4^8 ON THE PRICES OF FARM PRODUCE. 



the better sort of hemp. Linseed (see above, p. 223) is more 

 frequently quoted. 



Among articles of farm produce may perhaps be reckoned 

 nuts, and plants for wood and garden. I have found the former 

 six times. In 1268 and 1282 they are purchased in Cumber- 

 land by the windle, which is said to be the synonyme for the 

 bushel in the north of England. The price at which they are 

 sold, from $\d. to i|^., would favour this view. On the other 

 occasions they are reckoned by the bushel and the quarter. 

 Chesnuts are quoted once (vol. ii. p. 567. iii.), but no quantity 

 is given, though the amount must have been great. 



In vol. ii. p. 594. the reader will find such entries of plants 

 as have occurred in the accounts. Most of those which are not 

 distinguished are, beyond doubt, apple and pear trees, especially 

 the former. The price at which they are sold is, as might 

 be expected, very various, ranging from little more than a 

 farthing to \\d. apiece. Once a vine is purchased for the 

 king's garden at Woodstock. 



Besides these we also find willow, elm, and hazel plants. 

 The first of these were no doubt selected, for, as is well known, 

 only certain kinds out of the very numerous species of willows 

 are available for manipulation. Elm plants, the earliest 

 quotation of which is in 1334, are purchased in Oxford, no 

 doubt for ornamental purposes. The soil in the neighbourhood 

 of this city is peculiarly adapted to the growth of this exotic, 

 which, it is said, was introduced into England by the Crusaders. 

 The price at which the hazels are bought is about i\d. the 

 hundred. 



Quicksets are also purchased, for the same purposes as those 

 which are familiar to the modern agriculturist. 



I am wholly at a loss to explain the quotation from Oxford 

 under the year 1336. 1 cannot guess what c maders' can be, 

 which are sold at the low price of $d. the thousand. They are 

 intended, so the roll informs us, to be set in the garden of 

 Holy well manor-house. They can hardly be the dye-stuff, 

 which was originally a native of the South of Europe, and is 



