ON THE PRICE OF FARM PRODUCE. 361 



purchased in the combs, as in 1473, J 479 5 anc ^ r 49 2 a * Oxford. 

 Once at Selborne, 1451, it is designated ' pure.' In one place, 

 Berdfield Manor, 1461, 1500, it is sold by the 'bolle,' which 

 appears to be, from its value, much the same as the gallon. In 

 the aggregate, there is but little variation in the price, the aver- 

 age being is. i\d. till the last decade, when the entry of a small 

 quantity from Hunstanton in 1532 greatly raises the average. 

 In the same year two barrels at Durham are printed in error as 

 gallons. Only one entry has been found after 1540. In 1574 

 half a gallon was bought at Harling and Mendham at 3^-. ^d. 



Nineteen entries have been made of honey by the barrel 

 (most of these being from Sion and Durham) before 1540. 

 But it is plain that the barrel means a very different quantity 

 in the years 1489, 1492, 1499, an< ^ J 5 2I J fr m that which 

 is implied in other years. An average of the fifteen entries 

 gives 29-r. ^d. for the barrel. That of three of the others, for it 

 is almost impracticable to extract a price from the Cambridge 

 entry of 1489, is 12.?. $d. There are also three entries of 

 honey by the firkin, in 1530 at Sion, in 1533 at Lewes, and in 

 1535 at Sion. These give an average of a little over 7.$-. 8</. 

 the firkin, and would represent an average of 30^. 8aT. the barrel. 

 The barrel of honey was defined, supra, p. 207, to contain 32 

 gallons. One entry has been found at Cambridge in the later 

 period, a ' barrel' being priced at los. in 1543. 



Bee-keeping was probably practised very generally by all 

 classes, and especially by the poor. The price of the produce 

 during the first part of the present period scarcely varies from 

 that of the latter part of the period commented on in the first 

 volumes, when the average was is. id. When the price of 

 honey is compared with other saccharine matters, it is singu- 

 larly low. Entries of the price of beehives will be found among 

 sundry articles; in 1472, 1521, 1522, and 1524 art 4^., in 1487 

 and 1518 at 3^., in 1530 at a little over 3^., in 1515 at $\d., 

 in 1527 at $d. In 1532 Sion buys two and a-half dozen of 

 these articles for 9^. 



CIDER AND FRUIT. In my first volumes I was able to give 



