THE PRICE OF LIVE STOCK. 333 



sometimes their price is so high that I have treated them as 

 hoggasters 6 . Occasionally young ewes are quoted under the 

 name of jercions. Ewes are very low-priced. Hurtards, or 

 rams, are not mentioned very often, and are generally dear. 



The high price occasionally paid for rams suggests that 

 attempts were made to improve the breed, either for the sake 

 of the wool or the meat, by selecting good stocks. Thus the 

 Cuxham bailiff buys a ram for 4*. o\d. in 1321, and in the 

 same year the king's bailiff at Westshene journeys to Essex in 

 order to buy rams, for four of which he gives the unparalleled 

 price of 5^. $d. apiece, besides very high rates for others. In 

 the next year the Chippenham bailiff gives y. for a ram, and 

 the Crookham bailiff buys four at 45-. \\d. and two at 3*. in/. 

 Similar instances might be discovered. 



The price of muttons and ewes varies very considerably even 

 on the same estate and for large sales. Thus, for instance, 

 the sales at Radcliff in 1398, 1399, and 1400, present varia- 

 tions from yd. to is. \d. No doubt the flock, which must 

 always have been severely tried in the winter, was carefully 

 weeded in autumn, and unpromising or diseased sheep sold for 

 what they would fetch. When the price is exceptionally low 

 I have not reckoned the entries in the averages, as they would 

 on some occasions depress the rate so much as to make the in- 

 ference delusive. Perhaps the reader will derive a more practical 

 inference, by estimating the value of sheep from the highest 

 price at which muttons are sold, an account of which will be 

 found in one of the tables contained at the foot of this chapter. 

 It may be observed that the fact of sheep being in fleece or 

 shorn does not seem to affect the value of the animal to the 

 extent which might have been expected, and that the price of 

 the sheep is highest in the summer. 



The inference gathered from the highest price of muttons in 

 the decennial averages, and from the general average over the 

 140 years of the enquiry, gives if. io\d. as the average 



e For instance, under 1308, 1311, 131 7, 1318, lambs are too high-priced for probability, 

 and are therefore considered to be hoggs. 



