MEDIEVAL AGRICULTURE. 33 



The reader will find that rats and moles were considered 

 nuisances in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and that 

 payment was made for catching and destroying them. The 

 value of arsenic, as a means for extirpating these pests, was 

 known. We read, too, of stoats and their depredations, of the 

 losses incurred by wolves and foxes, and of the charge to 

 which one manor was put in inviting the king's foxhunters 

 to destroy the last-named vermin. Rabbits do not seem to 

 have been plentiful, at least the price paid for them is rela- 

 tively exceedingly high j and 1 have never found any entry 

 of the sale or purchase of hares or pheasants. I do not doubt 

 that they existed, as they are mentioned in chronicles and 

 recited in deeds, but they never form part of the accounts 

 which have come before me. 



Mills were generally possessed by lords of manors, and in 

 all likelihood the use of the village mill was compulsory on 

 all the inhabitants, that is, on all who owed suit and service 

 to the lord. These mills were either worked by water or 

 wind power, the latter being the most frequent motive force. 

 The reader will find a large body of evidence in the second 

 volume illustrating the price of canvas for millsails, and 

 of the various kinds of millstones. Towards the latter part 

 of the period the information on the price of millstones be- 

 comes deficient. The fact is, the mill and its privileges 

 were farmed early in the period before us; and though, for 

 a time, the owner supplied stones and repairs to his tenant, 

 it was not long before the farmer took this responsibility 

 upon himself. The miller, it appears, was remunerated by 

 a toll taken on the corn which was ground, and the item 

 'mill-corn' appears perpetually in the records of such estates 

 as possessed mills. The right of having a water-mill was a 

 franchise, and could not be invaded without liability to 

 action for damages or fine in the manor court : but it is 

 not clear whether a similar limitation applied to wind-mills. 

 The construction, however, and maintenance of a mill in- 

 volved a considerable outlay, and when the mill was let to 



