54 THE ENCLOSURES IN ENGLAND [210 



return for seed sown was only three-fold ^ is an indication 

 that the normal yield must have been at this time at least 

 three- fold, or six bushels, so that the extremely low yield of 

 the year 1208- 1209 can hardly be considered typical. This 

 examination of the yield in the three seasons shown in the 

 table gives these results : at the beginning of the thirteenth 

 century the average yield was probably about six bushels 

 and certainly not more than ten; at the beginning of the 

 fourteenth century the average was less than nine bushels — 

 how much less, whether more or less than six bushels, is not 

 known — ^at the end of the fourteenth century the yield was 

 about six bushels. 



TABLE IV 



Acreage Planted with Grains on the Manors of the Bishopric of 



Winchester 2 



Wheat Mancorn and Rye Barley 



1208- 1209 S108 492 1500 



129^1300 2410 175 800 



The yield of the soil in single seasons at widely separated 

 intervals is a piece of information of little value for our pur- 

 pose. These tables reveal other facts of greater significance. 

 The yield for the year gives almost no information about the 

 normal yield over a series of years, but the area planted de- 

 pends very largely upon that yield. The farmer knows that 

 it will pay, on the average, to sow a certain number of acres,* 

 and the area under cultivation is not subject to violent 

 fluctuations, as is the crop reaped. The area sown in any 

 season is representative of the period ; the crop reaped may 



1 Op. cit., p. 19. 



2Gras, op. cit, appendix A. These figures are given only for the 

 manors for which the acreage planted in both periods is known — 25 

 in the case of wheat, 4 in the case of the other grains. 



