ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 247 



higher price in the Home markets and the Southern towns. The 

 highest figures are, at Reading 225. ioj</., at Chester 20$. %%<?., at King- 

 ston-on-Thames 1 9 s. 5^., at Oxford 1 gs. %d. ; in London they are 

 at 1 6s. lod. The price of rye is not so much exalted, being on an 

 average only 2s. a quarter above the price of the previous year, and 

 being little changed in the Midland and Southern markets. I con- 

 clude that this crop must have been housed in fairly good condition, 

 and that the injury to the harvest was comparatively late. This is 

 confirmed by the fact that while the price of wheat is highest in the 

 first quarter, this is not the case with rye. 



The leguminous crops are all dearer, beans rising most, nearly 51". 

 on the previous year. Beans and grey peas are dearest in the Home 

 markets, white peas in the Home and South-west. But, as I have 

 observed before, the latter fact may be and probably is connected with 

 the use of white peas as ship stores. The highest price at which they 

 are quoted is that given from Plymouth. 



1696-7. There is no great change in this year from that which 

 preceded it. Wheat is a little cheaper in five of the districts, the 

 greatest reduction on the average being in the Southern towns, where 

 the fall is 4^. Sd. on an average. In the South-west it is however 6s. a 

 quarter dearer. The highest price is at Exeter, 6is. s^d.; the next at 

 Plymouth, 6oj. 9 \d. The price too is high near London, though in the 

 London market the average is 49*. only. As a rule, the highest prices 

 prevail from about Lady Day to Midsummer, though in some cases the 

 price continues to augment during the fourth quarter of the agricul- 

 tural year. In some localities however, where the market fluctuates 

 greatly, when the price is generally high, there is little or no change. 

 On the whole, next to the harvest of 1 694-5, this is characterised by 

 the least scarcity of the seven years of dearth. 



Barley and malt are, on the other hand, dearer in all but the Home 

 markets. Their relations are now disturbed, for in 1697 a duty of 6d. 

 a bushel was levied on malt, and though it does not seem that this 

 duty is always included in the price, yet it seems to be in some 

 markets, perhaps in some districts. Thus in the South, barley is 

 2U. id. the quarter, malt 26*. id.; in the Midland markets the 

 averages are 2OJ. i\d. and 245. Sd., the increase of bulk effected in 

 the process of malting paying for the cost of the manufacture. But 

 in the other centres the difference is not such as would cover the 

 excise of 41. a quarter. The highest price of barley is at Falmouth, 

 35J. 4</., whence no returns of malt come; the highest price of malt is 

 at Exeter, 391. lod. : it is also 331. 2d. at Pembroke. In London 



