EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY. 457 



It might be expected that the price of salt would vary greatly 

 in consequence of the cost of carriage. I will not anticipate in 

 the present chapter such inferences on the cost of conveying 

 goods over known distances as will be made below, but will 

 only say that, taking the first instance given in vol. ii. p. 600, 

 and estimating the quarter of wheat to weigh about 4 cwts., 

 which is probably understating it, a ton weight at the rate 

 given in that time would be carried at about i\d. a mile. 

 There are, 1 suppose, very few places in England which are 

 more than 80 miles from the sea, or more than 50 from some * 

 navigable river. Now the carriage by water was, as might be 

 expected, much less than that by land. Such a calculation 

 would give 8s. ^d. in money of the time as the price at which 

 a ton of dry goods could be carried to the most inland parts of 

 the country. Taking the weight of the bushel of salt at 

 1 30 Ibs., it seems that it could be carried the farthest distance 

 conceivable at about 5^., and over the greater part of England 

 for less than half that sum. And as the purchases of salt were 

 generally made towards the end of the summer, at which time 

 the roads would naturally be in the best condition for carriage, 

 the cost of transmission might be even less. It is possible, 

 too, that salt was hawked about by retail dealers. Still, though 

 I make no doubt that the charge for this service is much less 

 than would be anticipated, it must have added notably to the 

 cost of an article which was so low-priced during a great 

 portion at least of the period before us. At the same time, 

 it will be remembered, as the evidence is very copious, and 

 derived from many localities, that the increased cost at inland 

 places is compensated by the lower rates of those which were 

 near the coast, and that the entries so far correct each other as 

 to leave no doubt that the averages obtained represent the 

 ordinary rate at which this necessary of life was generally 

 procured over England. 



I cannot undertake to say that salt was not manufactured 

 from brine springs. There is not much information derived 

 from either Worcestershire or Cheshire, so that I cannot assert 



