8 Rents, Wages, and Profits in Agriculture 



i.e., furrowlong and the breadth one-tenth 

 of a furlong. The origin of these propor- 

 tions is interesting : the furlong was forty 

 rods in length, and a rod was 5J yards. 

 The ploughing was done by a large 

 plough drawn by eight oxen, and the rod 

 is supposed to be the breadth of the full 

 yoke with four abreast. With such a 

 heavy plough it was natural to have the 

 furrow as long as possible, but it was 

 considered unlucky to go beyond forty in 

 any measure, and so the furrowlong or 

 furlong was only forty of these rods. 



These details illustrate the force of 

 custom in all matters pertaining to land. 

 For these long acres survived centuries 

 after their meaning had been forgotten, 

 and to this day in England we have farms 

 consisting of scattered acres owing to the 

 survivals of this system. In fact, it was 

 the observation of these scattered holdings 



