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On the Road Again with Arthur Young: English, Irish, and French Agriculture during the Industrial Revolution

1988; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 48; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0022050700004162

1471-6372

Robert C. Allen, Cormac Ó Gráda,

Historical Economic and Social Studies

In their day Arthur Young's tours of England, Ireland, and France represented a revolutionary approach to agricultural research. Here we avail of one part of the wealth of statistical data collected by Young—that on grain yields—to provide a comparative perspective on agricultural technique and progress in these countries around 1770 to 1850. We show that, ironically, Young's carefully assembled data do not always support some of his best-remembered generalizations.