Young calculated as early as 1768 that the average size of farms over the greater part of England was slightly under 300 acres.[459] In his Tour in France Young, speaking of the smallness of French farms as compared with English ones, and of the consequent great inferiority of French farming, says, ’Where is the little farmer to be found who will cover his whole farm with marl at the rate of 100 to 150 tons per acre; who will drain his land at the expense of L2 to L3 an acre; who will, to improve the breed of his sheep, give 1,000 guineas for the use of a single ram for a single season; who will send across the kingdom to distant provinces for new implements and for men to use them?  Deduct from agriculture all the practices that have made it flourishing in this island, and you have precisely the management of small farms.’  In 1868 the Report of the Commission on the Agriculture of France[460] agreed with Young, noting the grave consequences of the excessive subdivision of land, loss of time, waste of labour, difficulties in rotation of crops, and of liberty of cultivation.

For stocking an arable farm of 70 acres Young considered the following expenditure necessary, the items of which give us interesting information as to prices about 1770:—­

L s. d.

Rent, tithe, and town charges for first year         70   0   0
Household furniture                                  30   0   0
Wagon                                                25   0   0
Cart with ladders                                    12   0   0
Tumbril                                              10   0   0
Roller for broad lands (of wood)                      2   0   0
"     narrow   "      "                          1  15   0
Cart harness for 4 horses                             8  17   0
Plough     "     "                                    2  16   0
2 ploughs                                             3   0   0
A pair of harrows                                     1  15   0
Screen, bushel, fan, sieves, forks, rakes, &c.        8   0   0
Dairy furniture                                       3   0   0
20 sacks                                              2  10   0
4 horses                                             32   0   0
Wear and tear, and shoeing one year                  13   0   0
Keep of 4 horses from Michaelmas to May Day, @
2s. 6d. each a week                              14   0   0
5 cows                                               20   0   0
20 sheep                                              5  10   0
One sow                                                  15   0
One servant’s board and wages for one year           15   0   0
A labourer’s wages for one year                      20   0   0
Seed for first year, 42 acres, @ 11s. 6d.            24   3   0
Harvest labour                                        1  10   0
------------
L326  11   0
============

Or nearly L5 an acre.

About the same date the Complete English Farmer reckoned that the occupier of a farm of 500 acres (300 arable, 200 pasture), ought to have a capital of L1,500, and estimated that, after paying expenses and maintaining his family, he could put by L50 a year; ’but this capital was much beyond what farmers in general can attain to.’[461]