202, ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 



1326. The information is very wide. Prices of wheat are very 

 low, especially in the summer, falling in many places to 2s. 8d. As 

 before, the Welsh prices are the highest. At Hamslap in Bucks a 

 large quantity of wheat is sold at 2s. ^d. At Clare the whole crop, 

 as far as it went to market, is disposed of at 3^. 4^. Barley, however, 

 is not quite so low. The sales of this grain from Elham are very 

 large, and the general fall in the market is clearly distinguished by 

 the dates of the transactions, upwards of 400 quarters having been 

 sold from this estate. Oats participate in the general fall, high prices 

 being found in very few places only, and generally for unimportant 

 quantities. Rye is also cheap. Beans and vetches are rather dear, 

 but peas are cheap. 



1327. The information, as far as the localities can be determined, 

 is chiefly confined to the east and south of England. The price of 

 wheat commences with the low rates of the previous year, but it 

 gradually rises as the summer comes on, the turning-point, according 

 to the accounts, being at or about the beginning of April. But the 

 highest price touched in any locality is 6s. Barley is decidedly 

 cheap, never reaching a higher rate than %s. at Elham, where the 

 largest sales are made. Malt, however, is rather dear. Oats are 

 cheap, the apparently high prices at Evesham, Hynton, Leicester, 

 and Melton Mowbray being innkeepers' charges. Rye follows the 

 average. Beans, &c. are also proportionate. 



1328. The evidence is abundant and wide. A very considerable 

 rise in wheat is established, the increase being steady from the winter. 

 The largest price is found at Boveshull, a manor the locality of which 

 is not determined, though it is certainly near Hereford, where 9^. 6d. 

 is touched in August. Prices, however, are rather lower in the 

 midland and Welsh counties; prices being for once considerably 

 cheaper on the whole in the Principality. The rise in barley is 

 commensurate, and is very traceable in the Elham sales, which, 

 however, are very large, amounting to upwards of 375 quarters. 

 Here the rise is almost uninterrupted. Oats are also dear, though 

 apparently of very variable quality. Rye is quoted seldom, and does 

 not rise to the height of wheat. Beans are scarce and dear. Peas 

 and vetches are fully relative to general prices. 



1329. The evidence, though not quite so extensive, is of the same 

 character with that of the year before. The Cuxham prices commence 

 with 8j., and though a fall is established in the spring, the rate gra- 

 dually increases till it reaches 7^. by July. The highest rates, however, 

 are found in Herefordshire and South Wales. The advance, too, is 



