HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



The manor was almost entirely self-sufficing ; of necessity, for 

 towns were few and distant, and the roads to them bad. Each 

 would have its smith, millwright, thatcher, &c., paid generally 

 in kind for their services. There was little trade with the 

 outside world, except for salt an invaluable article when meat 

 had to be salted down every autumn for winter use, since there 

 were no roots to keep the cattle on and iron for some of the 

 implements. Nearly everything was made in the village. 



The mediaeval system of tillage was compulsory ; even the 

 freeholders could not manage their plots as they wished, 

 because all the soil of the township formed one whole and was 

 managed by the entire village. Even the lord 2 had to conform 

 to the customs of the community. Any other system than 

 this, which must have been galling to the more enterprising, 

 was impossible, for as the various holdings lay in unfenced 

 strips all over the great common fields, individual initiative was 



1 Chevage, poll money, paid to the lord. 



2 Vinogradoff, Villeinage in England, p. 230. 



