Its Customs. 105 



enclosure. The mention of " liayes " in early Anglo-Saxon 

 cliarters and deeds refers generally to forest enclosures, wliicli 

 were merely game preserves. The most primitive form of 

 early English fence was composed of forked boughs thrust into 

 the ground at those intervals where posts would now be in- 

 serted. On the forks, long straight saplings were tied by means 

 of withes, so that all nails and mortices were dispensed with. 

 In other districts the fences were no doubt composed of mud 

 and straw, much the same as a Galloway dyke ; or of coarse 

 rubble, like a modern dry stone wall. Even in these primitive 

 days, the principle of emblements was recognised, for the 

 holder of twenty hides of land had to leave twelve sown for 

 his successor. 



Horses seem never to have been used in husbandry; but old 

 illustrations show teams of four oxen dragging the plough, 

 and sometimes even eight, the latter probably representing a 

 feudal service to the lord. The rough drawings in the Cotton 

 MS. and the needlework illustrations of the Bayeux tapestry 

 are valuable adjuncts to the written evidence of these times, 

 though the absence of a harrow in the former and the presence 

 of it in the latter should not lead us to draw any erroneous 

 distinctions between Saxon and Norman methods of pulveriz- 

 ing the soil. The representation of rustic labour for each 

 month in the Cotton MSS. is very interesting, and attracts a 

 careful observer's attention to a few pecuHarities, such as the 

 plough beetle, still used m Tusser's age ; the curious shape of 

 the spade, with its haft and handle at one side, instead of the 

 centre ; the reapers working to the accompaniment of music, 

 and under armed surveillance, the harvest, even allowing for 

 the subsequent alteration of the calendar, commencing so early 

 as June ; the absence of any intermediate stage between 

 cutting and carting ; the felling of timber in July, while the 

 sap is running strongly ; the use of handcarts in preference 

 to those drawn by oxen ; and the pruning of fruit trees and 

 possibly vines. But we cannot rely on the accuracy of such 

 rude scribblings, nor can any practical conclusions be drawn 

 from them. 



