THE PRICE OF LIVE STOCK. 335 



the enclosure ; they will then leave their compost on the spot, 

 instead of dropping it in the road. After lambing, the teats 

 of the ewes should be shorn, as otherwise the wool is apt 

 to get into the stomach of the lambs, and is very likely to kill 

 them. As regards disease, I should advise, he says, that on 

 SS. Simon and Jude's day, Oct. 3 8th, two of the best and two 

 of the worst be killed and examined. If they are sound, well ; 

 if not, sell as expeditiously as possible, take good security for 

 your debt, and buy again at Hock day, i. e. a week or fortnight 

 after Easter f . There are, however, several means by which 

 shepherds profess to discover the existence of rot. i. They 

 look at the veins under the eyelid j if they are red the sheep 

 is sound, if white, unsound. 3. They try the wool on the ribs j 

 if it holds firmly to the skin the sign is good, if it tears off 

 easily, it is bad. 3. If the skin on rubbing reddens, the sheep 

 is sound, if it keeps pale the animal is rotten. 4. About All 

 Saints' day, Nov. i, if the hoar frost in the morning is found 

 to cling to the wool it is a good sign, but if it be melted it is a 

 sign that the animal is suffering from an unnatural heat, and 

 that it is probably unsound. If," says my author, " one of your 

 sheep dies, put the flesh at once into water, and keep it there 

 from daybreak to three o'clock (nones), then hang it up to drain 

 thoroughly, salt it and dry it ; it will do for your labourers." 



While the sheep was valuable to the richer persons in 

 medieval society, (though we find that many were kept on their 

 own account by the servants regularly engaged on the farm, 

 and particularly by the shepherd,) the most important animal 

 in medieval economy was the pig. It is not easy however, 

 since no weights are given, to arrive with any accuracy at the 

 money value of this animal. Some little aid, however, is 

 afforded by the various terms used to designate it, and which 

 seem, to judge by the prices annexed to the several names, 

 to distinguish full-grown from young pigs, and to be used 

 with general precision. Thus we find porci, which may be 



1 Similar advice is given as desirable for other occasions : " Et quant les berbiz seront 

 vendus de coe et de lur leyne et de peaus avantdites relevez attaunt des testes." 



