208 WiSCOIfSTN STATE AGBIOULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
quantities of swine — always the principal animal food in rural 
communities. The great oak and beach forests of England 
afforded sustenance for great herds of these. Their capabilities 
were carefully examined and recorded, and in every manor the 
woods are given as of fifty or a hundred or five hundred swine. 
The cattle of all kinds were smaH; the average weight of oxen 
purchased for the royal navy, in 1547, was 430 pounds; and this is 
no doubt about the average of the earlier centuries. The weight of 
a fleece of wool was rarely over ten pounds. The dairy was 
also an important branch of industry, both for cheese and butter. 
It is a curious fact that butter, usually sold by the gallon, was con¬ 
siderably cheaper than lard and other animal fats, so much so, as to 
be used for greasing wheels and similar purposes. The cause of 
this relative cheapuess must have been that the cattle were so small 
and ill-kept that they could not supply sufficient fat even for the 
needs of the farm. 
The common beverages were cider — proving a considerable de¬ 
gree of attention paid to the orchard — and beer, which, as hops 
-were not cultivated until a later period, must have been thin and 
quickly soured. One is surprised to find, not only in England, 
but in various parts of the continent in nearly the same latitude, 
frequent mention made of vineyards, and the production of wine 
in districts where now grapes will hardly grow. This appears to 
have been the result of a desperate effort to overcome the obstacles 
of nature, and make English soil yield French products; for there 
is no evidence that the seasons have become more severe since that 
time. I find it mentioned, for example, that in the winter of 1363-4, 
the most intense cold continued from December 7 to March 19; 
and even in the south of France wine is said to have frozen upon 
the table before it could be drunk — a statement which I for one 
■will never believe. No doubt the “ vineyards ” in England at this 
period grew in great part out of the difficulty of transportation, 
and the meagerness of international trade, being merely designed 
to furnish wine for the necessary services of the church. It must 
be observed, however, that the price of the native wine does not 
indicate a quality so very inferior to the imported. 
Before the introduction of cane sugar, honey was an important 
and valuable product. It was not only the only sweetening mater¬ 
ial used in antiquity and the Middle Ages, but out of it was made a 
