Zhc niMbMe aoc0. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE DISPOSAL OF FARM PRODUCE IN MARKETS, FAIRS, AND 



ABROAD. 



As long as tlie custom of boon and weekly predial services 

 was general, the farm was practically independent of the shop. 

 The woods supplied the materials for agricultural imple- 

 ments, and the villeins themselves performed the crafts of car- 

 penter, wheelwright, smith, brander, and wontner. For these 

 services special portions of the land were set apart for their 

 occupancy, a most necessary bait in times when the towns 

 were beginning to attract every individual belonging to the 

 artificer class. The national feeling was opposed to the office 

 of middle-man, so that every tradesman was generally supplied 

 with materials and paid for his labour by day or piece work. 

 Beside the arable fields lay the hams, or stinted pastures; and 

 the still existent names of Brandersham, Smithsham, and 

 Wontnersham imply that these special allotments of superior 

 pasturage were set apart for artificers of the above description.^ 

 These people probably performed the work of more than one 

 village, travelling to and fro as occasion for employment 

 offered itself. The farm, therefore, produced most of the 

 necessaries of life. For the linen, which every housewife knew 

 how to spin, flax was cultivated. Hemp was grown for rope, a 

 material which had now replaced the Saxon usage of twisted 

 willows for plough harness. 



The chief external wants up to this period were salt, ob- 

 tained from the southern coast or Droitwich, for preserving the 



^ Protliero, Pioneers of English Farming, c. 1, page G. 



225 f\ 



