From 1715 to 1765 was an era of good seasons and low prices generally; in that half-century Tooke says there were only five bad seasons. In 1732 prices of corn were very low, wheat being about 24s. a quarter, so that we are not surprised to find that its cultivation often did not pay at all.[416] At Little Gadsden in Hertfordshire, in that year a fair season, and on enclosed land, the following is the balance sheet for an acre: DR. L s. d. Rent 12 0 Dressing (manuring) 1 0 0 2-1/2 bushels of seed 7 6 Ploughing first time 6 0 " twice more 8 0 Harrowing 6 Reaping and carrying 6 6 Threshing 3 9 -------- 3 4 3 ======== CR. L s. d. 15 bushels of wheat (a poor crop, as 20 bushels was now about the average) 2 2 0 Straw 11 6 2 13 6 -------- _LOSS_ 10 9 ======== On barley, worth about L1 a quarter, the loss was 3s. 6d. an acre; on oats, worth 13s. a quarter, however, the profit was 21s.; on beans, 26s. 6d., these being that year exceptionally good and worth 20s. a quarter.[417] Ellis objected to the new mode of drilling wheat because, he said, the rows are more exposed to the violence of the winds, rains, &c., by growing apart, than if close together, when the stalks support each other.[418] This estimate may be compared to that of Tull for the 'old way' of sowing wheat,[419] and to the following estimate of fifty years later in Surrey, when wheat was a much better price:-- DR. L s. d.