234 THE SYSTEM OF FAKM-YAKD MANURING. 



as also the official reports to the Emperor (specimen 

 breuiarii reruin fiscalium Caroli Magni\ sent in by 

 inspectors expressly appointed to survey those estates, 

 are irrefragable proofs that there was then no agricul- 

 ture worth the name. Very little is said in the ffapitu- 

 lare about the cultivation of corn, with the exception 

 of millet. It is reported in the Breviarium, that at 

 Stefanswerth (a domain of the Emperor), comprising 

 740 acres (jurnales) of arable land and meadow, capa- 

 ble of supplying 600 cartloads of hay, the commissioners 

 found no corn in store, but on the other hand a large 

 number of cattle, 27 sickles great and small, and only 

 seven broad hoes, to till 740 acres of land ! 



Upon another estate were found 80 baskets of last 

 year's spelt, equivalent to 400 Ibs. of flour (=H bushel, 

 or somewhat more than 3 hectolitres), 90 baskets of 

 spelt of the current year, from which 450 Ibs. of flour 

 could be made. On the other hand, there were 330 

 hams ! 



The crop or stock upon another domain amounted 

 to 20 baskets of spelt (=100 Ibs. of flour) of the preced- 

 ing year, and 30 baskets of spelt, of which one was used 

 for seed. 



It is easy to see that in those days the breeding of 

 cattle was the chief object, and that the cultivation of 

 corn occupied a very subordinate position in husbandry.* 

 A deed of the period shortly after Charlemagne says 

 on this point : ' Every year, three yokes of land upon 

 an estate ' should be ploughed and sown with seed fur- 

 nished by the lord of the manor. (See ' die Getreide- 

 Arten und das Brod von Freih. von Bibra.' Nurem- 

 berg: Schmid. 1860.) 



Hence we possess not a single trustworthy proof that 

 any one field in Germany or France (perhaps we may 

 make an exception in favour of Italy) has served for 

 the cultivation of corn from the time of Charlemagne 

 to our own age ; and the argument for the inexhausti- 



* It is worthy of remark that Charlemagne introduced, upon his 

 estates, the three-field system, with which he had become acquainted in 

 Italy. 



