WALTER OF HENLEY 9 



is a ploughland nine score acres. And if your lands are 

 divided in two, as in many places, the one half sown with 

 winter seed and spring seed, the other half fallow, then 

 shall a ploughland be eight score acres. Go to the extent 

 and see how many acres you have in the demesne, and 

 there you should be confirmed. 



Some men will tell you that a plough cannot work 

 eight score or nine score acres yearly, but I will show you 

 that it can. You know well that a furlong ought to be forty 

 perches long and four wide, and the king's perch is sixteen 

 feet and a half; then an acre is sixty-six feet in width. 

 Now in ploughing go thirty-six times round to make the 

 ridge narrower, and when the acre is ploughed then you 

 have made seventy-two furlongs, which are six leagues, for 

 be it known that twelve furlongs are a league. And the horse 

 or ox must be very poor that cannot from the morning go 

 easily in pace three leagues in length from his starting-place 

 and return by three o'clock. And I will show you by 

 another reason that it can do as much. You know that 

 there are in the year fifty-two weeks. Now take away eight 

 weeks for holy days and other hindrances, then are there 

 forty-four working weeks left. And in all that time the 

 plough shall only have to plough for fallow or for spring or 

 winter sowing three roods and a half daily, and for second 

 fallowing an acre. Now see if a plough were properly kept 

 and followed, if it could not do as much daily. And if 

 you have land on which you can have cattle, take pains to 

 stock it as the land requires. And know for truth if you 



