ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 251 



prices are 37-r. oj</., 50*., 49 s. and 421-. ioj</. ; but in Eton and Oxford 

 the entries are of Michaelmas and Lady Day only ; while in Houghton's 

 entries, the price falls continuously through the summer, the difference 

 between Lady Day and August prices being considerable. 



There is by no means so marked a fall in barley and malt; it 

 amounts to nearly 2s. 6d. in barley, 5^. in malt. But slight as the former 

 fall is, there is a fall in all the districts in barley, and a greater general 

 fall of malt In some places barley and malt are still at high prices. 

 At Derby, as usual, they are both highest, 341. Sd. and 40*-. They are 

 also high at Stafford, 32^. and 38^. nd. In London they are at 

 2 3- r - 3?^- an d 2 9 S ' 2 *d- Oats however suffer only a fractional decline 

 on the general average, and in one district, the South-western, they 

 are a little dearer. In five localities the average is 2os. and upwards. 

 In London they are close upon the general average, 15^. ioj</. The 

 highest price of oats is at Reading, 245-. %\d. 



Rye falls on the general average 6.r. 3</. a quarter. In London the 

 price is 25*. The highest price of rye, like the highest price of wheat, 

 is at Liverpool ; the next at Stafford, 35^. 4</. ; the next at Oakham, 

 34J. Sd. There is but little change in the price of beans, grey peas, 

 and white peas. The first-named is less than a shilling cheaper, the 

 second is fractionally dearer, and the last a little cheaper on the 

 general average. In some, of the districts the prices slightly rise, in 

 some they slightly fall over the previous year. But the rates of the 

 leguminous plants during the whole of the scarcity were not excessive. 



1700-1. On the general average there is a further fall of nearly 

 ioj. a quarter in wheat, the least reduction being effected in the South- 

 west and North, where the price is higher than in the other four 

 districts, and in which the fall is from 12s. to 13-1*. The highest price 

 of the year is at Plymouth, where the average is 40*. id. t no other 

 reaching 40^. ; the next is Falmouth, 37*.; and the next is Liverpool, 

 with an average of 361. lojd. The average in London is 301. gd. Out 

 of forty-eight localities contributing to Houghton's returns, twenty-seven 

 give an average below 30*. The fall is at two different periods. The 

 first is in the first week of November, and is due to the fact that the 

 character of the harvest was now generally known. The second is 

 in June, and was induced by the prospects of the coming harvest. 

 Now the influence of the harvest on Northern prices would naturally 

 come late, and we should not expect so e.arly a response to the facts 

 in Newcastle-on-Tyne and Liverpool as would be given in the valley 

 of the Thames and the Southern counties. The price of wheat in the 

 South-western parts is significant, and points I conceive to an active 



