CULTIVATION AT CUXHAM. 745 



quarters of wheat per acre, a fraction over a quarter of barley, 

 nearly a quarter and a half of drage or here, more than a 

 quarter and a half of oats, and nearly a quarter and a half of 

 peas. It is clear that the Cuxham estate is, or was, essentially 

 wheat-growing land, the average quantity produced on the acre 

 being very large for medieval agriculture. The average price of 

 the five kinds of grain for these four years is wheat, 4s. >j\d. ; 

 barley, $s. $\d.\ drage, 2s. lod. ; oats, zs. id. ; peas, 3^. \\d. the 

 quarter. In the decade 1561-70, the averages of the same 

 kinds, omitting drage, which was no longer purchased, perhaps 

 not cultivated, are wheat, izs. io^d. ; barley, 8s. iif^f. ; oats, 

 6s. ^\d. ; peas, 9.9. ^\d. the quarter. But the quantity of barley 

 and bere grown on the farm is inconsiderable. 



In the four years the average gross value of the wheat is 

 41 3J. ; of the barley, i 14^. 4^. ; of the drage, 5 ;j. &/. ; 

 of the oats, ^8 19^. id. ; of the peas, 2 $s. gd. The whole 

 value of the grain crops is 59 8s. id. 



Now, if we assume that the rate of production in the decade 

 1561-70 was the same as in 1533-6, the value of the produce 

 in the decade would be wheat, .114 13.$-. $d. ; barley, 4 ios.', 

 drage (in the proportion, 3.$-. 5J^/., 2s. iod.\ 8s. nf</., 7^.5^.), 

 14 is. 6d.\ oats, 26 iqs. $d.\ peas, 6 us. iod.-, in all, 

 .166 i6s. lod. The rise in price is 3*8 1, the range of prices 

 in the four years of the thirteenth century being -4 below the 

 general average, and the quantity presumed to be reaped in 

 1561-70, as much in excess of the fact, as interpreted by prices 

 which are assumed to register scarcity and plenty precisely. 



In 1332 the corn sold at Cuxham was valued at 33 

 los. iG\d. If the amounts be taken on the above valuations, 

 corn amounting on an average to 25 ijs. 4d. is consumed in 

 the labour of man and beast at the earlier epoch. In the latter, 

 the sales would amount to ^91 6s. $d., and the expenses, on 

 the head of charges for man and beast, to 75 ics. *]d. 



Now I pointed out in the last chapter that the general rise 

 on all kinds of farm produce during the last forty-two years of 

 my period is 2-71 to unity. If we multiply the gross profits 



