TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > History > French and British Agriculture

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·        Context: country places, constant communication with people themselves, opinions

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Century behind in terms of

agricultural science and skill till land routine of fathers dull,

unenlightened passive content unhonoured occupation and tendency to

towns - centralizing system

of govt.- Paris is where you become status and wealth little intelligence

left in the county country gentleman educated and ideas for the land

·       

Those with capital, active interest in

farming active interest tenantry’s work utterly ignorant boors allowed to

plod on

·       Small size of land bad for yields

get out of it bad credit exceeds gain from land under capitalized farm land

little surplus small laborer work hard with a spade, larger proprietor could

afford a plough

·       Do produce an industrious popn.,

moral appreciation, independence frequent bankrupt as buy more land

peasants falling into hands capitalist

·       See Salvation in Socialism

runnier labour no resource but casual charity law grinds down property to

size cannot support himself sees nothing but a scramble points to possibly

revolution no and, no food.

 

Claret and Olives:

Utterly ignorant boors are allowed to plod on from generation to generation

wrapped up in the most dismal mists of agricultural superstition… ..

infinitesimal patches of land are cultivated in the most rude and uneconomical

fashion

 

Dispersion about the mean may have been far wider in

France 0 France cereals and potatoes continued to be grown on elevations and

climatic conditions long since abandoned in England to animal husbandry

 

On land of comparable quality French

farmers could achieve yields in grain production not very far below British

levels IN SCALE AND TENURE does not differ widely form the rest of France

not widey enough to invalidate our point that our basic point that even in the

late 19^th century quality of land was a more important determinant

of physical yields per hectare

 

Arthur Young

ARTHUR YOUNG

Territories

where fallow banished show benefits Falners, Arotis, Alsance barbarous

course of fallow, wehat, spring corn

 

Equality of

rents between the two kingdoms all savings of the lower classes are

invested in Land in France not in England competition for land in France

 

Great deficiency

in the capital stock of England inconsiderable land improvement and the

quality of animal is low 458,500,000 capital deficiency

 

Soil quality

high in many parts of France, but squandered on fallow fields etc. change of

the rotation of crop is the only thing wanted to alter the face of these

provinces

 

Where the

land is good, they crop without mercy, and where it is bad, they have nothing

but fallows and weeds, instead of turnips and sainfoin NEED FOR TURNIPS AS OPPOSED TO FALLOW

 

System of

management in Enclosed fields is the same as the system of management in open

fields. Without a regular system of enclosure no cattle can be kept - without enclosure half of France cannot

possibly support the requisite stock of cattle and sheep.

 

Too much waste land in Britain

 

in general they are poor and miserable, much arising from the minute division of their little farms among all children”

 

Small farms lead to massive industry of workers

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