86 AN AGRICULTURAL FAGGOT. 



3 lbs. of best seconds flour ..... 



1 oz. of German yeast ...... 



2 teaspoonfuls of salt mixed with the yeast ] 

 i£ pints of tepid water . . . J • sa y 



Total 



The resultant quantity of dough weighed 4 lbs. 12 ozs. 

 This, when made into two loaves of bread baked and 

 brought out of the oven and set two or three hours to 

 cool, weighed 4 lb. 3 ozs., but when made into one loaf 

 only it weighed 4 lbs. 6 ozs. The flour from which this 

 bread was made cost 6s. 6d. per bushel, delivered at the 

 house by the corn dealer. This would be 32s. 6d. per 

 sack of five bushels of 280 lbs. weight at a time when the 

 average price of foreign and home wheat ranged from 

 about 34s. to 36s. per quarter. The flour presumably 

 was composed of about two parts of foreign and one part 

 of home-grown wheat. The baker would probably get 

 it at about 28s. 6d. per sack, or, if he paid within seven 

 days, at a net price of say 27s. gd. 



The cost of this home-made 4-lb. loaf of bread, supposing 

 it to have weighed only 4 lbs. and not 4 lbs. 6 ozs., was 

 4§^., or say $d. The baker who, according to custom, 

 allows 5s. per sack, or is. per bushel, to cover all expenses, 

 including the cost of yeast, making, baking, delivering, 

 etc., would produce the 4-lb. loaf quite \d., if not id. 

 cheaper, or say at <\d., whereas he was at that time 

 charging 5^. for it. He would, therefore, have been 

 making a profit of nearly i\d. upon every 4-lb. loaf, or 

 something like 27 per cent. 



The case as regards wheat and bread is obviously 

 capable of being presented in more detail than that with 

 regard to any other commodity, one reason being that 

 in this instance we have an official record of prices to 

 work from. It is not so easy in respect to other produce 

 to obtain an idea, except very generally, of the margin 

 between the price paid to the producer and that paid 



