The term Agrarian revolution implies the great changes that took place in Agricultural methods of England during the second half of the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth century. In the course of this revolution: 1. The open field system disappeared 2. The rotation of crops was introduced 3. Scientific methods were applied to Agriculture 4. There was a series of new inventions and discoveries. This revolution not only changed the landscape of England but also the lifestyle of its people.
They are as follows: 1. Waste of land: The farmers were forced to allow one-third of their land fallow, since the soil couldn’t bear crops continuously. 2. Strip System: In this system, the farmer’s holdings were scattered and he had to walk a long distance from one strip to another wasting his time. 3. Cultivating Methods: The cultivating methods changed since Saxon times. 4. Open Field System: This system consisted of large, open fields with no fences. Each village was surrounded by such fields. 5. Scarcity: With the increase in population, there was a demanding need for greater production.
The enclosure act paved way for better farming with reduced wastage but it destroyed the whole way of life. The poor villagers lost their lands as they were unable to meet the cost of fencing and were driven to the cities in search of new jobs. England, by the end of the century changed from rural to an urban country. 2. Improved methods of growing crops: Charles Townshend experimented with crop-rotation and introduced the four-field system. He suggested that by growing two kinds of grains, turnips and clover could enrich the soil.
The Research paper on The Shortcomings of Traditional Costing Systems/Methods in a Modern Manufacturing Environment
The shortcomings of traditional costing systems/methods in a modern manufacturing environment The traditional costing system is way of allocating overheads or indirect costs that are related to the production of units. These costs are assigned to and rationed to each product by respect of the amount of units produced, labor hours utilized or the production machine hours. This is no longer of ...
He also added that by this method, the crops would either absorb or add nutrients to the soil. By this method, the farmers did not have any part of the land to be left fallow. And even fodder was available to the livestock. This system was popularized by Thomas Coke and he used the bones as the manure to enrich the soil. 3. Improved methods of breeding livestock: Robert Bakewell experimented with the livestock and produced the “Longhorn” breed of cattle. He improved the breeds of cattle, sheep and horses. The breeds of sheep were raised for meat and wool as well. Bakewell’s new breed of sheep was “Leicester” sheep.
Charles Colling followed Bakewell’s method and produced the “shorthorn” breed. There were also other pioneers in cattle breeding and rearing such as George Culley and John Ellman. 4. Invention of new farm equipments: The ancestor of farm machinery is the machine which drills holes into the soil for sowing seeds. This was invented by Jethro Tull. This was an important invention as earlier sowing was done by scattering and it involved lot of wastage. *THE EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION: a) The enclosure system forced the rich landlords to borrow money in order to meet the fencing costs.
This paved way for the English Banking System. The poor farmers were badly affected by this enclosure system. b) The age-old system where every farmer had a piece of land, disappeared. They lost their land and also their right to graze their animals on wastelands. The farmer either became paid labourer or went to cities. c) This revolution had several advantages like better production and greater efficiency but lot of hardships too.
Thus the Agrarian Revolution brought about the greatest change in the history of England. It turned England into an urban country by the end of the century.
