30 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. | 10 Jan., 1918. 



daybreak till nones (3 p.m.), then hang it up to drain thoroughly, salt 

 it and dry it ; it will do for your labourers." And Tusser in the 

 sixteenth century recommends that diseased pigs should be slain, salted, 

 packed, and the pork sold to the Flemings. 



Even as late as 1547, the average weight of oxen purchased for 

 the Navy was less than 400 lbs. English sheep suffered from scab 

 before the end of the thirteenth century, and the affected parts weje 

 treated with tar mixed with butter or lard. 



The most important animal in mediaeval economy was the pig. 

 These animals fed in fields after harvest and in woods. We read of 

 them also in the towns. Thue Stow in his " Survey of London " says 

 that they fed on the dung hills, and in the Act Books of the Exeter 

 City Chamber I have found frequent notices of men who were brought 

 before the Justices for keeping pigs in the City contrary to regulation. 



The returns to agriculture were very low in these days of sub- 

 sistence farming, and it is very difficult to form any sure estimate as to 

 comparative values, for the prices quoted only represent the surplus 

 on the estate sold after the requirements of the inhabitants had been 

 satisfied, the first care being to make the manor as self-supporting as 

 possible. Besides, the imperfect means of communication caused 

 great variations in price, the cost of carrying corn by cart with two 

 horses and a man about 1340 being estimated at Id. a ton per 

 mile. But this would vary very much according to the time of the 

 year and the demand for horse work on the farm. 



Wheat was the customary food of the people, though barley was 

 sometimes mixed with wheat in allowances to farm servants. Wheat 

 was sometimes malted, but barley was chieflv used for beer, and oat malt 

 common. However, the chief use of oats was for horse food, although 

 oatmeal was used for the broth or porridge. 



Walter of Henley advises that 2 bushels of wheat should be 

 sown to every acre. This seems to have been done by the bailiff him- 

 self. A return of between 6 to 8 bushels was considered satis- 

 factory, after the land had received three ploughings, at a cost of 

 fid. an acre, and harrowing at the cost of Id. Ploughing 

 was done by oxen yoked in a team of eight, although we find horses 

 used in some places. But oxen were more satisfactory, because after 

 they were past work they could be used for food. It is estimated 

 that each person would require one quarter of wheat for his sus'enance 

 during: the year, which would mean that there must have been as many 

 acres under cultivation as there were inhabitants. Professor Thorold 

 Rogers estimates that the population in 1340 was between 1.500,000 

 and 2,500,000. This would mean that between 4,500,000 and 7.500,000 

 acres were under cultivation. We must remember that a great majoritv 

 of the inhabitants, even of the towns, were engaged in agriculture, and 

 the long vacation still enjoyed by the Law Courts and the universities 

 is said to have been due to the fact that all were required in the harvest 

 fields between the months of June and October. 



The corn appears to have been cut high on the stalk, and the 

 stubble was mown after the crop was gathered. A method of threshing 

 corn is mentioned in Marshall as peculiar to the West of England, the 

 ears being beaten on a cask, so that the straw which was required for 

 thatching should not get bruised. Fitzherbert, in 1523, says: "In 

 Somerset they do shere theyr Avheate verv loAve ; and the wheate strawe 

 that they purpose to make thacke of they do not threshe it but cut 



