The manor land was ploughed twice, but half the arable remained fallow. When harvest was over pigs and geese were turned into the stubble. The means of supporting the stock in winter depended upon the supply of hay, for there were no root crops. The rest of the stock had to be killed down for salting on St. Martin's day (November 11). In the garden and orchard were apples and pears, damsons, cherries, currants, strawberries, kitchen herbs, onions and leeks, mustard, peas and beans, and cabbage. Crab apples were collected to make verjuice. We are informed of the commissions John Paston {122} received from his wife, in her numerous letters. Besides weapons of offence and defence she writes for ginger and almonds and sugar, also for frieze for their growing child with a note of the best and cheapest shop. Next she wants two dozen trenchers, syrup, quince preserve, oil for salads. As regards luggage John Paston writes to his brother, who was at an inn--the sign of the 'George' in Paul's Wharf--to put up in the mail his tawny gown furred with black, the doublet of purple satin, the doublet of black satin, and his writing box of cypress. These commissions give a little insight into the domestic arrangements of the time. But for a complete outfit of one of the lesser gentry equipped for war we must read over the contents of Mr. Payn's luggage, robbed from him by Jack Cade and his rabble at the sign of the 'White Hart' near London Bridge. There was a fine gown of mixed grey woollen cloth trimmed with fine beavers. A pair of 'bregandyns,' which were coats of leather or cotton quilted, having small iron plates sewn over them; also leg harness. A bluish grey gown furred with martens. Two gowns furred with budge (lamb skin). Lastly, a gown lined with frieze. But the greatest loss was a set of Milan harness (armour). They forced Mr. Payn into the battle on London Bridge, where he was wounded; and robbed his wife in Kent of all but kirtle and smock. Those were exciting times, and luggage was not always safe, but on the whole they were times of plenty. The fifteenth century was the golden age of the labourer. At no time were wages relatively so high. The people ate wheaten bread, drank barley beer, and had plenty of cheap, though perhaps coarse, meat at a farthing a pound (equal to 3_d._ now). If a labourer had to undertake a journey, there were houses as well as {123} monasteries where doles were given to all wayfarers. The cottages of the poor were built of wattle and daub, but skilled labourers were fed at the table of the lord of the manor below the salt; and some of them lodged in the out-buildings. It is said that scurvy, in a virulent form, was a common disorder; as all the poor, except the numerous class of poachers, had to live on salt meat for six months, onions and cabbages being the only esculents. But the prevalence of this disorder has been exaggerated.