ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 187 



and fall of other kinds of grain ; but as oats are almost univer- 

 sally grown for cattle, great variations are found in the price 

 of this grain ; not only in the same year, but even on the same 

 estate, and at the same time. In other words, no exact infor- 

 mation is supplied as to the quality of the grain. In wheat, 

 barley, drage, and rye, inferior qualities, called cursal or scurril, 

 have not been generally reproduced in the tables of prices. 



Beans, peas, and vetches were the leguminous plants used 

 by our forefathers. Of these, as a rule, beans bear the highest 

 price; but there is not generally a very marked difference 

 between the market value of vetches and peas. Of all three, 

 the evidence of the price of peas is most abundant and con- 

 tinuous, being uninterrupted after 1270. Peas are white and 

 grey or black, sometimes green ; the first being used for 

 human food, the second for pigs and cattle. Beans appear to 

 have been used for cattle and horses only. 



I shall now proceed to make a brief comment on the harvest 

 of each year, and to mention the localities as far as appears 

 needful from which the evidence has been procured. 



1259-60. The localities for wheat are Norfolk, Lincoln, North- 

 ampton, and Gloucester. The price is rather above the average. 

 The only place which furnishes information as to the price of rye 

 is Taunton, and for purposes of comparison the rate is suspiciously 

 low. Only one locality supplies evidence of oat prices. 



1260-1. The localities are distant, ranging from Wilts to Cum- 

 berland. The average ruled is probably higher than the general 

 rate of the year, being raised by the price of seed ; which, represent- 

 ing the values of a previous harvest, necessarily modifies the rate 

 favourably or unfavourably as the price is high or low. 



1261. The localities are chiefly south, the greater part of the 

 evidence having been procured from an Inquisitio post mortem of 

 lands and chattels situate in Sussex. Combe and Bladon are near 

 Woodstock. Rodestone Manor, part of the estate of Isabella de 

 Fortibus, appears to have been in Northamptonshire. The prices 

 from Oxfordshire are exceedingly low. Those from the rest of the 

 places uniform and below the average. The price of oats is sus- 

 piciously high. That of rye, derived from one locality only, is 

 proportionate. 



