193 ON THE PRICE OF GRAItf. 



price of wheat ranging from 48^. to 36^., and name considerable 

 sales, but after consideration, I concluded that it was better to omit 

 these from the average. The average price of barley in the Oxford 

 market is 151. 2d. t at Theydon 14^. gd., while malt is 15^. ^d. at 

 Cambridge, 19*. 4</. at Eton, and ifj. nd. at Oxford in the rent. 

 The average at Oxford market is 17.?. 2\d. y and at Theydon, where 

 dated returns are given, i^s. ^d. The Cambridge and Oxford 

 Colleges fail to supply me with the prices of oats, but the Oxford 

 market averages are given from February to September, at 13^. 2\d. t 

 and Theydon has dated purchases from December to May at an 

 unchanged price of 125. Oatmeal is cheap. Beans and peas are 

 rather above the natural average, Oxford and the market giving the 

 former at 17^. nj</., and the latter, from Oxford market and Theydon, 

 at an average of iSs. %\d. t the price being nearly the same at each 

 place. The year was abundant. 



1620-1. Prices are slightly lower than last year. At Cambridge 

 the average of the corn rents is 2is. &d., that of the bakehouse pur- 

 chases rather higher, 2is. >j%d., the quantity being 356 qrs. 7 bshs., 

 the price 385 is. %d. At Eton the average is 29-$-., at Oxford 27^. 

 for the corn rents, 235-. $d. for the monthly averages of the market. 

 But the Oxford prices are exalted in some degree towards the end of 

 the year by a considerable rise which takes place in the autumn, as 

 may be seen in the second All Souls entry, and in the last two of the 

 Oxford assise. The single entry at Theydon I have not included in 

 my averages. There must be some mistake in the year, or most likely 

 in the figures, in the original, for such a price is impossible in the April 

 of this agricultural year, since in all other localities, some of which are 

 near enough to Theydon, April is the cheapest time of the year. 

 Barley is cheap, and malt is lower this year than it was in the previous 

 year, us. io\d. At Eton, malt is 17^. ^d. The Oxford malt rent is 

 on an average, i^s. 2\d., the market average 14^. id., while the 

 Theydon entries are at 14^. %\d. Oats again are very cheap, the 

 monthly average of Oxford market being us. i%d., and this grain 

 being even cheaper at Biggin, Cambridge, and Theydon. Oatmeal is 

 cheap. Beans are cheap at Cambridge, 14^. 5J</., rather dearer at 

 Theydon and Oxford, where the purchases are made in winter, and 

 fairly cheap on an average in Oxford market, where however .winter 

 prices are as high or nearly as high as the rate paid at Corpus Christi 

 College, Oxford, and at Theydon. 



1621-2. Wheat is much dearer, the price rising rapidly towards 

 the summer, though the rise is less discernible in Cambridge and 



