A Short History of English Agriculture

by W. H. R. Curtler

By the day, except in harvest, a common labourer from Easter to Michaelmas was to have 2d. with food and drink, 4d. without; and from Michaelmas to Easter 1¹/₂d. with food and drink, and 3d. without. In harvest:—

A mower, with food, 4d. a day; without, 6d.
A reaper, with food, 3d. a day; without, 5d.
A carter, with food, 3d.; without, 5d.
Other labourers, with food, 2¹/₂d.; without, 4¹/₂d.
Women, with food, 2¹/₂d.; without, 4¹/₂d.

FOOTNOTES:

[205] Booke of Husbandry (ed. 1568), fol. 5. The surveyor of Fitzherbert's day combined some of the duties of the modern bailiff and land agent: he bought and sold for his employer, valued his property, and supervised the rents.

[206] Booke of Husbandry (ed. 1568), fol. vi.

[207] Ibid. fol. xv.

[208] Booke of Husbandry (ed. 1568), fol. xxix.

[209] Fitzherbert adds pigs and all manner of cornes, so altogether the farmer's wife seems to have done as much as the farmer.

[210] Sir Jas. E. Smith, English Flora, iv. 241.

[211] History of Kent (ed. 1778), i. 123.