50 THE ENCLOSURES IN ENGLAND [206 



They used what manure they had and marled the soil when 

 they had the time and could afford it, but, as the centuries 

 passed, the virgin richness of the soil was exhausted and 

 crops diminished. 



The only crops which are a matter of statistical record 

 are those raised on the demesne land of those manors man- 

 aged for their owners by bailiffs who made reports of the 

 number of acres sown and the size of the harvest. These 

 crops were probably greater than those reaped from average 

 land, as it is reasonable to suppose that the demesne land 

 was superior to that held by villains in the first place, and as 

 it received better care, having the benefit of the sheep fold 

 and of such stall manure as could be collected. Even if it 

 were possible to form an accurate estimate of the average 

 yield of demesne land, then, we should have an over-esti- 

 mate for the average yield of ordinary common-field land. 

 No accurate estimate of the average yield even of demesne 

 land can be made, however, on the basis of the few entries 

 regarding the yield of land which have been printed. Varia- 

 tions in yield from season to season and from manor to 

 manor in the same season are so great that nothing can be 

 inferred as to the general average in any one season, nor as 

 to the comparative productivity in different periods, from 

 the materials at hand. For instance, at Downton, one of the 

 Winchester manors, the average yield of wheat between 1346 

 and 1353 was 6.5 bushels per acre, but this average includes 

 a yield of 3.5 bushels in 1347 and one of 14 bushels in 1352,^ 

 showing that no single year gives a fair indication of the 

 average yield of the period. For the most part the data 

 available apply to areas too small and to periods too brief 

 to give more than the general impression that the yield of 

 land was very low. 



1 Levett and Ballard, The Black Death, p. 216. 



