│ │ │ │ │ │ │ SOUTHERN COUNTIES. │ │ │ │ │ │ (South of Thames). │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Berkshire │ 5 │ 312 │ 3 │ 249 │ │ Wiltshire │ 12 │ 884 │ 11 │ 528 │ │ Hampshire │ 6 │ 256 │ 2 │ 90 │ │ Dorset │ 4 │ 105 │ 5 │ 177 │ │ Somerset │ 1 │ 50 │ 1 │ 33 │ │ Sussex │ 1 │ 180 │ 0 │ │ │ ├───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┤ │ Total │ 29 │ 1,787 │ 22 │ 1,077 │ │ ╞═══════════╪═══════════╪═══════════╪═══════════╡ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ WESTERN COUNTIES. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Gloucester │ 17 │ 948 │ 20 │ 988 │ │ Hereford │ 1 │ 40 │ │ │ │ Shropshire │ 2 │ 115 │ │ │ │ Staffordshire │ -- │ -- │ 1 │ 300 │ │ Worcester │ 9 │ 345 │ 3 │ 155 │ ├────────────────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┤ │ Total │ 29 │ 1,448 │ 24 │ 1,343 │ │ ╞═══════════╪═══════════╪═══════════╪═══════════╡ │ GRAND TOTAL │ 239 │ 14,507 │ 407 │ 30,894 │ │ ╘═══════════╧═══════════╧═══════════╧═══════════╡ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ In estimating the significance of these figures it must be borne in mind that the figures for acreage in wheat after enclosure were collected at a time of famine prices for wheat. Probably many thousands of acres of old arable common field, which had been enclosed and laid down in grass, in each of these counties, were again ploughed under the stimulus of wheat prices exceeding 100_s._ per quarter. So much with regard to the connexion between depopulation and enclosure in the second half of the eighteenth century. With regard to the first half, the following account is supplied by a certain John Cowper, “Inclosing Commons and Common field lands is contrary to the interest of the Nation” (1732):-- “When these commons come to be inclosed and converted into pasture, the Ruin of the Poor is a natural consequence; they being bought out by the lord of the _Manor_, or some other person of substance.