ABSTRACT
The improvers were either the originators of new farming processes and products or their early imitators, and in the present state of knowledge it is hardly possible to distinguish the former from the latter. Agricultural innovators were seldom chronicled and even more rarely renowned. These agricultural improvers were drawn from all ranks of rural society. Successful improvers reaped great profits, just as unsuccessful ones faced disastrous losses. Investment in improvements increased production and the capacity to produce. The improvers baked a much larger cake for others to share. Improvement was the new way to wealth. Even in the capital-farm countries there always remained a gradation of farms from small to large. The improvers profited from their improvements and those who climbed to the top of the farming ladder improved their standards of life.
