Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-10-19
The Medieval English Farmer.

Both horses and oxen were used on
the land; wheat, barley, oats, rye and
beans and peas were grown. The me-
1ieyai farmer was entirely dependent
IN his hay and straw for the winter
keep of his stock, for there were no
winter roots, and the hay was only the
produce of native grasses, artificial
grasses being unknown for three hun
1red years longer. Cattle and sheep
were fattened in summer and killed ut
its close and their flesh sailed for
winter use; for few could be kept i'm
condition, save at great expense,
through the winter months. The old
song of Summer is y-cumin in"
meant much more in those days than il
does in ours; the return of spring and
summer meant a return 10 fresh meat
and fresh vegetable diet. Onions, gar
lie and mustard were grown, but the
profusion of garden produce of the
present day was quite unknown, and
food, though abundant, was coarse and
wanting in variety. Prof. Rogers has
noted only one instance of the purchase
Of quarter of pound of ''cabeche"
seed in l45S, by Kings College, Cam
bridge, Mt the enormous rate of four
shillingS per pound, and this was prob
ably an experiment. The cultivation
Of the hop was introduced from the low
countries early in the sixteenth century,
and somewhat later sheep-farming be-
gan to take the place of agriculture,
and was subject of complaint and of
legislation. ''Thc practice appears tc
have arisen from two cause.-the de-
liciency of capital, owing to the general
impoverishment of the country. and
the high prices of wool" In 1882
some ilockmasters had 10000. 5000 OF
5000 sheep, and it was enacted that in
future no one should have more than
1000. Wheat and rye from the
Baltic were imported in quantity
sufficient to- attract the notice of
the Legislature, so that the English
farmer was exposed TO competition in
corn while he had the practical monop-
oily OF the wool market. As a conse
quence land was laid down in grass.
and vast Enclosures were made from the
common field; and it was this practice.
and the injury done to the poor by de-
priving them of their curtilages, thai
were the chief cause of Ket's rebellion
in l549, which is remarkable as being
the last attempt which English labor
ers have made to secure what they be.
lieved to be justice by force of arms. =
Poultry and geese were everywhere
reared, and must have been very wei
come luXuries in winter. The price
was low, a capon or goose averaging
4d. during the fifteenth century. Ii
should be noted, though the remark is q
trite one, that low money value by nc
means indicates cheapness, Which is
relative to prices then current, and car
not be compared with the prices of to-
day. The purchasing power of money
in the fifteenth century was extremely
great. The average price of an OK was
lSs.; of n good saddle-horse 55s.; while
wheat averaged Us. I'D, and oats Is.
Id. a quarter; but the wages of an
ordinary laborer were barely 4d. a Jav,
and the rent of arabic land did not ex.
seed cd. an acre. The yield was very
IF the present day-and it may be put
DOWN that the average yield of wheat
was not over bushels to the acre.
When, in 1914, the debasement of the
coinage begun, a notable but variable
rise was effected in every commodity
but one, the exception being glass, the
manufacture of which had been greatly
improved. Taking the average price
Of the first 140 years IS unity, the rise
in the price of provisions was 2.71, but
The price of labor rose only / 90, a diff.
ference which sufficiently explains the
evil times thatfell on the peasant. The
golden era was past.
From the epoch of Henry's death.
the degradation of the English laboreI
begins. For near.y three centuries the
artisan suffered with the peasant; that
is, as long as the combination laws i'm.
peded the creation of those labor part
nerships which we call trade unions.
But the condition of the farm laborei
has gone on from bad to worse, has be.
come more hopeless. The best and
most capable of them have fed from
their traditional occupation, and at the
time at which am writing (lSS1), as
foresaw when wrote the last words oi
my first volume, sixteen years ago, the
agricultural problem in England is moi
the adjustment of local burdens, or the
arbitration of rent, or the revival O,
confidence in those who put capital into
land; but it is assurtdly the recall O;
the agricultural laborer to effective and
hopeful industry. 1t issa striking ilIus.
tration of the fact that economical his
tory has no break in its chain of causes.
but that we areSstill engaged with .
problem which had its remote but Ger.
tain beginning in the wantonness OF
Henry Will, and in the rapacity of thai
aristOcratic carmarilla of adventurer,
which be planted round the throne O,
bis infant son. "-LoRdon Spectator,