This statute was a useful one, so also was 21 Hen.  VIII, c. 8, which forbade for three years the killing of calves between January 1 and May 1, under a penalty of 6s. 8d., because so many had been killed by ‘covetous persons’ that the cattle of the country were dwindling in number.  Others, however, were merely meddlesome, and directed against that unpopular man the dealer.  For instance, owners refusing to sell cattle at assessed prices were to answer first in the Star Chamber (25 Hen.  VIII, c. 1); and by 3 and 4 Edw.  VI, c. 19, no cattle were to be bought but in open fair or market, and not to be resold then alive, though a man might buy cattle anywhere for his own use.  No person, again, was to resell cattle within five weeks after he bought them (5 Edw.  VI, c. 14); and a common drover had by the same Act to have a licence from three justices before he could buy and sell cattle.  We may be sure that these laws were more honoured in the breach than in the observance, as they deserved to be.

Hops were said to have been introduced from the Low Countries about the middle of Henry VIII’s reign; but there can be no doubt that this is a mistake.  It has been mentioned that they flourished in the gardens of Edward I, and a distinguished authority[210] says the hop may with probability be reckoned a native of Britain; but it was first used as a salad or vegetable for the table, the young sprouts having the flavour of asparagus and coming earlier.  Hasted, the historian of Kent, states[211] that a petition was presented to Parliament against the hop plant in 1428 wherein it was called a ‘wicked weed’.  Harrison says, ’Hops in time past were plentiful in this land, afterwards their maintenance did cease, and now (cir. 1580) being revived where are anie better to be found?’[212] Even then growers had to face foreign competition, as the customs accounts prove that considerable quantities were imported into England.  In 1482 a cwt. was sold for 8s. and 1 cwt. 21 lb. for 19s. 6d., an early example of that fluctuation in price which has long characterized them.[213] Their average price about this time seems to have been 14s. 1/2d. a cwt.

During the Tudor period the number of day labourers increased, largely owing to the enclosures having deprived the small holder and commoner of their land and rights.  But judging by the statutes those paid yearly and boarded in the farm house were still most numerous.

In 1495 the hours of labourers were first regulated by law.  The statute II Hen.  VII, c. 22, says that 23 Hen.  VI, c. 12,[214] was insufficiently observed; and besides increasing wages slightly set forth the following hours for work on the farm:  the labourer was to be at his work from the middle of March to the middle of September before 5 a.m., and have half an hour for breakfast and an hour and a half for dinner and sleep, when sleep was allowed, that is from the middle of May to the middle of August; when sleep was not allowed, an hour for dinner and half an hour for his nonemete or lunch; and he was to work till between 7 and 8 p.m.  During the rest of the year he was to work from daylight to dark.  The attempt to regulate hours, which seem fair and reasonable, no doubt met with better success than that to regulate wages, for 6 Hen.  VIII, c. 3 (1514), says the previous statutes had been very much disregarded, and sets down the rates once more:—­