ON THE PRICE OF LABOUR. 495 



were the entire crop, 6$s. id. for the whole cost of making, 

 mowing, and carrying the produce. But it does not evidently 

 follow that the whole crop is included in the carriage, for 

 in 1574, when the cost of mowing and making is 6os., the 

 College is debited with only ios. for carriage, which, in a year 

 when the crop was evidently heavy, cannot represent the 

 whole produce. In the years 1558, 1580 the price of mow- 

 ing only is given, when it is 2js. yd. and 14^. In the years 

 1578, 1580, the cost of making and carrying is given, when 

 the items are respectively 39.$-. and 56.$-. 6d., and in the second 

 year the whole charge of this hay harvest is 69^. 6d. Lastly, 

 in 1582, there is only the entry of the cost of making thirteen 

 loads of hay at is. $\d^ i.e. 19^. 3^. The reader will find 

 in pp. 301, 302 what was the price of hay in these years, 1546- 

 1582 (one excepted, 1556), with the decennial average. The 

 average of mowing, making, and carrying the sixteen acres 

 will therefore be nearly 5^-. 4^., of mowing and making zs. lid., 

 of mowing only is. 3!^., of making and carrying nearly 3.$-. 

 These calculations give is. $\d. an acre for mowing, is. *]\d. 

 for making, and is. $d. for carrying the produce 1 . 



Harvest work is also paid by the day. Fifteen entries in 

 the earlier period give 4^. when the labourer is fed, four during 

 the same period give 6d. when he is unfed. It appears that 

 when the labour was undertaken there was no difference be- 

 tween the payment of men's and women's labour. Mowing 

 appears to be paid on even a higher rate. But making hay, 

 peculiarly women's work, was paid at $d. All these entries 

 are in the early part of the fifteenth century. 



The price paid for ploughing by the acre ranges from 8d. to 

 is. 2d. 'Rebinatio' at Sutton-at-Hone (Kent) costs is- id. 

 an acre; ' Warectatio ' at Ashley icd. At Beding (Sussex) in 

 1480, twice 'eryng,' i.e. ploughing, and sowing barley, is effected 

 at is. M. an acre, hoeing at 2^/., rolling at id., while eryng, 

 sowing, and harrowing wheat costs nd. an acre. In 1508, 



1 Magdalen mead must always have been the very best natural pasture, and have 

 nearly always carried a very heavy crop. Hence the rate of mowing is relatively high. 



