

ON THE PRICE OF FARM PRODUCE. 369 



ments on it will be best reserved, till the whole range of prices 

 are subjected to analysis in a later chapter. A candle-mould 

 will be found in vol. iii. p. 577, priced at 5.$-. 



FUEL. It is convenient to include fuel under the head of 

 farm produce, as underwood was regularly cultivated for fuel, 

 and the produce was sold under various names. The labour 

 is in some of the articles included in the price of fuel, the 

 principal element of value ; but, as was stated before, no land 

 in the fifteenth century was without an owner, and the privi- 

 lege of cutting even the cheapest kinds of fuel was either a 

 common right, or granted on payment for a licence, even to 

 dig turf or mow sedge. 



The accounts contain several entries of the sale of under- 

 wood and trees by the acre. The value varies exceedingly. 

 Thus in 1401 the sales at Heghtredebury give prices varying from 

 243. to qs. the acre, while at Anesty a sale is affected at 45-. 

 Two acres of wood are sold at Takley at 50.$-., while one at 

 Birchanger fetches 40^. In 1409, 1410, 1412, 1422, 1424-7, 

 1432, 1435, the Takley copse is sold at 4^-., while the Heyford 

 reaches i2s. 6d. In 1411 the Takley wood is also sold at 6s., 

 in 1417 at 3y. ^d. In 1423 large sales are made at rates from 15^. 

 to los. the acre in 1456, and at 8s. in 1457, at Folkingham. 

 But in 1474, Peterhouse, Cambridge, buys an acre for 265-. 8<, 

 and in 1481 Swaffham sells a quarter of an acre at i6s. In 

 Kimbolton 23^ acres are sold at 13^-. ^d. in 1495, an< ^ 3^ at 

 Wiveton are bought at Ss. In 1500, 3! acres are sold at Farley 

 at 6s. 8d. In 1503 Heghtredebury sells an acre at zos. But 

 none of these entries give any account of the produce. Sales of 

 wood are effected in 1540 and in 1542 at prices varying from 

 2,6s. 8d. to io6s. 8d., and of underwood in the latter year at 

 2os. and i6s. the acre. In 1438 the highest prices of under- 

 wood are reached. 



More significant is the purchase at Norwich in 1511 of an 

 acre of wood seven miles from the city. This produced 1700 

 faggots, and was bought for 40^. The cutting and tying these 

 faggots cost i zs. 9<, the carriage was 1 7 j., which gives a little 

 VOL. iv. B b 



