138

INCREASE OF COIN AND

CHAP. XXI.

(luce of all corn to be twelve bushels to the acre.In the century which we are viewing, at an earlypart of it, the annual produce had increased, accord-ing to Harrison in his “ Description of Britain, ”at least one-third. It was not, however, whollyon corn and cattle that an increase of productionhad taken place, but new articles had been intro-duced which became sources of real wealth. Thecommon cabbage was scarcely cultivated till thebeginning of the seventeenth century. Artichokes,currants, cherries, onions, asparagus, and, above all,potatoes, were introduced in the early part of thecentury. Turnips, carrots, parsnips, early pease,rape, and the several kinds of clover were onlyadopted in the middle of the century, and were notvery generally cultivated, or not nearly to the pre-sent extent, at the latter end of it. The increaseof articles which these advances in cultivationbrought into the general market required moremoney to circulate them than was needed for themore common productions of the soil which hadpreviously been used. Corn, when grown uponthe small spots of land which farmers occupied inancient times, was chiefly consumed on the placeswhere it grew and by the labourers that raised it;but these new products would be carried to otherplaces to find consumers; they must be paid fornot with labour or with other agricultural produc-tions, but with money.

There must also have been a larger stock of