830 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



dearth, so that the owners and landed proprietors could legally 

 store the rents in kind received from the estate. In regions 

 which yielded a substantial surplus above ordinary local needs, the 

 hoards of the tithe barns and manor houses were considerable. 

 These stores were the basis of much wholesale buying at all 

 times and were the main source of reliance in the years of dearth. 

 Persons of small means were obliged by necessity to sell their 

 grain in the local market more or less promptly. Unless the 

 small cultivator was peculiarly needy, his grain was sold off little 

 by little according to the possibilities of using the straw for the 

 cattle. The drying and curing of the grain was thus provided for 

 automatically by leaving it unthreshed until it could be sold and 

 consumed. This practice also insured a fairly steady supply 

 for the local market throughout the season. Force of circum- 

 stances thus made the small cultivator the dominant resource of 

 the market from week to week. In regions having a surplus 

 those who could postpone sale for an indeterminate period found 

 it to their advantage to do so, and they became by force of cir- 

 cumstances a class of unprofessional speculators who held grain 

 for six, seven, or eight years at times. Grain in store was usually 

 kept in hermetically sealed pits. There was considerable risk of 

 deterioration, but such methods of storage are excelled only by 

 the most elaborate elevator construction of modern times. The 

 existence of these hoards was of moment to the professional 

 trader. Where such supplies existed the merchant from the 

 large town found it advantageous to deal directly with the wealthy 

 proprietors. Purchases could thus be made in bulk and without 

 regard to the market regulations that were so frequently designed 

 to discourage the wholesale trader. The professional trader was 

 more likely to confine his speculation to the current season ; the 

 proprietor took the risks of loss through deterioration and of 

 protracted waiting for a year of dearth. 



The nearest approach to an application of credit to produce 

 speculation in the Middle Ages was the purchase of a standing 

 crop. This was definitely prohibited, but it is certain that the 

 ordinances were not enforced. This transaction was a sale of 

 the crop sealed by the payment of a small sum of earnest money. 



