247] ENCLOSURE FOR SHEEP PASTURE gi 



it to decline even more. Fitzherbert, who deplores the fact 

 that marl is no longer used in his time, points out that not 

 only the leaseholder, who is averse to making improvements 

 on account of the insecurity of his tenure, but the freeholder, 

 also, is neglecting his land ; although 



He knoweth well, he shall take the profits while he liueth, & 

 his heyres after him, a corrage to improw his owne, the which 

 is as good as and he purchased as much as the improwment 

 cometh to.^ 



But if he spent money on marling the soil, he would have 

 nothing to live on while waiting for the crop, ^he very pov- 

 erty of the small holders made it necessary for them to sink 

 in still greater poverty, until the lord deprived them of the 

 land, or until they became so discouraged that they gave it 

 up of their own volition."^ They might easily understand 

 the force of Fitzherbert's arguments without being able to 

 follow his advice. " Marie mendeth all manor of grounde, 

 but it is costly." ^ The same thing is true of manure. Ac- 

 cording to Denton, the expense of composting land was 

 almost equivalent to the value of the fee simple of the 

 ground. He refers to a record of the early fourteenth cent- 

 ury of the payment of more than twice the ordinary rent 

 for composted land.^ With manure at high prices, the man 

 in difficulty might be tempted to sell what he had ; it was 

 certainly out of the question for him to buy more. Or, 

 what amounted to the same thing, he might sell hay or 

 straw, and so reduce the forage for his cattle, and return 

 less to the soil by means of their dung. 



Dr. Simkhovitch points out the difference between the 



^ Surveyinge, ch. 28. 



a Ibid., ch. 32. 



• Denton, England in the Fifteenth Century, p. 150. 



