HAY AND STRAW. 299 



grass, with the cost of cutting and carrying, is sold at the high 

 rate of 32^. $d. the acre. But it must be remembered that the 

 alluvial soil of the Cherwell near Oxford is of singular fertility 

 and value, though in later days the quality of the soil near 

 this river is injured, as that of much other similar land is, by 

 the silting of the river-bed, the injudicious penning back of 

 the water, and the fraudulent acts of mill-owners, who furtively 

 raise their weirs. 



As might be anticipated, the price of straw is less suggestive 

 than that of hay. It is ordinarily used for thatch and litter, 

 and is of very various quality. Though it is frequently sold 

 by the load, it is also purchased by the thrave, garb, bundle, 

 truss, sarcina, burden, the horse-load, and even by the hundred 

 and thousand. Of the various kinds of straw, barley was the 

 cheapest, being often not more than half the price of wheat 

 and oat straw and bean and pea haulm, probably because, 

 being more brittle, it was less enduring. Of course straw is 

 relatively much dearer in London. The truss of straw appears 

 to have been large, for only a few went to the load. Straw 

 is occasionally employed for feeding cattle in winter, as in 

 1424. 



There are a few entries of litter, stubble, and thatch, and 

 particularly from Hickling in Norfolk of armfuls (brachiatae) 

 of reeds reckoned by the hundred. 



