CHAPTER XIV. 



AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AND TOOLS. 



THE accounts which have been inspected for the purpose 

 of collecting the evidence of prices have supplied me with 

 numerous entries of agricultural implements and tools of very 

 various kinds, on which I shall proceed to comment. 



ECONOMY OF THE FIELD. I. Ploughs, shares, and plough- 

 wheels. There are thirty-two entries of the price of ploughs 

 between 1402 and 1519, the prices being very various. This 

 is to be expected, for Fitzherbert informs us that the plough 

 varied in all the counties which he knew. The construction 

 of this necessary instrument must have been sometimes ex- 

 ceedingly slight, for it is purchased at as low a rate as icd. 

 and is. frequently. But on the other hand, some ploughs 

 described as complete are bought at 3^. 8d., 6s., and one for 

 as much as 8s. *]d. Ploughshares, which were so common in 

 the earlier period of my enquiry as to furnish me with annual 

 and decennial values, have now almost entirely disappeared. 

 Plough-wheels occur rarely, and cost from zs. to is. ; but in 

 1511 a pair is bought for 4^. 



During the fifteenth century I find fairly numerous entries 

 of ploughshares, fifty-four years being supplied with evidence. 

 The share generally costs is., and is seldom less, i.e. in only 

 two entries. It once reaches is. nd. in the dear year 1439, 

 and once is. 6d. in the year 1442, when the price of iron had 

 been very high. If one can safely infer from the average price 

 of wrought iron, when the manufactured article was not of 

 a kind as to require extraordinary skill, the weight of the share 

 was from eight to ten pounds. 



