ame authority
tells us that when Townshend began his improvements near Norwich much
of the land was an extensive heath without either tree or shrub, only
a sheepwalk to another farm; so many carriages crossed it that they
would sometimes be a mile abreast of each other in pursuit of the best
track. By 1760 there was an excellent turnpike road, enclosed on each
side with a good quickset hedge, and all the land let out in
enclosures and cultivated on the Norfolk system in superior style; the
whole being let at 15s. an acre, or ten times its original value.
Townshend's two special hobbies were the field cultivation of turnips,
and improvement in the rotation of crops. Pope says his conversation
was largely of turnips, and he was so zealous in advocating them that
he was nicknamed 'Turnip Townsend'.[424] He initiated the Norfolk or
four-course system of cropping, in which roots, grasses, and cereals
were wisely blended, viz. turnips, barley, clover and rye grass,
wheat. He also reintroduced marling to the light lands of Norfolk, and
followed Tull's system of drilling and horse-hoeing turnips, with the
result that the poor land of which his estate was largely composed was
converted into good corn and cattle-growing farms. Like all the
progressive agriculturists of the day, he was an advocate of
enclosures, and he had no small share in the growth of the movement by
which, in the reigns of Anne and the first two Georges, 244 enclosure
Acts were passed and 338,177 acres enclosed. The progress of enclosure
was alleged as a proof that England was never more prosperous than
under Walpole; the number of private gentlemen in Britain of ample
estates was said to exceed that of any country in the world
proportionately, and was far greater than in the reign of Charles II.
The value of land at twenty-six or twenty-seven years' purchase was a
conclusive proof of the wealth of England.[425]

Though, however, the first half of the century was generally
prosperous there were bad times for farmer and landlord. We have seen
that wheat-growing paid little, although from 1689 to 1773 the farmer
was protected against imports and aided by a bounty on exports. In
1738 Lord Lyttelton wrote: 'In most parts of England, gentlemen's
rents are so ill paid and the weight of taxes lies so heavy upon them
that those who have nothing from the Court can scarce support their
families.'[426] Sheep in the damp climate of England have always been
subject to rot