ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. H)J 



year the price is moderate. The highest quotation is in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London, where sales are made at i is. in June. Barley 

 is generally affected by the rise. Oats vary in price, but are not 

 so high in proportion as wheat. Rye is fully relative to wheat prices. 

 Beans, &c. are powerfully but not fully affected. 



1315. The evidence for this year is abundant and precise, ex- 

 tending from Northumberland to the south of the Thames, and from 

 Glamorganshire to Cambridge. In most of the accounts, too, the 

 sales are dated, so that it is possible to trace the course of the 

 markets. It is the first year of the great famine. The price of 

 wheat, either in consequence of actual scarcity in the year before, 

 or by anticipation of a total failure of the crop in the present year, 

 was generally but not universally high. And it appears that for some 

 time after such a crop as was gathered had been housed the extent 

 of the calamity was not known. At any rate, it seems that the price 

 though high was not excessive till some time after Christmas. Seed 

 was bought at full and increasing rates, but still at prices to which 

 parallel could be found in past years. Thus in South Wales, Oxford- 

 shire, and the neighbourhood of London, the rate during the winter 

 months was as low as >js. 4^., and did not exceed IQS. In Cambridge, 

 on the other hand, seed-wheat was dearer than has been known 

 before during the autumn, unless we are to conclude that the corn 

 in this place was spring-sown. About the beginning of February the 

 real state of affairs becomes manifest, and the true famine commences. 

 It is to be observed that the phenomenon is universal, although the 

 highest actual price recorded is at Letherhead, where a sale was 

 effected at 26s. 8d. The average deduced from the whole year there- 

 fore fails to give a true impression of the scarcity, because the amount 

 is lowered by the comparatively low rate of the seed sales. In most 

 places a slight reduction takes place towards the summer, though this 

 is by no means a uniform event. As might be expected, the quan- 

 tities brought to market are small, the largest amount sold being 

 quoted from Wheteley in Notts. It is to be observed also, that in 

 some places the quantity which could be sold must have been, to 

 judge from the comparative price of barley, exhausted early. Barley 

 is proportionately higher than wheat, a fact which may be accounted 

 for by reason of the rise having taken full effect in the spring, when 

 seed would be sold, the winter purchases having been effected at 

 lower rates. Drage fully participates in the rise. Some oats are 

 sold at low rates, but the February market affects them also, and 

 seed-oats are exceedingly dear. Rye almost reaches the price of 



