154 Rents, Wages, and Profits in Agriculture 



In the mediaeval period the yield of wheat 

 was only about eight bushels an acre, and 

 one-third of the arable land was always 

 fallow, and another third was devoted to 

 barley for beer, and to other grain or beans 

 for cattle and horses. Accordingly, a typical 

 virgate or yard-land of thirty acres would 

 yield ten quarters of wheat. Of this one- 

 fourth would be required for seed, so that 

 allowing one quarter per head of popula- 

 tion (the estimate of Rogers when wheat is 

 the principal food), and taking five to a 

 family, we may say that of the wheat 

 produced, after the requirements of the 

 cultivators were met, only about one-fourth 

 remained as a surplus available for a 

 non-agricultural population. 



Some of the holdings were, of course, 

 much smaller, and the surplus (if any) 

 would be still less ; but on the other 

 hand, the demesne land of the lord of 



