The seasons in the latter part of the eighteenth century were distinguished for being frequently bad.  In 1774 Gilbert White wrote, ’Such a run of wet seasons as we have had the last ten or eleven years would have produced a famine a century or two ago.’  Owing to the dearness of bread in 1767 riots broke out in many places, many lives were lost, and the gaols were filled with prisoners.[497] 1779 was, however, a year of great fertility and prices were low all round:  wheat 33s. 8d., barley 26s., oats 13s. 6d., wool 12s. a tod of 28 lb.:  and there were many complaints of ruined farmers and distressed landlords.  Though England was now becoming an importing country, the amount of corn imported was insufficient to have any appreciable effect on prices, which were mainly influenced by the seasons, as the following instance of the fluctuations caused by a single bad season (1782) testifies[498]: 

  Prices after harvest of 1781.  Prices after harvest of 1782.

L s. d.  L s. d.

Wheat, per bushel        5  0       Wheat, per bushel        10  6
Barley     "             2  9       Barley     "              7  2
Dutch oats for seed      1  8       Dutch oats for seed       3  6
Clover seed, per cwt. 1 11  6       Clover seed, per cwt.  5 10  0

The summer of 1783 was amazing and portentous and full of horrible phenomena, according to White, with a peculiar haze or smoky fog prevailing for many weeks.  ’The sun at noon looked as blank as a clouded moon, and shed a rust-coloured ferruginous light on the ground and floors of rooms.’  This was succeeded by a very severe winter, the thermometer on December 10 being 1 deg. below zero; the worst since 1739-40.

In 1788 occurred a severe drought in the summer, 5,000 horned cattle perishing for lack of water.[499] In 1791 there was a remarkable change of temperature in the middle of June, the thermometer in a few days falling from 75 deg. to 25 deg., and the hills of Kent and Surrey were covered with snow.

We have now to deal with one of those landowners whose great example is one of the glories of English agriculture.  Coke of Holkham began his great agricultural work about 1776 on an estate where, as old Lady Townshend said, ’all you will see will be one blade of grass and two rabbits fighting for that;’ in fact it was little better than a rabbit warren.  It has been said that all the wheat consumed in the county of Norfolk was at this time imported from abroad; but this is in direct contradiction to Young’s assertion, already noted, that there were in 1767 great quantities of wheat besides other crops in the county.  Coke’s estate indeed seems to have been considerably behind many parts of the shire when he began his farming career.[500] When Coke came into his estate, in five leases which were about to expire the farms were held at 3s. 6d. an acre; and in the previous leases they had been 1s. 6d. an acre.