Dr.£s.d. Cr.£s.d.
Two years' rent 200 20 bushels of wheat at 10s.1000
Hauling dung from fold100 The straw was set against
the value of the dung.
The tailend wheat was
Eaten by the family!
Four ploughings 200
Two harrowings 40
Lime1 180
Seed, 21/2 bushels 1 50
Reaping 50
Threshing 100
Wages50
Tithes and taxes150
———— ————
£9 120 £100 0
======= =======

And on a farm on good land in the same county the following would be the annual balance sheet at the same date:

Dr.£s.d. Cr.£s.d.
Rent20000 360 bushels of wheat, @ 10s.18000
Tithes400 0 300 bushels of barley, @ 6s. 90 0 0
Wages5800 100 bushels of peas, @ 6s.3000
Extra harvestmen700 20 cwt. hops600 0
Tradesmen's bills5000 Sale of oxen, cows and calves1500 0
Taxes and rates5800 Profits from sheep1000 0
Malt, hops, and cider6000 " from pigs, poultry,
Lime2000 dairy, and sundries5000
Hop poles1000
Expenses at fairs and markets800
Clothing, groceries, &c., for the family450 0
Interest on £1,500 capital, at 5 per cent.7500
Sundries1500
————— —————
£64600 £66000
========= =========

According to this the farmer did little more than pay rent, interest on capital, and get a living. Yet prices of what he had to sell had gone up greatly: wheat in Herefordshire in 1760 was 3s. a bushel, in 1805, 10s.; butcher's meat in 1760 was 11/2d. a lb., in 1804, 7d.; fresh butter 41/2d. in 1760, 1s. 3d. in 1804; a fat goose in Hereford market in 1740, 10d.; 1760, 1s.; 1804, 4s.; a couple of fowls in 1740, 6d.; 1760, 7d.; 1804, 2s. 4d.[548] The winter of 1813-4 was extraordinarily severe, and the wheat crop was seriously injured, but the increased breadth of cultivation, a large surplus, and great importations kept the price down. Many sheep, however, were killed by the hard winter, which also reduced the quality of the cattle, so that meat was higher in 1814 than at any previous period.[549] At Smithfield beef was 6s. to 7s. a stone, mutton 7s. to 8s. 6d. With the peace of 1814 the fictitious prosperity came to an end, a large amount of paper was withdrawn from circulation, which lowered the price of all commodities, and a large number of country banks failed. The first sufferers were the agricultural classes, who happened at that time to hold larger supplies than usual, the value of which fell at once; the incomes of all were diminished, and the capital of many annihilated.[550] At the same time the demand for our manufactures from abroad fell off; the towns were impoverished, and bought less from the farmer.

The short period of war in 1815 had little effect on prices, and in January, 1816, wheat was 52s. 6d., and the prices of live stock had fallen considerably. In 1815 protection reached its highest limit, the Act of that year prohibiting import of wheat when the price was under 80s. a quarter, and other grain in proportion.[551] However, it was of no avail; and in the beginning of 1816 the complaints of agricultural distress were so loud and deep that the Board of Agriculture issued circular letters to every part of the kingdom, asking for information on the state of agriculture.

According to the answers given, rent had already fallen on an average 25 per cent. and agriculture was in a 'deplorable state.'[552] Bankruptcies, seizures, executions, imprisonments, were rife, many farmers had become parish paupers. Rent was much in arrear, tithes and poor rates unpaid, improvements generally discontinued, live stock diminished; alarming gangs of poachers and other depredators ranged the country. The loss was greater on arable than on grass land, and 'flock farms' had suffered less than others, though they had begun to feel it heavily.

All classes connected with the land suffered severely; the landlords could not get many of their rents; the farmer's stock had depreciated 40 per cent.[553]; many labourers, who during the war had been getting from 15s. to 16s. a week and 18s. in summer,[554] were walking the country searching for employment. Many tenants threw up their farms, and it was often noticed that landlords, 'knowing very little of agriculture and taken by surprise,' could not manage the farms thrown on their hands, and they went uncultivated. Some farmers paid up their rent to date, sold their stock, and went off without any notice; others, less scrupulous, drove off their stock and moved their household furniture in the night without settling.[555]

Farmers and landowners were asked to state the remedies required. Some asked for more rent reduction and further prohibition of import, but the most general cry was for the lessening of taxation.

A Herefordshire farmer[556] stated that in 1815 the taxes on a farm of 300 acres in that county were:

£s.d.
Property tax, landlord and tenant951610
Great tithes64176
Lesser tithes 29150
Land tax1400
Window lights2416
Poor rates, landlord1000
" tenant4000
Cart-horse duty, landlord, 3 horses2110
Two saddle horses, landlord 900
Gig660
Cart-horse duty,[557] tenant720
One saddle horse, tenant2136
Landlord's malt duty on 60 bushels of barley2100
Tenant's duty for making 120 bushels of barley into malt 4200
New rate for building shire hall, paid by landlord900
" " " tenant300
Surcharge280
—————
£383114
=========