the milch cows were fed in winter. Clayton himself declares that some of the planters furnished their live stock with corn in the morning, which he considered to be a mistake, because it made them indisposed to browse upon the trees. Allusions to “foddering” the cattle are not infrequent in the depositions entered in the records of the county courts.
Clayton, writing in 1688, states that at this time the price of a cow and call was fifty shillings, their size not being taken into consideration in the purchase, and the county records show that he was substantially correct.[1] In 1690, the value of four cows in Elizabeth City County was placed at forty shillings apiece;[2] this was also the value of those owned by John Carter of Lancaster.[3] In the following year a cow, five years of age, was appraised in York at thirty-five shillings. In 1682, three were appraised in Henrico at one hundred and five, or thirty-five apiece. A heifer, three years of age, was valued in the same county at twenty shillings, and a yearling in Elizabeth City at fifteen.[4] In 1698, cows were valued in Middlesex at forty shillings.[5] Bulls were appraised at this time at a uniformly low figure. In Henrico one, which was two years old, was valued at ten shillings, and another; three years old, at twelve. In Elizabeth City, in 1690, the young animal was appraised at twenty. In York, in 1686, a bull, one year of age, was valued at ten shillings, and another, four years of age, at twenty-one. In 1693, in the same county, a bull, probably of the same
- ↑ Clayton’s Virginia, p. 35, Force’s Historical Tracts, vol. III.
- ↑ Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 278.
- ↑ Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 33.
- ↑ Records of Henrico County, original vol. 1697-1704, p. 137; Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 278, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1608-1713, pp. 8, 13.
