But a far stronger reason existed for the discontinuance of the parochial stocks for employing the poor. The necessities of the war made enormous demands upon the able-bodied males of the population. The Parliamentary army was recruited from the men above the age of sixteen and below the age of sixty. An attempt has been made to make a rough estimate of the proportion of Hertfordshire men drawn away by the war. If in 1642 the population of Hertfordshire was about one-sixth of that of the present time it would amount to about 36,000 men, women and children, and this would mean about 9,000 men of an age fit for active service. But in the summer of 1644 apparently between four and five thousand Hertfordshire men were serving in the Parliamentary army and others with the Royalists, so that a large portion of the work of the country would necessarily have to be done by women, old men and boys[664]. [664] A. Kingston, _Herts. during the Great Civil War_, p. 182. This calculation is very rough, but it probably approximates to the truth. We hear from the complaints of the time that much inconvenience was felt. In 1644 the Grand Jury of Hertford Quarter Sessions beg that "in regard their harvest is at hand and their labourers few to gather it, some part of their soldiers ... may be for a while recalled to assist herein." The Committee of the Eastern counties about the same time write that they have promised that some of the Hertfordshire men shall return "considering the necessity of their attendance upon their harvest[665]." [665] _Ib._, pp. 54 and 55. The drain on the supply of labourers might not have been so great in all districts and at all times, but it must have been considerable; the problem to be solved would therefore be to find workmen and not to find work. The difficulty of getting men is indicated by the fact that the Parliamentary army offered two and sixpence a day to a waggoner instead of the shilling or one and threepence usual before the war[666]. All who were not altogether incapable could get employment, and there would therefore be no need for the parochial stocks of materials. [666] _Ib._, p. 187. [Sidenote: 4. State of poor relief after the Restoration.]