330 THE PRICE OF LIVE STOCK. 



universal rule, concludes Walter de Henley, that bad cattle are 

 always dearer than good. 



There is, says this author, considerable profit in keeping 

 cows for dairy purposes. The value of each cow's produce 

 during the summer is reckoned at nine shillings the minimum. 

 They were frequently let out at from five to six shillings, the 

 hirer apparently taking the risks. I shall have occasion to 

 recur to this estimate of the produce when in a subsequent 

 chapter I have to comment on the price of cheese and butter. 



The horses used in medieval husbandry are distinguished as 

 affri, called also stotts, and cart horses. The former may 

 perhaps be still discovered in the coarsely-shaped small horses 

 still found in country districts and employed in the commonest 

 drudgery, whose value chiefly lies in the facts that they are 

 able to subsist on very poor and scanty fare, and can do a great 

 deal of work at a very small cost. These animals are a little 

 but not much dearer than oxen, their price being lowest in 

 dear years j probably because when oxen were costlier their 

 use in draught increased, and the value of the small horse 

 declined. Occasionally, however, they are sold at considerable 

 prices. 



Cart horses are much more valuable than affri, and are 

 sometimes, speaking relatively, very dear. For instance, one 

 is bought at Clare in 1283 for ^5 6s. Sd., and another in 1284 

 at the same sum; a third in 1285 for ^5 7*. 8^., at the same 

 place. Four cart horses are bought at Finchale in Durham at 

 j?3 izs. 6d. apiece in 1312, and another four at Tikhill for 

 <i ly. <)d. each. Again, in 1315 a cart horse is bought at 

 Cuxham for 1 $s. 3^., and in 1320 ore at Usk for j^3 6s. 8d. 

 Another is bought in 1324 at Clare for ^3, another in 1339 at 

 Finchale for ^3 6s. Sal. Again, a cart horse is bought in 1370 

 at Apuldrum for ^z 6s. 8d. These are all specified as cart 

 horses, or are obviously used for such purposes. 



Saddle horses were occasionally very costly, but often sold 

 at no higher prices than those obtained for others employed 

 in agricultural work only. Thus a horse designated as a 



