296 HAY AND STRAW. 



It should be observed here, that the computation of the 

 several years for which evidence is given of the price of hay 

 and straw follows the rule which was adopted with regard to 

 corn, i.e. the account is taken from Michaelmas to Michaelmas. 

 As a consequence, the record is generally of the hay crop for 

 the next year after that to which the entry is assigned. It 

 would have induced complete confusion on my accounts had 

 I adopted any other method. The most important, or at least 

 the most essential, part of my enquiry is into the price of 

 wheat and other grain, and the necessity which I was under 

 of beginning every agricultural year with the harvest of the 

 year has compelled me to extend the system to other kinds 

 of produce. 



The record of hay prices will not be found to throw so much 

 light on the seasons as the register of corn prices does. The 

 drought which shortened the hay crop was advantageous to 

 the wheat harvest, and unless it was excessive to most other 

 kinds of grain. If the hay was plentiful, it would be cheap, 

 and if it took much wet, it might not be much lowered in 

 price, unless there was sound old hay in the market, or some 

 of those who had gathered their crop were able to offer their 

 better supply at exceptional rates. Later on, indeed, there 

 is some correspondence between high prices for hay and 

 analogous prices for corn. 



Again, the hay which was gathered by the agriculturist of 

 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was nothing but the 

 produce of natural pasture. Our forefathers knew nothing of 

 artificial grasses, which were brought into England generally 

 as late as the time at which the Hanoverian succession took 

 effect. They had no winter roots, for these were not intro- 

 duced till the time of the early Stuarts, and were very slowly 

 cultivated. The demand for hay was therefore great, especially 

 in dry summers and hard winters. My reader will find that 

 hay, particularly in the sixteenth century, is relatively speaking 

 dear. 



The practice of soiling horses in spring and winter pastures 



