158 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



crop this time two fingers' breadths deeper, with broad and close 

 furrows. Without being acquainted with the laws of chemistry 

 these men knew by experience that the ground, when lying fallow 

 and open, absorbed valuable ingredients from the rain and the air. 



After the winter crop was harvested, the land was thrown open 

 for grazing, until the next crop was to be put in. This stubble 

 pasture amounted to more than might seem, for to say nothing of 

 the green baulks of turf, which in one estate were estimated to 

 amount to eighty acres, it was the custom, in reaping the grain, 

 only to clip off the ears, leaving the straw standing ; then to 

 cut whatever straw was needed for thatching and other purposes, 

 after which the cattle were turned into the field to feed upon the 

 remainder. The next spring the summer crop was sown, and again, 

 after this was harvested, the cattle were allowed to pasture upon the 

 stubble until the following spring, when the plowing of the fallow 

 commenced the preparation of the ground for the winter crop. 



The plowing was usually done with 'oxen, commonly t eight to 

 a team. Horses were used, but their labor was more expensive ; 

 moreover, with the imperfect drainage of the time, the labor of 

 horses was not considered so well suited to heavy, muddy land. 

 A writer of the fourteenth century recommends using a pair of 

 horses with a team of oxen, as being quite as efficient except in 

 rocky land, and a good deal more economical. 



The yield was small. This same writer speaks of a threefold 

 yield as something unusual, but as certainly not remunerative. 

 Allowing to the acre two bushels of seed, at I2d., and reckoning 

 the three plowings at i8d., the harrowing at I d., weeding at I qr., 

 reaping at 5 d., and teaming at 1 d., a yield of six bushels, he says, 

 will be a dead loss of 3qr., unless some profit can be made out of 

 the straw. This statement is corroborated by the statistics collected 

 by Professor J. H. T. Rogers, in his " History of Agriculture and 

 Prices." For seed, two bushels of wheat and rye go to the acre; 

 four of barley and oats ; and the yield ranged from twice to 

 eight times the seed, that is, from four to sixteen bushels of 

 wheat, and the other crops at about the same proportion. 



I have spoken chiefly of agriculture in England, that being the 

 country in regard to which we have the best information. It would 



