232 ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 



the only two counties which have supplied information about this 

 grain. 



1433-4. The range of information is south, midland, and east. 

 Prices have fallen generally, but are higher in mid and east England 

 than elsewhere. The highest amount reached is at Hornchurch. 

 Heyford (Nov. i) is high, and Oxford is similarly high. On the other 

 hand, Alton Barnes (Wilts) is low. The highest Cambridge price of 

 wheat is 6s. 8d. towards the end of the year. Barley fairly corre- 

 sponds to wheat. Rye, of which there are three entries, is above the 

 proportion. Drage is in its proper relation to barley. Oats have 

 fallen, but the average is higher than the price of meal would suggest. 

 The only price of malt is that from Cambridge, from which there are 

 numerous entries. It corresponds to that of barley. Beans, peas, 

 and vetches are not abnormal. The harvest must have been a good 

 average. 



1434-5. The evidence is derived from the south, east, and midland 

 shires. The average price of wheat is lower than in the previous 

 year, and the rate in the east, though fluctuating and uncertain, as 

 might be anticipated in cheap years, is a little higher, Cambridge 

 excepted, than elsewhere. The greatest price is at Hornchurch. 

 The Heyford entry, of the date often mentioned above, is low. 

 Barley, the principal entries of which come from the eastern counties, 

 is very cheap, and was evidently a very abundant harvest. The 

 quality too, judging from the price of malt (3^. in Cambridge, 3^. gd. 

 at Ormesby), must have been good. Oats fall to the price at which 

 they stood eight years before, and the quality is indicated by the low 

 price of meal. Rye corresponds to the price of wheat. There is no 

 entry of beans, vetches, and pulse, but merely of cattle peas. The 

 price of these is low. 



T 435 6. The range of prices is wide, and the information dis- 

 tributed. Wheat is at an average price. But all other kinds of grain 

 are very cheap. Barley, malt, and oats are lower than at any time 

 in the century, even in districts such as Sussex, where they are 

 generally dear. Some of the sales too are large. Rye is also 

 relatively cheap, the proportion in which it stands to wheat corre- 

 sponding closely with that of the past year. There is nothing to 

 comment on in the few entries of beans, peas, pulse, and vetches, the 

 price of which is also low. Oatmeal is cheap. 



1436-7. The information is plentiful and wide-spread. The year 

 begins with low prices, the Heyford entry being 4*. Gradually, how- 

 ever, the price of wheat rises, the forecast or reality of the crop of 



