268 ON THE PRICE OF LABOUR. 



a fourteenth part of oats. These proportions are taken from 

 the eastern counties, in which the rate for threshing wheat was 

 above the average, that of barley rather less, and that of oats 

 rather more. If, however, the other districts had been taken, 

 the rate would still have been favourable to the medieval 

 labourer, though not to the extent which may be inferred from 

 the case of the eastern counties. Nor is the comparatively 

 high price of barley without a meaning, for as this grain was 

 consumed almost exclusively in England in the manufacture of 

 beer, a high price indicates a considerable power of consumption 

 on the part of the community. 



It may be repeated, in quitting this subject, that no kind of 

 labour appears to suggest more distinctly than that of threshing 

 what was the ordinary rate of wages to an agricultural labourer. 

 Taken concurrently with the price of corn an easy proportion 

 is established between the rates at distant periods ; and as this 

 kind of work was done under cover, and at times when the 

 labourer could not be employed out of doors, and as it is a work 

 proficiency in which is early learnt and generally attained, it 

 forms a peculiarly suitable object for purposes of comparison. 



The rate at which an acre of corn was reaped is abundantly 

 illustrated from the records, and will be found to present, when 

 carefully tabulated, the same facts as those which we have 

 witnessed in examining the payments made for threshing. 

 Unlike the latter, however, the calculation is made on an 

 average throughout. The payment made varies. The highest 

 is that for barley, at least during the greater part of the enquiry. 

 Wheat and drage are cut, on the whole, at the same price, as 

 also rye and beans, peas and vetches. Oats are cut at the 

 lowest rates. It is possible that the variation which is found 

 is due to the facts that rye is the earliest crop, that oats are less 

 likely to be injured by weather than any other kind of grain, 

 and barley more likely to suffer by such an accident. Drage, 

 always a less valuable crop than barley, is thereupon gathered 

 more cheaply than it, and. wheat, which is the most valuable 

 crop, but can nevertheless stand weather better, for a time at 



