154 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



cause of this relative cheapness must have been that the cattle 

 were so small and ill-kept that they could not supply sufficient 

 fat even for the needs of the farm. 



The common beverages * were cider (proving a considerable 

 degree of attention paid to the orchard) and beer (which, as 

 hops were not cultivated until a later period, must have been thin 

 and quickly soured). One is surprised to find, not only in England 

 but in various parts of the Continent in nearly the same latitude, 

 frequent mention made of vineyards, and the production of wine 

 in districts where now grapes will hardly grow. This appears to 

 have been the result of a desperate effort to overcome the obstacles 

 of nature and make English soil yield French products, for 

 there is no evidence that the seasons have become more severe 

 since that time. I find it mentioned, for example, that in the 

 winter of 1 363-1 364 the most intense cold continued from 

 December 7 to March 19 ; and even in the south of France 

 wine is said to have frozen upon the table before it could be 

 drunk a statement which I for one will never believe. No 

 doubt the " vineyards " in England at this period grew in great 

 part out of the difficulty of transportation, and the meagerness of 

 international trade, being merely designed to furnish wine for 

 the necessary services of the church. It must be observed, how- 

 ever, that the price of the native wine does not indicate a quality 

 so very inferior to the imported. 



Before the introduction of cane sugar, honey was an important 

 and valuable product. It was not only the only sweetening ma- 

 terial used in antiquity and the Middle Ages, but out of it was 

 made a favorite drink, mead. Bee-tending was, therefore, a con- 

 siderable branch of rural economy, and not only for the honey, 

 but also for the wax. Candles were almost exclusively employed 

 for artificial light ; and while the poorer classes made use of 

 tallow, the richer classes would have nothing but wax (sperm 

 came in with the whale fisheries of modern times, and stearine 

 and similar materials are purely the outgrowth of modern manu- 

 factures). Moreover, as in the case of wine, wax candles were 

 essential for the services of the church another reason for the 

 great attention given to bees. 



