94 THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH 



phrase " as fine as an ant-hill," — and advise that it should be rolled. 



Tusser recommends that wheat should also be rolled, if the land 



is sufficiently dry. For seeding, Fitzherbert adopts the mediaeval 



rule of two bushels of wheat and rye to the acre. AH seeds were 



scattered broadcast by the hand from the hopper. Neither writer 



mentions the dibbing of beans, though that useful practice had been 



introduced by thirteenth century farmers. For barley, oats, and 



" cod ware," Fitzherbert recommends a thicker seeding than was 



practised in mediaeval farming. The best yield per acre is obtained 



from moderate or thin sowing. But it has been suggested that 



Ehzabethan farmers more often allowed their land to become foul, 



and that crops were more thickly sown in the hope of saving them 



from being smothered. The suggestion is perhaps confirmed by 



the space which Fitzherbert devotes to Aveeds, and by his careful 



description of the most noxious plants. At harvest, wheat and rye 



were generally cut with the sickle, and barley and oats were mown 



with the scythe. Fitzherbert advises that corn ricks should be 



built on scaffolds and not on the ground. In the eighteenth century 



the advice was still given and still unheeded. 



In their treatment of drainage and manure, neither author makes 



any advance on mediaeval practice. To prevent excessive wetness, 



both advise a water-furrow to be drawn across the ridges on the 



lowest part of the land ; but neither describes the shallow drains, 



filled with stones, and covered in with turf, which were familiar to 



farmers in the Middle Ages. Mole-heaps, if carefully spread, are 



not an unmixed evil. But when Tusser champions the mole as a 



useful drainer of wet pastures, it is evident that the science of 



draining was j'et unborn. In choice of manure, neither writer 



appears to command the resources of his ancestors. The want of 



fertihsing agencies was then, and may even now prove to be, one 



of the obstacles to small holdings. At the present day the small 



cultivator can, if he has money enough, buy chemical manures, and, 



unlike his Elizabethan ancestor, he no longer uses his straw or the 



dung of his cattle as fuel. But when chemical manures were 



unknown, it was imperatively necessary to employ all natural 



fertilisers. Fitzherbert does indeed deplore the disappearance of 



the practice of marling. ^ But Tusser does not mention the value 



1 Arthur Standish, writing in 1611, says that straw and dung were used 

 as fuel {The Covimons Complaint, p. 2), and Markham (Enrichment of the 

 Weald of Kent) shows the antiquity of the practice of marling by saying that 

 trees of 200 or 300 years old may be seen in " innumerable " spent marl-pits. 



