644 LABOUR AND WAGES. 



costs 2J., barley and oats i id. ; and in one place a load of 

 wheat, five quarters, at 2s. 6d. In 1700 and 1702 bats are 

 threshed at 9*/., these two last localities being also Foxcombe. 

 Imperfect as these notices are, and almost capricious, they 

 seem to indicate a rise in price closely similar to that of other 

 kinds of labour. 



The payment made for mowing an acre of grass or grain 

 naturally varies with the density of the swarth. Thus when 

 Shuttleworth pays at the rate of 4s. i\d. the acre in 1583, 

 and Lord North at 2J., is. 4<, and is. 6\d. next year, we may 

 be sure that the crop was lighter on the Cambridgeshire 

 meadow than it was on the Lancashire. In 1597 King's 

 College pays is. 7%d. an acre for mowing and making hay, 

 and in 1599, is. $d. and is. 4d. In 1604 the same place pays 

 at is. <)\d. In 1611 and 1612 Shuttleworth pays is. 6d. for 

 mowing. In 1613, mowing and making costs is. io\d. at 

 Cambridge. In 1617 Shuttleworth pays is. Sd. for mowing, 

 but in 1618 only Sd. is paid at Northiam, which must mean a 

 very light crop. In 1621 King's College pays is. 6d. In 

 I ^57> !$" 4d. is paid at Horstead Keynes. In 1699 occur two 

 entries which I simply give as I find them. Wheat is cut 

 at Foxcombe at is. 4d. an acre, Lent corn mown at Sd. 

 In 1702 the Cuckfield farmer pays is. Sd. an acre for 

 mowing. 



In 1592, mowing, making, and carrying the produce of an 

 acre of grass, no doubt at the Cherwell meadows, costs Mag- 

 dalen College js. 6\d. an acre. This may be compared with 

 5-r. 4d. an acre, the price paid between 1546 and 1582 (vol. 

 iv. p. 494). In 1661, mowing and making an acre at Win- 

 chester is paid for at gs. ; while in 1599, mowing, making and 

 carrying each load from Osney mead to Corpus Christi 

 College, Oxford, is paid for at the rate of 4s. $\d. Such 

 is also probably the service paid for at so high a rate by 

 Shuttleworth in 1583. 



Now omitting the prices of 1583 and 1618 in the first 

 sixty years, and that of 1699 in the last, the average for 



