The Agriculture of Worcestershire. 443 



giving his milking-cows some turnips ; but they should not be 

 fed exclusively on either tops or bottoms — if they are, the 

 flavour of the butter may be affected. He also accounts for 

 there being few breeders of stock in the county by saying that 

 the land is too good for breeding purposes. 



Some statistics of hops and inclosures are given ; and in speak- 

 ing of the rent of the land Dr. Nash states : " The general rent 

 of the pasture land is under 205., and the Severn, Avon, and 

 Teme under SOs., at which some of them were valued at the time 

 of Queen Elizabeth ; for in that day all the cattle, sheep, &c., had 

 to be wintered in the vale, whereas they now grow crops on which 

 to winter them on the hills." 



The rent of the arable land is not mentioned ; but Dr. Nash 

 states, that let the land be ever so rich, the farmer generally takes 

 two crops and a fallow, and never attempts more than three. 



He estimates the area of the county at 618,240 acres, and their 

 value at 10^. per aci'e. 



In good years two or three tons of cherries were often sold 

 before five o'clock on Saturday morning, large quantities being 

 sent to Yorkshire and the manufacturing districts. 



In writing upon the cultivation of hops, he condemns it as 

 injurious to both landlord and tenant ; as a few acres of hops 

 swallow up the manure of a whole farm, oblige the landlord to 

 give long credit for rent, and give the tenant a turn for gaming 

 and traffic which frequently proves his ruin ; hops, he adds, 

 were supposed to be introduced in the time of Henry VIII., and 

 before that were imported from Flanders. He also quotes from 

 the Earl of Northumberland's Household Book, " that in the 

 year 1556 the family used for brewing 256 lbs. of hoppys, and 

 that they cost 13^. Ad. per hundred." 



Mr. Noake, in his ' Notes and Queries of Worcestershire,' pub- 

 lished in 1856, gives some interesting information. He states 

 (page 98) : " That the authorities of Broadway petitioned in the 

 seventeenth century to have the servants' wages rated according 

 to statute," which he gives in full : — 



£. s. d. 



A bailiff receiving 400 



An ordinary husbandman 2 10 



A maidservant by the year 1 10 



A labom-er, without meat and drinls, per day .. 7) • ,„5v,*.gj. 

 „ with meat and drink, per day .. .. 3) 



„ witliout meat and drink, per day .. ^ I j^ guijuner 



,, witli meat and drink, per day ,. ..0 4) 



Mason and carpenter 010 



If with meat and drink 006 



He also states that the Worcestershire magistrates, when the 

 plague amongst cattle broke out in 1747, ordered, 45. per week to 



