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 A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE The consolidation of small farms was not so extensive in this county as in some districts, farms being found of all sizes from 20 to 500 acres. 116 The value of estates varied greatly from that of the great nobleman or rich commoner worth 10,000 per annum to the holding of the forty shilling freeholder of historic fame. The improvements in agriculture were, however, chiefly due to the moderate proprietors of 200 to 300 acres, or to the high-class tenant farmers, who had been the first to introduce new methods of cultivation and stock- breeding. 117 The rental of farms at this time ranged from IQJ. to 30^. per acre, but as a large part of the land was in a backward state of cultivation the average price would fall below 2OJ. 118 ' Few fortunes,' says Pitt, ' are made by farming, unless the farmer is connected with some other employment,' and he sums up the farmer's troubles as high rents and taxes, especially the poor rate and the malt tax, and the rise in the price of labourers' wages, and of the price of agricultural imple- ments and other materials. 119 This was, of course, the time of the French War, of Corn Laws, of great fluctuations in the price of wheat, and of a serious rise in the poor rate due largely to a short-sighted and demoralizing system of administration. These great fluctuations in price were welcomed by the capitalist farmers who could withhold their stock till prices rose, but the small farmer was often ruined by the low prices ; yet rents went up steadily. 120 The average price of wheat per quarter rose from 43^. in 1792 to 75^. zd. in 1795, and 78.1-. jd. in 1796. In 1798 it had fallen to 5U. iod., but rose next year to 69^., and in 1800 was as high as 103-1-. Io ^- m In 1796 a considerable part of the county was waste and unimproved land. Cannock Chase was still a wild heathery moorland tract, unsullied by the smoke of coke ovens. Part of the east side of Dilhorne Heath had been recently planted with potatoes which had produced excellent crops. ' In fine,' says Pitt, ' in this part of the moorlands the potato harvest is of great consideration, and the thirty thousand artificers and " yeomanry " there eat very little wheaten bread.' l2 ' 2 The wages of agricultural labour varied considerably in different parts of the county, being highest always in the neighbourhood of manufactures, but having increased within the last two years, according to Pitt, about 10 per cent., this being due to the cutting of canals, in which work a labourer could earn 2J. >d. or 3^. per day without beer, compared with the is. or is. 6d. per day with beer, which is given as the average rate of an agricultural labourer's daily wages in ijq6. Similarly, the recent erection of cotton-mills in various places had made it extremely difficult to get female farm servants without paying excessive wages. A dairymaid earned 3 ioj. to 5 per annum at this time, and an under-dairymaid from 2 IQJ. to 3 ioj. ls * Admittedly the wages of the day labourer were inadequate to provide him with the necessary provisions at current prices. Beef and mutton could, 16 Pitt, op. cit. 25, 26. > Ibid. 16-17. "' Ibid. 26. " Ibid. 32. lw Cunningham, Hist, of Industry and Commerce, ii, 477-9. " WHtaktft Almanack, 1906. Pitt, op. cit. 129. m Ibid. 155-6. "' Ibid. 156. 294