Customer Reviews

English Farming Past and Present

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read a 1962 version of this book. Lord Ernle (Prothero) wrote much of it around the turn of the century. It was updated at various times and by various people. Most of this update is two long prefaces. The first is a nice overview, while the second was inscrutable until I realized that Lord Ernle was the same person as Prothero.

The book is very much a history of English farming; it is more focused than a British overview. At times it seems extremely pro-enclosure (roughly speaking, the process of consolidating small disjoint farms into larger continuous farms) and the abolishment of the commons. At other times, it laments the lot of the laborer and the effect that enclosures has on these people.

Naturally, such famous people as Jethro Tull, Charles Townshend, Robert Bakewell, and Arthur Young are discussed in some detail. This does not diminish the details given on the state of transportation (canals, highways, sea trade), corn laws, poor laws, tithes, trends in weather, and the effects of war.

Occasionally it relies a bit much on knowing when the various monarchs of England reigned (I'm a bit hazy on these dates), and some points are belabored for thrice the length that they warrent. Overall, it is a good look at farming and lets one realize that the concept of conservation tillage and farming for profit are hardly new.