CHAPTER XII. 



ON THE PRICE OF FARM PRODUCE. 



I HAVE already commented on the price of corn, stock, hay, 

 straw and wool. But there are other agricultural products to 

 which I must now direct my readers' attention, though I cannot 

 promise such abundant information as I was able to supply in 

 my previous volumes. There is enough, however, on which to 

 construct some inferences, especially as to the rise in prices to- 

 wards the latter part of the period. In this part of my enquiry 

 the purchaser takes the place of the producer ; and, while it is 

 pretty clear that only the best qualities are represented in the 

 articles which are priced, the measures are various, the evidence 

 is broken, and the interpretation of the facts is sometimes 

 obscure. I shall deal with the various articles separately. 



CHEESE, BUTTER, AND EGGS. It has not been possible 

 to construct unbroken decennial periods for any of these articles, 

 even for the last, the evidence for which was so abundant in the 

 earlier period. But scanty as the facts are, they are sufficient 

 for certain, and those the most important, inferences. 



Eggs are, as in the earlier period, generally bought and sold 

 by the long hundred of 120. I have been able to find enough 

 evidence to construct decennial averages, calculated to two 

 places i of decimals in pence for eggs during the first 140 years. 

 This calculation gives 6s. id. for the hundred during this period, 

 the price being constantly exalted during the last forty years, 

 owing of course to purchases. It is highly probable that most 

 people, and particularly the managers of colleges and monasteries, 



