LABOUR AND WAGES. 647 



of vs.; in 1619 a gardener at 55., and two others, each with a 

 boy, at 8^. and 9^. In 1621 New College pays $s., but Lord 

 Spencer only 3^., the lowest price registered. In 1622 a gar- 

 dener and his man together get only 6s. 6d. at Cambridge, and 

 in 1623 the Oxford price is $s. In 1627 Oriel College pays 

 a gardener and his man, evidently persons who could command 

 their price, at the rate of J$s. 6d. a week, and another 

 gardener at 6s. In 1629 a gardener is $s. at Cambridge, 6s. 

 at Oxford. In 1632 the Oxford price is again 5?. In 1636 

 New College hires a gardener, his son, and two women, at 

 3^. ^d. a day. But in 1637 it pays only 6s. a week to a 

 gardener and his son, 55. to the gardener by himself, and 3^. 

 to a woman. In 1639 it pays the man and his son loj. a 

 week. In 1640 the wages of the gardener are $s. This 

 is the last year of low wages. 



In 1645, 1647, and 1650, the gardener is paid 6s. at Oxford ; 

 at Cambridge, in 1651, Js. ; in 1655, 6s. ; in 1659, los. ; these two 

 payments being at Horstead Keynes. In 1669 he gets again 

 6s. ; in 1689, 95-.; in 1690, 6s., the last two payments being 

 made at Hurley. A gardener therefore gets only a trifle 

 over the wages of an agricultural labourer, except when some 

 special skill is required. 



The agricultural writers of the seventeenth century strongly 

 recommend the practice of densharing or devonshiring, that is 

 paring and burning old pasture, with a view to turning it into 

 arable. This kind of agricultural labour was very trying, 

 and is now I believe almost if not quite obsolete. The work- 

 man was supplied with a peculiarly shaped steel spade, 

 adapted to cut the turf at about an inch and a half below the 

 surface and turn it over. The hands guided the tool, but the 

 force was given to the handle (which was broad) by the work- 

 man's thighs, which were protected from injury by two stout 

 pieces of oak strapped on to this part of his body. I have 

 often seen the art practised in my youth. Now in 1 700 the 

 Foxcombe farmer (vol. vi. p. 651) determined to denshare on 

 a considerable scale, for he treated in this manner thirteen and 



