On his appointment he must make himself acquainted with the condition of the manorial ploughs and plough teams. He must see that the land is properly arranged, whether on the three-field or the two-field system. If it be divided into _three parts_, 180 acres should go to each carucate, viz. 60 acres to be ploughed in winter, 60 in Lent, and 60 in summer for fallow. If in _two parts_, there should be 160 acres to the carucate, half for fallow, half for winter and Lent sowing, _i.e._ 80 acres in each of the two 'fields.' [p048] Besides the manorial ploughs and plough teams he must know also how many tenant or villein ploughs (_carucæ adjutrices_) there are, and how often they are bound to aid the lord in each manor. He is also to inquire as to the stock in each manor, whereof an inventory indented is to be drawn up between him and the serjeant; and as to any deficiency of beasts, which he is at once to make good with the lord's consent. «The _præpositus_.» The seneschal thus had jurisdiction over all the manors of the lord. But each single manor should have its own _præpositus_. The best husbandman is to be elected by the _villata_, or body of tenants, as _præpositus_, and he is to be responsible for the cultivation of the arable land. He must see that the ploughs are yoked early in the morning--both the demesne and the villein ploughs--and that the land is properly ploughed (_pure et conjunctim_) and sown. He is a villein tenant, and acts on behalf of the villeins, but he is overlooked by the lord's bailiff. «The bailiff.» The _bailiff's_[45] duties are stated to be--To rise early and have the ploughs yoked, then walk in the fields to see that all is right. He is to inspect the ploughs, whether those of the demesne or the villein or auxiliary ploughs, seeing that they be not unyoked before their day's work ends, failing which he will be called to account. At sowing-time the bailiff, _præpositus_, and reaper must go with the ploughs through the whole day's work until they have completed their proper quantity of ploughing for the day, [p049] which is to be measured, and if the ploughmen have made any errors or defaults, and can make no excuses, the reaper is to see that such faults do not go uncorrected and unpunished. Such is the picture, given by Fleta, of the manorial machine at work grinding through its daily labour on the days set apart for service on the lord's demesne. The other side of the picture, the work of the _villani_ for themselves on other days, the yoking of their oxen in the common plough team, and the ploughing and sowing of their own scattered strips; whether this was arranged with equal regard to rigid custom, or whether in Fleta's time the co-operation had become to some extent broken up, so that each villein tenant made his own arrangements by contract with his fellows, or otherwise--this inferior side of the picture is left undrawn.