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CONTENTS 
231. Coal-mining. The change in the processes of iron manufacture 
stimulated the coal trade, which had been growing, through the demand for 
fuel in London. New enterprise was shown in mining, and in the intro- 
duction of pumping and other appliances. In the Newcastle district, the 
employers organised a system for controlling the output from each colliery; 
while the miners in Scotland were bondsmen, in personal subjection to 
their masters. . . . . . . . . . , 626 
£32, Internal Communications. The improvement of internal water 
gommunication had often been projected, for conveying corn, and the new 
jemand for coal gave better prospects of profit for such undertakings. 
The Duke of Bridgewater constructed a canal from Worsley to Manchester 
with his own resources, and irom Manchester to Runcorn through the 
help of London Bankers; and the scheme of the Grand Junction Canal 
was eagerly taken up. The roads of the kingdom had been allowed to fall 
into disrepair, despite the efforts of parish surveyors to enforce statute duty, 
but turnpike roads were better maintained, In the time of Queen Anne 
the state of the roads hampered trade and agriculture, but the eighteenth 
century proprietors were sufficiently public spirited to carry out vast 
improvements in the country generally, Is . 532 
XVI. SPIRITED PROPRIETORS AND SUBSTANTIAL TENANTS. 
233. The Reaction of Commerce on the Landed Interests. The 
Whigs endeavoured to promote tillage, not merely by protecting the 
English farmer in the home market, but by giving a bounty on the export 
of eorn, and thus enabling the landed gentry to bear taxation, The wealthy 
landowners of the eighteenth century were keenly interested in new methods 
of cultivation, and in improved implements and buildings, and their efforts 
were seconded by a growing class of substantial tenants, who could make the 
pew system profitable, under the stimulus of expanding commerce. 540 
234. Improvements in Tillage. In the seventeenth century there was 
much imitation of Dutch methods of raising stock and dairy farming, 
Improvements in tillage, in the eighteenth century, were noted by Arthur 
Young, who was an accurate observer of progress, and recorded some interest. 
ing survivals of mediaeval practice, He severely criticised thriftless ploughing 
and careless cultivation of beans and of turnips. He advocated the intro- 
duction of clover and rye grass so as to give a five-course husbandry, while 
Bakewell was engaged in improving the breeds of sheep and cattle. 6545 
235. Agricultural Improvement and the Rural Population. The 
progress of improvement and enclosure put an end to subsistence farming 
on the part of artisans, cottiers, and small farmers ; enclosure led to the 
consolidation of holdings and the displacement of rural population. Different 
localities competed in a national market and no effort was made to maintain 
separate markets. The expenses of enclosure were great, and the procedure 
inflicted much hardship on the small farmers, who did not benefit by the 
high price of corn, while they lost on other produce, and were crushed by 
+ha hurden of rates. . 65°