48 AGRICULTURE IN THE 



or a beggar. And of all stock, the rearing of sheep is most 

 profitable. The shepherd must always have about him his dog, 

 who must be trained to bark, to run, or to halt at his master's 

 will ; his sheep-hook, a pair of shears, and a tar box. The 

 latter implement is designed for that most vexatious of sheep 

 diseases, the scab, a complaint which, as I mentioned before, 

 seems to have appeared in England at or about the conclusion 

 of the thirteenth century; and to have been treated at first 

 with copperas, verdigris, and quicksilver, but subsequently and 

 continuously with tar. 



After the landowners abandoned ordinary agricultural opera- 

 tions, they still kept sheep. Sometimes sheep are kept on a 

 very large scale, as at Coleshull near Fairford, an estate which 

 has supplied me with much information as to some of the 

 incidents of sheep-breeding. It is seldom, however, that the 

 shepherd or even the bailiff is intrusted with the duty of selling 

 the wool. He generally sends it direct to the landowner, and 

 in consequence all record of the price of wool is lost. Hence 

 the information which I have been able to give my readers 

 as to the price of wool is very scanty in the later years of the 

 inquiry, though it is well known that in the sixteenth century 

 sheep-rearing was carried on to so great an extent as apparently 

 to supersede corn-growing, and to attract the attention of 

 Parliament. Breeds of sheep too are either very varied, or 

 the quality of the wool, as I shall be able to show further on, 

 differed exceedingly in different localities. 



Fitzherbert describes the method by which sheep should be 

 drawn, i. e. those who need the shepherd's care must be sepa- 

 rated from those which do not. He recommends three folds ; 

 one that will take the whole flock, a second which will hold 

 ninety or more, a third which will hold forty. He should then 

 take his flock by forties, catch them by his hook, examine them, 

 and turn all which may want his care into the third fold, 

 where he shall peruse them all/ and treat those medically who 

 need it, and thus not detain the healthy animals from their 

 pasture. If the sheep ray, i. e. be scoured, the shepherd must 



