ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 243 



College buys at i6s. i\d. It must be remembered however that 

 Houghton's are, as he assures us, the highest prices of the market, and 

 marketable oats vary in quality more than any other kind of grain. 

 At Reading they are at 19^. id., which may be compared with 201. 

 at Eton. At Newbury they are at 2OJ., which may be compared with 

 the same price at Hurley in the same county, and with the price paid 

 at Winchester. The highest average for the year is at Newmarket, 

 22s. ; the lowest Pembroke, >js. $\d. Rye is in certain localities very 

 dear, as at Gloucester 44*., Maxfield (Sussex) 42^., where it is only a 

 little lower than wheat, and Reading 40^. 8d. In London the average 

 is 3U. o|</. The variations in the six districts correspond closely to 

 those of wheat, but it is relatively dearer in the North. 



The three kinds of leguminous plants do not share to the same 

 extent in the general rise. Beans are dearest in the South-west, 

 grey and white peas in the Southern markets. The highest quotation 

 of beans is at Taunton, 32^.; next to it is Reading, 30^. 6d. ; next 

 Oxford, 2gs. The price in London is 24^., at Cambridge 24^. nj</. 

 The King's College account gives a declining price, 28^., during the 

 last three quarters of the agricultural year. Beans are cheapest 

 (i6s. Sd.) at Carlisle. The highest price of grey peas is at Falmouth, 

 39-r. 6d., the lowest at Carlisle, 13*. 4</., the price in London being 

 2(>s. io\d. The highest price of white peas is at Rumford, 481. They 

 are 44*. at Appleby, 41*. +d. at Falmouth, 35^. id. in London. The 

 high price of peas at Falmouth is explained by the fact that they 

 always formed an important part of a ship's stores. 



1693-4. This year is the worst in Houghton's series. In my own 

 collections, it is the worst since 1661. But though the price of wheat 

 is everywhere high, it is far higher in the Thames valley, the home 

 district, than it is in other markets. The fluctuations too in this district 

 are exceedingly numerous, a change of price occurring sometimes nearly 

 every week. Thus at Brentford there are thirty-seven different prices 

 through the year, at Kingston-on-Thames forty-five, in London twenty- 

 eight. The rise begins early in October, when the disappointing 

 character of the harvest is generally learnt, and the highest prices of the 

 year are obtained as a rule towards the end of the first and during the 

 whole of the second quarter, though the fall is only slight up to the point 

 in which the harvest of 1694 seems assured. The highest average is 

 that of Brentford, 711. 1 1 \d. ; the next Kingston, 68j. i id.\ and after 

 this Wycombe, 67*. icd. The London average is 6os. 4\d. The 

 highest price registered is about Lady Day at Brentford, 86*., the 

 price at Kingston at the same time being 841. In Oxford at Lady 



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