Wellmann Imre szerk.: A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 1971-1972 (Budapest, 1973)

Minchinton, Walter E.: The agricultural regions of England and Wales

THE AGRICULTURAL REGIONS OF ENGLAND AND WALES WALTER E. MINCHINTON (Exeter, United Kingdom) Farming in England is an extremely varied activity. In order therefore to explain adequately the history of agriculture in England and Wales it is not satisfactory merely to discuss the general picture. Because of a number of factors, farming practice varies considerably from one part of the country to another. Regional and local variations therefore need to be considered. But it is no easy matter to divide the country into agricultural regions.

1 The forms of cultivation and the types of agricultural goods produced are the result of the interaction between the farmer and the land in particular climatic conditions, employing the techniques, seeds and breeds available under the stimulus of market conditions and influenced by government policy. Further, the types of cultivation may vary over time. What was arable in one generation may be pasture In the next. So a consideration of agricultural regions has to have a historical component. But what is an agricultural region? Professor HOSKINS has defined it as 'a territory, large or small, in which the conditions of soil, topography and climate (and perhaps natural resources also) combine to produce sufficiently distinctive characteristics of farming practice and of rural economy to mark it off clearly from its neighbouring territories'.

2 But this is a definition which may be difficult to apply because the distinction between one agricultural region and another may not be very clear. And this element of indeterminacy is recognised by Dr KERRIDGE who says that an agricultural region or 'farming country', in his terminology, "may be defined as an imprecisely bounded and inconstant area in all but the periphery of which there is uniformity or similarity in a single plan, or in two or more competing plans, of farm management, sufficient to permit the formulation of general conclusions on husbandry systems".

3 The definition of agricultural regions in England is rendered more difficult because it is an extremely diverse country, geologically, *For a general discussion of the problem of definition, see GILBERT, EDMUND W. The idea of a region. Geography XLV: 1960. 157—175. I have benefitted from discussions with my colleagues V. H. BEYNON and M. A. HAVINDEN. 2HOSKINS, WILLIAM G. Regional Farming in England. Agricultural History Review II: 1954. 5. 3

KERRIDGE, ERIC. The Agricultural Revolution. London. 1967. 41.