14 
LandmarJis in British Fm’ming, 
called, says Pineda, because the farmer always thinks it less 
than it ought to be. 
Considering that no winter keep was grown, the proportion 
of arable land was in excess of the grass. But the rough 
pasture must be taken into account. With his arable land, 
each tenant was entitled to a proportion of meadow and pasture. 
Thus, at Aston Boges, in Oxfordshire, in 1557, each complete 
tenancy consisted of 27 acres of arable land, 7^ to 8^ acres of 
mowing ground, and pasture rights for 8 oxen, or 4 horses, and 
32 sheep. At Rothwell, in Northamptonshire, in 1 797, the parish 
contained 3,000 acres. Six hundred acres consisted of enclosures 
near the village ; 1,800 acres were thrown into three distinct 
fields of arable land, each field consisting of 600 acres; 600 
acres were devoted to grass land. Each holding, or yardland, of 
which there were eighty, consisted of 30 acres; 22^ acres were 
arable ; 2| acres were meadow. In only two respects had the 
condition of the soil altered since the twelfth century. There 
were no labour services due to the lord of the manor, and the 
keep for stock allotted with each holding had increased. 
Formerly, it was two oxen, a cow, and six sheep ; now it was 4^ 
head of cattle and 24 sheep. Similar instances in the eighteenth 
century might be quoted for nearly eveiy parish in England. 
Few horses were employed on the farm. Oxen were less 
expensive to keep — in summer they required no hay or oats ; 
in winter they would eat straw. Horse-harness was a per- 
petual rent- charge on the farm, and an expensive initial outlay. 
The yokes, bows, and chains of ox-teams cost less, and more 
rarely needed repair. The slow, steady draught of oxen was 
less liable to pull the plough to pieces against roots or stones. 
Oxen are not subject to a variety of diseases which attack horses ; 
they require to be shod only on the forefeet ; if they fall lame 
they are ready for fatting. And last, but not least, they could 
not be impressed for martial purposes, whether by the king or 
the manorial lord. 
The best art of mediaeval farming differed from modern 
times by its deficiencies. The land was ill-drained ; the working 
of the soil was shallow ; the crops were few and unvaried ; a 
third of the land lay fallow; the manures employed were limited 
to the droppings of sheep and cattle, lime, marl, and sheep- 
dressing. As a science, agriculture was scarcely known outside 
the walls of monasteries. The monks alone knew Latin, and 
could read Cato or Columella. Palladius’s treatise on agriculture 
was in the library of Christ Church, Canterbury, in the thirteenth 
century, and the monks of Glastonbury employed Johannes de 
Bruges to make a copy of the book for their use. An early 
