PREFACE. 



it has been decided to bring the History of 

 Agriculture and Price* to an end with the seventh 

 volume, which is now laid before the public, some 

 apology for the incomplete condition of the work is 

 necessary, as well aa an explanation of the great delay 

 which has occurred in printing these pages. The fifth 

 and sixth volumes were published in 1887, and during 

 the last three years of his life my father was busily en- 

 gaged in collecting material for the concluding part of 



U>ok. A large number of figures had been brought 

 together, and even tabulated, when he was seized with 

 the illness that ultimately proved fatal to him. But the 

 series was incomplete, and though prices had been 

 collected for several articles for every year in the period 

 he had set himself to deal with, many subjects were but 

 poorly represented. Among the papers that were left, no 

 clue was found to the existence of any other figures, or to 

 the sources from which he had proposed to draw further 

 rmation. My father invariably worked alone, with- 

 out assistance or delegation, and there was no one 

 therefore who was in a position to offer any valuable 



in on the intended scope of the w-ik. When 

 therefore the Delegates of the University Press kindly 

 agreed to allow me to edit the manuscript my father 

 left behind him. two courses were open to me. 



which was the simpler, was to print the 



