether. Some couldn’t afford to pay for fences and had to sell their land. These people either became labourers on other people’s land or headed for the towns to try and get a job.

One farm laborer said: ‘All I know is that I had a cow and an Act of Parliament has taken it from me.’ There were riots in some villages.

Turnip

s

BarleyClover

Wheat

Year 4 Year 3

Year 2Year 1

Many farmers sought to improve their crop yields. To do this, they improved the soil by muck spreading, adding lime or planting crops which put nitrogen back into the ground.

Fodder crops, such as turnips and clover, were grown. These helped restore the soil’s fertility, so there was no longer any need to leave the land fallow.

These new crops could be fed to livestock, allowing animals to be kept over the winter, rather than being slaughtered in the autumn.

Enclosure allowed farmers to control the breeding of their livestock because the animals could be separated into different fields.

The new fodder crops also helped farmers produce more meat, as they could now keep most of their animals through the winter, instead of slaughtering many at a young age.

The farmer could then select the best individuals to breed from in order to produce the biggest, healthiest offspring.

This is known as selective breeding.

As a result, cattle more than doubled in weight and sheep more than tripled between 1710 and 1795.

Farming was far more productive if the conditions were ideal.

Enclosure allowed farmers to specialize in the crops or animals best suited to their local climate, soil and terrain. For example, the flat fertile land in East Anglia was ideal for wheat; fruit trees flourished best in Kent, while the hills of Wales were great for sheep farming.

Before 1750, most people were subsistence farmers. This means that they produced only what they needed to survive. Across Britain, families each grew a little corn, some root vegetables and kept a few animals.

Farmers became experts in their specialist produce.

Before 1750, farming was done by hand, with horses pulling ploughs and carts.

With the growth of the iron industry, new, heavy duty tools could be mass produced.

New machines were invented for activities such as threshing corn.

Many machines were still horse-powered, but by the 1850s there were steam-powered traction engines which powered ploughs, chaff-cutters and other machines.

These new machines transformed work in the countryside. One or two men could operate a steam tractor which would do the work of ten men.