Agriculture generally made no marked improvement, but gardening did,
and many vegetables and fruits were introduced which had not before
been cultivated.
Pauperism remained a problem which the government had not yet found a
practical method of dealing with. There was little freedom of
movement; the poor man's parish was virtually his prison, and if he
left it to seek work elsewhere, and required help on the way, he was
certain to be sent back to the place where he was legally settled.