Historical queries
Gilgamesh
I live in the village of Wombourne, on the extreme edge of the West
Midlands conurbation. Every year, the local Parish Council holds an
"archives exhibition". One of the exhibits in 1999 was an old tithe map,
and that set me thinking "What did Wombourne really look like a millennium
ago - or at any other time before we have maps?". Well, I suppose that
it's impossible to tell with any degree of confidence, but some things can
reasonably be deduced. Most of the field boundaries are straight, but they
seem to fall into 3 groups with reverse-S shaped outer boundaries. From
what I have been able to gather, these may well be the open fields after
being broken up at the time of the enclosures, although the reverse-S
shape, according to the only available book, is not fully explained - it
occurs in areas which were ploughed by oxen.
Most of the land lies at the edges of what I take to be the flood plains
of the Wom brook and river Swin. Although this flood plain is unlikely to
have been worked as formal flood meadows (I've walked the relevant lengths
of each & I can't see any evidence for flood works), they may well have
been informal flood meadows.
One local manor house (C14th if I read the documents aright) is called the
Wodehouse - pronounced woodhouse, and normally attributed to being named
from its position in the woods.
Blakeley (?black lea?) is alternatively known as Wombourne Common.
Windmill Bank (a steepish bank up from the village center) is surely
self-explanatory, as is Mill Lane, down to the Wom (or Wam Bourne -
?winding stream?)
The maps show at least 6 mills, on what are quite small streams.
The Bratch - the name indicates enclosed waste (not woodland, though) and
Bratch Common - a part hilly, part marshy area.
Can you suggest any sources which would assist me in developing an initial
hypothesis as to how the village might have functioned in (say) 1200 CE -
amongst other things :
1) The working life of an ox - how old before it could be used to plough,
how long it could continue doing so.
2) The recruitment percentage of sheep, and the number of years a ewe could
reasonably be expected to keep breeding.
3) Would it be possible for a sow to produce more than one litter a yar on
the available foods? How many piglets are likely to be reared?
4) Is it reasonable to assume spring calving?
5) Fallow fields. Does this relate to bare fallowing, ploughing every few
weeks as soon as a weed crop has established itself, or merely to leaving
the ground untilled?
6) When did the mould-board plough enter general use in the midlands?
There's more - for a start :-)
7) The annual slaughter. This looks more complex than the books suggest.
i) Oxen. Slaughter takes place immediately on finishing the ploughing -
you don't need a full team to harrow, drill etc.
ii) Sheep. Crone ewes, overage tups and unwanted gimmers and ram lambs to
be slaughtered about at the point where they would start to lose condition
from grazing unimproved common land - if not before (you don't want them
competing with the pregnant ewes, after all.)
iii) Pigs. Superannuated breeding sows and boars, and unwanted
youngsters - slaughter immediately the pannage finishes.
iv) Calves. Likely to be failing by Sept / Oct if wholly or largely milk
fed. No point in keeping them on any longer unless needed as replacements.
v) Barren cows. Should you try to keep them in milk to cover the period
when they are the only ones not dried off before
calving.) If fodder gets short, then they'll be the first ones to go, along
with any ewes that are patently not in lamb.
In any case, I would have thought that you would want to consume at least
the offal from each animal (and the butchering and beginning the
preservation of each carcass) before killing the next.
Is there anyone who is working on this sort of stuff - any good web sites
etc? I'd be very interested to know.
--
May glorious Shamash make his face to shine upon you
Gilgamesh of Uruk
(Include Enkidu in the subject line to avoid the spam trap)
swroot
[-]
> Can you suggest any sources which would assist me in developing an initial
> hypothesis as to how the village might have functioned in (say) 1200 CE -
> amongst other things :
> 1) The working life of an ox - how old before it could be used to plough,
> how long it could continue doing so.
>
> 2) The recruitment percentage of sheep, and the number of years a ewe could
> reasonably be expected to keep breeding.
> 3) Would it be possible for a sow to produce more than one litter a yar on
> the available foods? How many piglets are likely to be reared?
> 4) Is it reasonable to assume spring calving?
> 5) Fallow fields. Does this relate to bare fallowing, ploughing every few
> weeks as soon as a weed crop has established itself, or merely to leaving
> the ground untilled?
> 6) When did the mould-board plough enter general use in the midlands?
>
> There's more - for a start :-)
> 7) The annual slaughter. This looks more complex than the books suggest.
Which books?
> i) Oxen. Slaughter takes place immediately on finishing the ploughing -
> you don't need a full team to harrow, drill etc.
> ii) Sheep. Crone ewes, overage tups and unwanted gimmers and ram lambs to
> be slaughtered about at the point where they would start to lose condition
> from grazing unimproved common land - if not before (you don't want them
> competing with the pregnant ewes, after all.)
> iii) Pigs. Superannuated breeding sows and boars, and unwanted
> youngsters - slaughter immediately the pannage finishes.
Are you certain pannage continued in your area? Pigs are very
destructive of woodland, which became a valuable resource in its own
right.
> iv) Calves. Likely to be failing by Sept / Oct if wholly or largely milk
> fed. No point in keeping them on any longer unless needed as replacements.
> v) Barren cows. Should you try to keep them in milk to cover the period
> when they are the only ones not dried off before
> calving.) If fodder gets short, then they'll be the first ones to go, along
> with any ewes that are patently not in lamb.
>
> In any case, I would have thought that you would want to consume at least
> the offal from each animal (and the butchering and beginning the
> preservation of each carcass) before killing the next.
Not necessarily a problem if several families work together to
kill/butcher the animal, sharing the subsequent offal.
> Is there anyone who is working on this sort of stuff - any good web sites
> etc? I'd be very interested to know.
Many people are working on various aspects of this sort of thing. Some
useful contacts (if you haven't tried them already)
+ County Archaeology Department. Often excruciatingly busy and
underfunded, so be patient, for they may have factual information about
your area (such as finds of butchered bones from local excavations) and
may be able to suggest academics/historians working on this topic.
+ County Records Office. For documents and maps of your area in the
past. WIlls, deeds, land titles, court judgements, etc all provide
information about who held what lands, what tools, what animals and
where. Maps will allow you to plot this information on the ground.
+ Local History Societies. Other people with similar interests to help
you find resources/refine your ideas, etc.
Visit a good University library or bookshop. 'The Countryside of
Medieval England' Astill and Grant, eds, Blackwell 1988 touches on many
of the topics you've asked about, and cites papers which you may find
useful. You will need access to journals, where you can find articles by
people investigating similar situations who may be amenable to
discussing details and research techniques with you.
regards
sarah
--
when the gates are all down, and the signals are flashing
the whistle is screaming in vain
and you stay on the tracks, ignoring the facts
well you can't blame the wreck on the train. Don McLean
David G. Bell
<1fpwd10.rt0abbi72idqN%swr...@farm-direct.co.uk>
swr...@farm-direct.co.uk "swroot" wrote:
> Gilgamesh <GILG...@uruk.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> [-]
>
> > Can you suggest any sources which would assist me in developing an initial
> > hypothesis as to how the village might have functioned in (say) 1200 CE -
> > amongst other things :
>
> Visit a good University library or bookshop. 'The Countryside of
> Medieval England' Astill and Grant, eds, Blackwell 1988 touches on many
> of the topics you've asked about, and cites papers which you may find
> useful. You will need access to journals, where you can find articles by
> people investigating similar situations who may be amenable to
> discussing details and research techniques with you.
Many of the local authority Library services now have their book
catalogues on the internet, which is always worth a check. Over the
years I've been able to read some quite obscure books via inter-library
loan.
For buying academic books on the net, my brother swears by Blackwells,
but he has the advantage of them using the university's internal mail
service to deliver to him.
I understand it's not too difficult to get access to a university
library. Local history societies will know about this, and possibly the
local WEA.
--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
"Let me get this straight. You're the KGB's core AI, but you're afraid
of a copyright infringement lawsuit over your translator semiotics?"
From "Lobsters" by Charles Stross.
Linda Sutherland
from db...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk ("David G. Bell") contains these words:
> Many of the local authority Library services now have their book
> catalogues on the internet, which is always worth a check. Over the
> years I've been able to read some quite obscure books via inter-library
> loan.
Some of the bigger databases (offering one-stop searching of several
libraries' catalogues) are listed on
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/tarristi/libstuff.htm
(look in the "Bibliographic databases" and "Libraries online" sections).
--
Linda Sutherland
linda.su...@zetnet.co.uk
Michael Saunby
"swroot" <swr...@farm-direct.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1fpwd10.rt0abbi72idqN%swr...@farm-direct.co.uk...
> Gilgamesh <GILG...@uruk.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Many people are working on various aspects of this sort of thing. Some
> useful contacts (if you haven't tried them already)
>
> + County Archaeology Department. Often excruciatingly busy and
> underfunded, so be patient, for they may have factual information about
> your area (such as finds of butchered bones from local excavations) and
> may be able to suggest academics/historians working on this topic.
>
> + County Records Office. For documents and maps of your area in the
> past. WIlls, deeds, land titles, court judgements, etc all provide
> information about who held what lands, what tools, what animals and
> where. Maps will allow you to plot this information on the ground.
>
> + Local History Societies. Other people with similar interests to help
> you find resources/refine your ideas, etc.
>
> Visit a good University library or bookshop. 'The Countryside of
> Medieval England' Astill and Grant, eds, Blackwell 1988 touches on many
> of the topics you've asked about, and cites papers which you may find
> useful. You will need access to journals, where you can find articles by
> people investigating similar situations who may be amenable to
> discussing details and research techniques with you.
>
Another useful resource is - The Rural History Centre: "A national centre
in England for the study of the history of farming, food and the
countryside".
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/Instits/im/index.html
If you look at the research interests of the staff
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/Instits/im/the_centre/staff_research.html you'll see
that there's quite a bit of relevant expertise there.
Michael Saunby
Andrew
> etc? I'd be very interested to know.
There are piles of people working on this stuff!
You could do worse than look at the University of Birmingham's Centre
for Lifelong Learning website, for example:
http://www.cll.bham.ac.uk/localhist.htm.
I did a similar course a few years ago (not at Birmingham) and found it
an excellent introduction to practical skills such as field-walking,
surveying earth-works, vernacular buildings, etc. as well as using
resources such as County Record Offices. It also gets you access to
their library which is a Good Thing.
The British Agricultural History Society doesn't have a great deal of
stuff on the web; you can see what there is at http://www.bahs.org.uk.
Their journal is probably the one to read if you want to asnwer your
numbered questions on the detail of medieval/early modern farming.
The Society for Landscape Studies also has a website
http://www.landscapestudies.com/ and you can read some of their journal
contents.
Books:
The New Reading the Landscape: Fieldwork in Landscape History
Richard Muir 2000 University of Exeter Press ISBN: 0859895807
Interpreting the Landscape: Landscape Archaeology and Local History
Michael Aston (Yes, Mick off Time Team!) 1985 Routledge ISBN: 0415151406
An Illustrated History of the Countryside
Oliver Rackham 1997 Weidenfeld Nicolson ISBN: 184188104X
The Making of the English Landscape (Penguin History)
W.G. Hoskins 1999 Penguin Books ISBN: 0140154108
The last one's a bit old but an established classic.
Do think about one of those courses though. Not only do you learn
interesting things, you also get to meet interesting people and usually
visit interesting places.
<plug> Look at: http://www.uea.ac.uk/~k418/TusserIntro/Tusser.html which
will give you a fascinating insight into Tudor farming. :-) </plug>
swroot
> On Wednesday, in article
> <1fpwd10.rt0abbi72idqN%swr...@farm-direct.co.uk>
> swr...@farm-direct.co.uk "swroot" wrote:
>
> > Gilgamesh <GILG...@uruk.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> > [-]
> >
> > > Can you suggest any sources which would assist me in developing an
> > > initial hypothesis as to how the village might have functioned in
> > > (say) 1200 CE - amongst other things :
> >
> > Visit a good University library or bookshop. 'The Countryside of
> > Medieval England' Astill and Grant, eds, Blackwell 1988 touches on many
> > of the topics you've asked about, and cites papers which you may find
> > useful. You will need access to journals, where you can find articles by
> > people investigating similar situations who may be amenable to
> > discussing details and research techniques with you.
>
> Many of the local authority Library services now have their book
> catalogues on the internet, which is always worth a check. Over the
> years I've been able to read some quite obscure books via inter-library
> loan.
Although the last time I used IL-loan the librarian looked extremely
sad; the UKP3 charge for the service was derisory compared with the
UKP10-15 it cost to bring a book south from Coventry.
> For buying academic books on the net, my brother swears by Blackwells,
> but he has the advantage of them using the university's internal mail
> service to deliver to him.
Amazon.com has listed most of the books I've looked for, although only
when I search by title/author. Blackwells are good physical shops in the
sense that they're full of useful books. *Bad shops* when I consider the
effect on my bank account. On reflection that's probably my bad.
> I understand it's not too difficult to get access to a university
> library. Local history societies will know about this, and possibly the
> local WEA.
Some are easier than others; you may have to find a member in good
standing of the University to sign an application form and swear you're
an upstanding, honest fellow with legitimate interests in the contents
:-)
greymaus
>
The Domesday book was mostly East Anglia?.
Ewes age at retirement time would vary a lot, some would be past their
best at 5years, others would last on to 10, specially the 'unimproved'
breeds that were common that time.
AFAIK, the common land was tilled every three years, the two were to
build up fertility for the corn crop. By 1200AD, the fertility of
newly-cleared woodland would be well gone. Sheep grazing was an
important part of the rotation.
Given that there were no fertilizers, and tools were very basic,
farming was well done. Lime was used in France from early times, even
back to the Roman era. Excess use of lime would both make the land
alkaline, and run down the fertility.
The relative peace of England in the period after 1066 would have
helped a lot in developement.
--
greymaus;
Follow up, don't e-mail, my killfile is savage;
swroot
> On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 00:21:00 -0000 I read the message from Gilgamesh
> >
> The Domesday book was mostly East Anglia?.
No, the Domesday book covers almost all of England, although the quality
of the coverage is thought to vary greatly from place to place.
> Ewes age at retirement time would vary a lot, some would be past their
> best at 5years, others would last on to 10, specially the 'unimproved'
> breeds that were common that time.
>
> AFAIK, the common land was tilled every three years, the two were to
> build up fertility for the corn crop.
Normal rotation was one year fallow in every two or three, but some
areas the fallow was partially cropped, which resulted in land left
fallow every fourth year or even less frequently. In less fertile areas
longer fallows were utilised, the uncultivated ground being allowed to
revert to pasture.
> By 1200AD, the fertility of
> newly-cleared woodland would be well gone. Sheep grazing was an
> important part of the rotation.
>
> Given that there were no fertilizers, and tools were very basic,
> farming was well done. Lime was used in France from early times, even
> back to the Roman era. Excess use of lime would both make the land
> alkaline, and run down the fertility.
Not all areas were as productive as they could have been; as Dyer puts
it, 'Medieval arable farming must be judged to have performed patchily,
with only some areas of success'; he contrasts this with better yields
(in terms of weight of fleece/sheep, for example) from livestock farming
when compared with modern yields.
> The relative peace of England in the period after 1066 would have
> helped a lot in developement.
um. Relative peace is one way of putting it. A surprising proportion of
the land described in Domesday (1086) is described as greatly reduced in
value due to being laid waste in the Norman conquest. And it wasn't that
long before new wars broke out; ISTR Stephen and Matilda were at odds
from 1135-1153.
Jim Webster
> greymaus <gray...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 00:21:00 -0000 I read the message from Gilgamesh
> > >
> > The Domesday book was mostly East Anglia?.
>
> No, the Domesday book covers almost all of England, although the
quality
> of the coverage is thought to vary greatly from place to place.
in our area they stood on the other side of the bay and asked locals
there what they thought was going on on our side of the bay. They
actually admitted they never bothered crossing to check.
> > The relative peace of England in the period after 1066 would have
> > helped a lot in developement.
>
> um. Relative peace is one way of putting it. A surprising proportion
of
> the land described in Domesday (1086) is described as greatly reduced
in
> value due to being laid waste in the Norman conquest. And it wasn't
that
> long before new wars broke out; ISTR Stephen and Matilda were at odds
> from 1135-1153.
"when men said openly that God and his angels slept".
--
Jim Webster
"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"
'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'
greymaus
> No, the Domesday book covers almost all of England, although the quality
> of the coverage is thought to vary greatly from place to place.
Ta!
> Normal rotation was one year fallow in every two or three, but some
> areas the fallow was partially cropped, which resulted in land left
> fallow every fourth year or even less frequently. In less fertile areas
> longer fallows were utilised, the uncultivated ground being allowed to
> revert to pasture.
This period would be after the invention of the heavy plough?
> Not all areas were as productive as they could have been; as Dyer puts
> it, 'Medieval arable farming must be judged to have performed patchily,
> with only some areas of success'; he contrasts this with better yields
> (in terms of weight of fleece/sheep, for example) from livestock farming
> when compared with modern yields.
Well, wool would have been the main product of sheep, and as
Australasia proves, if sheep are bred for wool, they will produce it
at reduced feeding levels. I remember something about Merinos having a
45/1 food/wool ratio, at poor quality feed levels. The English wool
that time would have been 'lustrous' rather than 'fine'. I remember
shearing Lincoln sheep, and the shine off the wool would blind one on
a sunny day, wonder if any of them survive now, they had a reputation
for 'strong' mutton.
> long before new wars broke out; ISTR Stephen and Matilda were at odds
> from 1135-1153.
Well, compared to Ireland!, although Ireland had comparative peace
between 1200-1300.
Gilgamesh
was begun. I wanted to avoid relying on Domesday until I'd had a go at
working out how things could have worked - begin with a hypothesis, and then
test it.
--
May glorious Shamash make his face to shine upon you
Gilgamesh of Uruk
(Include Enkidu in the subject line to avoid the spam trap)
"greymaus" <gray...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:slrnb44529....@maus.org...
Andrew
>
> No, the Domesday book covers almost all of England, although the quality
> of the coverage is thought to vary greatly from place to place.
So-called "Little Domesday" covers Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex in one
volume - the rest of the country makes do with another volume. Perhaps
no-one had mentioned the degree of accuracy and valid data collection
required to the inspectors in the rest of the country. East Anglia
obviously complied with every little rule, filling in every form and
ticking every box, while the rest of the country did enough to keep the
King quiet any modern parallels?
> > Ewes age at retirement time would vary a lot, some would be past their
> > best at 5years, others would last on to 10, specially the 'unimproved'
> > breeds that were common that time.
> >
> > AFAIK, the common land was tilled every three years, the two were to
> > build up fertility for the corn crop.
>
> Normal rotation was one year fallow in every two or three, but some
> areas the fallow was partially cropped, which resulted in land left
> fallow every fourth year or even less frequently. In less fertile areas
> longer fallows were utilised, the uncultivated ground being allowed to
> revert to pasture.
"Common land" was most often not tilled at all but represented a
valuable grazing (and occassionally haymaking) resource, as well as
rights of gathering wood, timber, peat, etc. etc. Shortage of commonland
was a serious problem in some midland areas...
The midland open field system, where two, three or four open fields were
farmed co-operatively, was not universal. In East Anglia some vills had
seven, eight or nine open fields with consequently complex rotations,
and on the most fertile soils bare fallows had dissapeared by the 13th
or 14th century. Manorial court rolls show that farming, or at least
crop rotation, was actually very sophisticated in some areas.
Open fields had probably been around since mid-Saxon times and were
distinctly old hat, at least in some areas, by the 12th/13th century
> > By 1200AD, the fertility of newly-cleared woodland would be well
> > gone...
...especially since, over vast areas of the country, woodland clearance
was very extensive in the Bronze Age and essentially completed in the
Iron Age. In Saxon times, there was probably as much land in active
agricultural use as there is now, at least in some areas.
> > Sheep grazing was an important part of the rotation.
Critical for soil fertility: in East Anglia it was facilitated by the
foldcourse where sheep would be grazed on upland commons during the day
and folded at night on the open fields (usually those of the lord of the
manor since this was a manorial perk). Sheep were more valueable as
four-legged muck-spreaders than they were as producers of wool and meat
(OK, minor exaggeration perhaps).
> > Given that there were no fertilizers, and tools were very basic,
> > farming was well done. Lime was used in France from early times, even
> > back to the Roman era. Excess use of lime would both make the land
> > alkaline, and run down the fertility.
>
> Not all areas were as productive as they could have been; as Dyer puts
> it, 'Medieval arable farming must be judged to have performed patchily,
> with only some areas of success'; he contrasts this with better yields
> (in terms of weight of fleece/sheep, for example) from livestock farming
> when compared with modern yields.
What interests me is that, according to one school of thought, there was
little growth in agricultural productivity from the 13th century to the
early/mid 18th century... some questionable assumptions, but it's
interesting nonetheless.
> > The relative peace of England in the period after 1066 would have
> > helped a lot in developement.
>
> um. Relative peace is one way of putting it.
The Harrying of the North hasn't been forgotten everywhere, I'm sure!
(William I spent a good part of 1069 destroying the north country, but
they'd mended bits of it by the time the Domesday surveyors arrived.)
greymaus
>> when compared with modern yields.
>
> What interests me is that, according to one school of thought, there was
> little growth in agricultural productivity from the 13th century to the
> early/mid 18th century... some questionable assumptions, but it's
> interesting nonetheless.
>
I read somewhere that Jethro Tull's invention, after a few years of
favour, lost a lot of its appeal because it ran the fertility down
rapidly.
Jethro ,AFAIK, advocated sowing corn, etc, in rows so that the crop
could be weeded with ease.
swroot
> Actually, the main date I was looking at is 1151 - that's when the church
> was begun. I wanted to avoid relying on Domesday until I'd had a go at
> working out how things could have worked - begin with a hypothesis, and then
> test it.
You will have some difficulty finding records from that period
describing precisely what farmers did and when/how/why they did it. Even
the government/legal system relied primarily upon word-of-mouth and oral
evidence until the 1400s. One agricultural treatise _Gerefa_ is known
from the 11thC and another from the 13th, but these are not necessarily
good guides to what people were doing on the ground in your area at the
time the treatises were written.
What farmers did in their fields in your particular area at that time
was extremely unlikely to have been regarded as of sufficient importance
to warrant the use of skilled clerks and expensive paper. You will find
some records of crop/livestock production in accounts of tithes,
manorial records and such, but the first detailed assessments began c.
1200-1300. You should also note that records from northwestern England
are less plentiful and thought to be less accurate than those from the
southeast.
You may not have much other than Domesday to work from, regardless of
its accuracy in your area. You'd do best to talk to existing local
history societies about sources of information in your area, and learn
as much as possible about medieval agriculture from the periods for
which we have records before speculating on what occurred at an earlier
period.
swroot
> On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 22:39:17 +0000 I read the message from swroot
> >
> > No, the Domesday book covers almost all of England, although the quality
> > of the coverage is thought to vary greatly from place to place.
>
> Ta!
>
> > Normal rotation was one year fallow in every two or three, but some
> > areas the fallow was partially cropped, which resulted in land left
> > fallow every fourth year or even less frequently. In less fertile areas
> > longer fallows were utilised, the uncultivated ground being allowed to
> > revert to pasture.
>
> This period would be after the invention of the heavy plough?
Assuming by this you mean mouldboard ploughs, yes. Mouldboard ploughs
are seen in illustrations from the 11-12thC, and apparently there is an
Anglo-Saxon riddle that suggests they knew of ploughs that turned over
the soil.
FWIW all this information comes from Astill & Grant, which I mentioned
in my first reply to your post.
> > Not all areas were as productive as they could have been; as Dyer puts
> > it, 'Medieval arable farming must be judged to have performed patchily,
> > with only some areas of success'; he contrasts this with better yields
> > (in terms of weight of fleece/sheep, for example) from livestock farming
> > when compared with modern yields.
>
> Well, wool would have been the main product of sheep, and as
> Australasia proves, if sheep are bred for wool, they will produce it
> at reduced feeding levels. I remember something about Merinos having a
> 45/1 food/wool ratio, at poor quality feed levels. The English wool
> that time would have been 'lustrous' rather than 'fine'. I remember
> shearing Lincoln sheep, and the shine off the wool would blind one on
> a sunny day, wonder if any of them survive now, they had a reputation
> for 'strong' mutton.
>
>
> > long before new wars broke out; ISTR Stephen and Matilda were at odds
> > from 1135-1153.
>
> Well, compared to Ireland!, although Ireland had comparative peace
> between 1200-1300.
yes, well. Peaceful compared to Ireland may not have meant much to those
embroiled in the English conflicts :-)
Michelle Fulton
>
> I read somewhere that Jethro Tull's invention, after a few years of
> favour, lost a lot of its appeal because it ran the fertility down
> rapidly.
What did Jethro Tull invent (who was he?)? Of course I'm a fan of the band,
but never knew who their namesake was.
M
Oz
>What did Jethro Tull invent (who was he?)? Of course I'm a fan of the band,
>but never knew who their namesake was.
Without wishing to bore you, the seed drill.
Apparently he believed some 'new-age-like' plant growing philosophy
about plants needing to breath through their roots (well, the do to an
extent) but his device was so useful it was taken up rapidly.
When I started farming cereals were drilled in 7" rows, which derive
directly from jethroe's drill, set so you could run a 6" horse hoe down
the rows.
--
Oz
This post is worth absolutely nothing and is probably fallacious.
Note: soon (maybe already) only posts via despammed.com will be accepted.
Gilgamesh
the use of row-crops combined with the horse-hoe (plus hand-hoeing &
singling, of course) as cleaning crops. Of course it facilitates this is you
drill rather than broadcasting.
--
May glorious Shamash make his face to shine upon you
Gilgamesh of Uruk
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