The cattle plague of 1745[432] was so severe that owing to the scarcity of stock great quantities of grass land were ploughed up, which helped to account for the fact that in 1750 the export of corn from England reached its maximum; though the main cause of this was the long series of excellent seasons that set in after 1740.[433] The cattle plague also raged in 1754 in spite of an Order in Council that all infected cattle should be shot and buried 4 ft. deep, and pitch, tar, rosin, and gunpowder burnt where infected cattle had died, and cow-houses washed with vinegar and water.  Such were the sanitary precautions of the time.[434] In 1756 came another bad year, corn was so scarce that there were many riots; the king expressed to Parliament his concern at the suffering of the poor, and the export of corn was temporarily prohibited.  The fluctuations in price are remarkable:  in 1756, before the deficiency of the harvest was realized, wheat was 22s. and it went up at the following rate:  Jan., 1757, 49s.; Feb., 51s.; March, 54s.; April, 64s.; June, 72s.

About the middle of the century, if we may judge from the Compleat Cyderman written in 1754 by experienced hands living in Devon, Cornwall, Herefordshire, and elsewhere, fruit-growing received an amount of attention which diminished greatly in after years.  The authors fully realized that an orchard under tillage causes apple trees to grow as fast again as under grass, and this was well understood and practised in Kent, where crops of corn were grown between the trees.

A Devonshire ‘cyderist’ urged that orchards should be well sheltered from the east winds, which ’bring over the narrow sea swarms of imperceptible eggs, or insects in the air, from the vast tracts of Tartarian and other lands, from which proceeded infinite numbers of lice, flies, bugs, caterpillars, cobwebs, &c.’  The best protection was a screen of trees, and the best tree for the purpose, a perry pear tree.  In the hard frosts of 1709, 1716, and 1740 great numbers of fruit and other trees had been destroyed.  In Devon what was called the ‘Southams method’ was used for top-dressing the roots of old apple trees, which was done in November with soil from the roads and ditches, or lime or chalk, laid on furze sometimes, 6 inches thick, for 4 or 5 ft. all round the trees.  Great attention was paid there to keeping the heads of fruit trees in good order, so that branches did not interfere with each other,[435] and the heads were made to spread as much as possible.  Many of the trees were grown with the first branches commencing 4 ft. 6 in. from the ground.  It was claimed that Devon excelled all other parts of England in the management of fruit trees, a reputation that was not maintained, according to the works of half a century later.  The best cider apple In the county then was the White-sour, white in colour, of a middling size, and early ripe; other good ones were the ’Deux-Anns, Jersey, French Longtail, Royal Wilding, Culvering, Russet,