394 ARTICLES EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE. 



I had little difficulty in finding sufficient evidence for the 

 price of tar in my former volumes. But I have far less 

 evidence at present. It may have been that in the general 

 prosperity of the fifteenth century the necessary use of the 

 article decreased, it may have been that the shepherd obtained 

 it from his employer's purchases, and that thus the record of 

 prices is lost ; it is certain, as I have already had to say, that 

 the later part of my enquiry gives me little information as to 

 the management of sheep farms, the cost of the medicines used, 

 and the value of the produce. 



Down to the middle of the fifteenth century entries of tar 

 are fairly continuous, prices being given by the gallon and 

 occasionally by the barrel. From this time, prices by the 

 gallon are rare, and by the barrel frequent. It is dearer on 

 the whole during these fifty years than it was in the fourteenth 

 century, though it must be admitted that the places which 

 record its purchase are generally inland and at some distance 

 from the sea. Tar is still the produce of Scandinavia, and its 

 price depended on the cost of manufacture and the facilities 

 of transport, as well as on proximity to the eastern coast. 



There are a hundred and one entries of tar by the barrel 

 between 1401-1540. In 1407, the barrel is stated to contain 

 twelve gallons; in 1533, it is said to hold sixteen. The 

 average of these entries gives 6s. o^d. the barrel, for the period 

 between 1401-1540, against 45-. y\d. between 1321-1400. The 

 article, however, is far cheaper, even if we take the smaller 

 sized barrel as the rule, when sold in bulk, than it is when 

 purchased by the gallon. 



Tar is dear in 1427, 1428, several entries being given for 

 each year, and in 1532, though the barrel in the latter year is 

 cheap. It is also dear by the barrel in 1441 and 1453. 



Tar is sometimes described as 'circuli majoris,' or, in later 

 years, as of ' the great band. 1 The first of these terms is used in 

 1423. It is found again in 1433. The later entries, referring 

 to purchases in the navy, distinguish (1561, 1569) great band 

 from small. 



