ABSTRACT
The years 1874-1899 were marked by prolonged agricultural depression. The English farmer who had been accustomed to face occasional severe losses due to bad weather had to face foreign competition that was as fierce in bad years as in good. 'Farming is the only business there is in Lincolnshire and a farmer must either farm or do nothing.' In the depression of the late nineteenth century it was customary to attribute the tenacity of the Lincolnshire farmer to his situation. Agriculture ceased to be an orphan industry and had to be favoured, cajoled, and, if necessary, forced, into producing more and more food. In the early stages of the agricultural depression it was not absolutely clear to observers that the smallholdings were weathering the storm better than the large ones. Between 1907 and 1915 historians published a series of works on the history of agriculture and rural society which has not yet been superseded.
