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, marling and improved grasses, Townshend's improvements resulted in "a course of husbandry utterly unlike that practised a hundred years ago".