 In the early 18th century , farmland was run through an open field system , which were commonly overstocked and made trying experimental methods very difficult ; enclosed farms , on the other hand , were higher quality and useful for experimentation , with the result that they commanded a rent almost double a similarly sized open field . Compounding this problem , many of the enclosures were split up into strips , with the result that ownership was unclear . Between 1776 and 1816 , Coke rapidly bought strips of land near his estates and had them enclosed . Much of this came during the Napoleonic Wars , where grain prices ( and therefore farming profits ) peaked . Coke was influenced by " Turnip " Townshend , who had owned a nearby estate who promoted crop rotation and farm improvement . Along with enclosure , <unk> and improved grasses , Townshend 's improvements resulted in " a course of husbandry utterly unlike that practised a hundred years ago " . 
