Notes (3. i). 129 



of the plough-head, and on the other end to the right-hand hale.' ' In the Middle 

 Ages,' says Prof. Rogers, ' it appears that this part was made of iron', and that it 

 was occasionally double.* We must remember XiiaX. plough-Juad means the share- 

 beam. 



(8). ' The shelboard [Le. shield-board], a board of more than an inch thick, 

 covering the right side of the plough, and fastened with two strong wooden pins 

 to the skeath and right-hand hale.' 



(9). 'The coulter, a long piece of iron made sharp at one end, passing on one 

 side by a mortise-hole through the beam, and held in place by an iron ring which 

 winds round the beam and strengthens it.' Fitzherbert's description is slightly 

 different ; see 1. 48. The use of the coulter is to make the first incision into the 

 earth ; it precedes the share, which follows it and completes its work. 



(10). 'The share. If this be needed for a mixed earth, it is made without a 

 wing, or with a small one only : if, however, it be needed for a deep or stiflF 

 clay, it should be made with a large wing or an outer point.' 



(11). ^ The plough-foot. This is an iron implement, passed through a mortise- 

 hole, and fastened at the farther end of the beam by a wedge or two, so that the 

 husbandman may at his discretion set it higher or lower ; the use being to give 

 the plough earth or to put it from the earth, for the more it is driven downward 

 the more it raises the beam from the ground and makes the irons forsake the earth, 

 and the more it is driven upward, the more it lets down the beam and makes the 

 irons bite the ground.' Fitzherbert well describes it as ' a stay to order of what 

 deepness the plough shall go. ' The word ploughfote occurs in Piers Plowman, 

 B. vi. 105 ; see my notes to that poem, vol. iv. p. 161. This part of the plough 

 was also called a plough-shoe (in Latin, ferripedalis) ; see Rogers (as above), 

 p. 538. In a modem plough, the plough-foot is generally replaced by small 

 wheels. I may remark that it was placed in front, before the coulter. 



If we compare the preceding account with that given by Fitzherbert, we shall 

 see that the two nearly agree. Fitzherbert's plough-beam, plcugh-sheath, and 

 plough-tail are Xos. i, 2, and 3 above ; his stilt, rest, and shieldboard are Nos. 

 6. 7, and 8; his rough staves, plough-foot, share, and coulter, are Nos. 5, 11, 10, 

 and 9. But he has three additional terms, \iz. the sharebeam, which is the 

 wooden frame for the share, and is called by Markham the plough-head (No. 4). 

 Secondly, Xht fen-board, Le. mud-board, covering the left side of the plough, and 

 fastened to the left of the sheath and the left hale, much as the shield-board is 

 fastened to the right of the sheath and the right hale. Lastly, the plough-ear, 

 defined as 'three pieces of iron, nailed fast to the right side of the plough- 

 beam,' for which poor men substituted 'a crooked piece of wood pinned fast 

 to the plough-beam.' What was the use of this appendage we are not expressly 

 told ; but it seems to have been used for festening the trace to, for draught ; 

 see 4. 34. 



Fitzherbert also notices the plough-mal, i.e. plough-mall or plough -mallet 

 (I- 55)> which seems to have consisted of a head of hard wood and a 'pjmne,' or 

 handle, and to have been loosely stuck into the plough-beam by passing the 

 handle through ' an augurs bore,' i.e. through a hole bored in the beam by an 

 augur for this especial purpose. This was no real part of the plough, but only 

 a tool conveniently kept at hand. He does not, however, mention the plough- 

 staff (or akerstaff), which was ' a pole shod with a flat iron, the purpose of which 



