244 ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 



Day the price is 70*. 8</., exactly that returned for the corn rent. In 

 Cambridge at the same date Houghton gives 56.$-., while the corn rent 

 is 58 s. 8d. At Eton the Lady Day price is 80 s., at Reading 76.$-. At 

 Winchester the Lady Day rent is 76-$-.; but Houghton gives no place 

 nearer than Farnham, where it is >]8s. at Lady Day. But prices are 

 not nearly so high elsewhere as they are in the Home district. The 

 average of the latter is 64 s. if</., of the Southern markets 54.?. >j\d., 

 the Eastern markets being a little less. In the other three, the price is 

 only a little above the average. Towards the autumn, prices in the six 

 centres begin to fall rapidly ; and by the latter end of September, prices 

 at the Home markets are half, or less than half, at which they stood at 

 Lady Day. Thus at Brentford they fall from 86 s. to 42*. 8<, at 

 Croydon from 76^. to 36^., at Kingston from 84^. to 40^., in London 

 from 66s. to 32^., at Cambridge from 56^. to 32^. The same facts 

 characterise the registers of the Southern markets. But there is not 

 the same change of price in the Midland, the South-west, and the 

 Northern markets. The dearth, though severe, was local. 



The price of barley and malt was not greatly enhanced above that 

 at which it stood in the previous year. In three of the divisions barley 

 is actually cheaper, though malt is rather dearer in all. The colour of 

 the barley must have been impaired, for in some localities malt is 

 nearly as dear as wheat. It is however difficult to always determine 

 -whether the malt was of the same year with the rest of the harvest, for 

 it was a custom with the prudent malster to keep his produce for at 

 least six months before he brought it to market. This is probably 

 illustrated by the fact that though barley falls under the prospect of 

 the coming harvest, malt does not fall at all, or only slightly. With 

 the exception of the Northern and the Eastern markets the price of 

 malt is very uniform over England. The highest price of malt is at 

 Maxfield, 43^.; Tetbury, 33.?.; Gloucester, 32^. id. ; and Wy combe, 

 31^. 6d. The price of oats is almost everywhere lower than in the 

 previous year, though not greatly so; and in the exception, the Northern 

 markets, it is only a shade, 2\d., dearer. So at Cambridge and 

 Winchester, two localities contributing to my own collection, oats are 

 cheaper than they were in 1692-3. The price of rye, though supplied 

 from a few localities only, quite corresponds, proportionately, to that 

 of wheat. The highest price is at Wycombe, 44^., where wheat is 67^. ; 

 the next at Farnham, 42,$-. 2\d., wheat being 63^. $d. 



The leguminous crops, beans, grey and white peas, are generally 

 cheaper than they were in the previous year, or at the worst only 

 fractionally dearer. The season in short attacked the wheat crop 



