FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES. 43 



hopper. And thereon he moralises on the most useful seed of 

 all, the seed of Discretion, which is the more abundant the 

 more widely it is scattered. The statute acre, i.e. four perches, 

 each of sixteen feet and a half in breadth, and forty perches 

 in length, will be properly sown with two (London) bushels of 

 peas, the London bushel being the strike of other places. If there 

 be a quarter of the seed beans, the quantity is two bushels and 

 a half, of half beans, three bushels, if all beans, four bushels, or 

 half a quarter, the reason being that beans do not spread. An 

 acre of good beans, however, is worth an acre and a half of 

 good peas. A good husbandman sows his corn thick enough, 

 for weeds will grow if seed is stinted. One bushel and a half 

 of green or white peas is as serviceable for seed as two bushels 

 of grey peas, as the former seed is much smaller. Sometimes 

 peas are sown before Christmas, one kind, which he calls ' hasty 

 peas,' generally after Candlemas, and before March begins, or 

 soon afterwards. 



The sowing of barley should follow that of peas and beans. 

 The land should be carefully prepared, well manured, and as 

 far as possible, dry, for wet land is injurious to the crop. 

 Barley should be sown before April. There are, we are told, 

 three kinds of barley, sprot barley, long ear, and bere barley or 

 bigg. The first is a flat ear, three-quarters of an inch broad, 

 and three inches long, the corns being large and white. Long 

 ear is flat, half an inch broad, and four inches or more long, 

 but the corn is smaller, and if we can trust our author, it is apt 

 to turn to oats. Bere is four-sided, three inches long in the 

 ear, with small corns, and little flour. This is the worst kind. 

 The seed of the first two kinds is four or five bushels to the 

 acre, of the last, four only. Oats should be sown on light and 

 dry ground, though the crop will do better on wet ground than 

 any other. Three bushels are sown to the acre. There are 

 three kinds of oats, red, black, and rough. The first is the best 

 for all uses, especially for meal. The last is the worst, and 

 hardly pays the cost. The grains are light, and * have long tails/ 

 Oats are an exhausting crop, and make the ground bear quitch.' 



