Agricultural Statistics 160 



of oats (price lod. to is. per qr., and in some cases 

 provably of 8 bush.); this smaller measure would 

 appear \yide entries Rot. Pip. 17, 19 and 20 

 Hen. II. , where quarters are named] to have been 

 somewhat an equivalent of the contemporary horse- 

 load, always bearing in mind that the burden of a 

 sumpter cannot be precisely equated with a measure 

 of capacity, owing to the differences in weight of 

 Wheat, Barley, and Oats (at sup.}. Taking the 

 qr. of Hen. III. onwards as being of like capacity 

 with .the present (an assumption), its contents 

 would have had rather less actual weight (the 

 smaller grains being relatively lighter), and the 

 other much smaller quarter of Hen. II. John 

 would more or less be the actual load of a horse, 

 which is the " standard " measure in the Pipe Rolls 

 of the former reign. The allowance of a destrier 

 t. Ed. I. (Wardrobe A\ cs \ is J bush, of oats (of 

 course with sufficient hay), but a war horse it must 

 be noted might have to carry a considerable weight 

 of iron armour (up to 361 modern Ibs.,* cited for a 

 barded horse, 1560, in Scott's Brit. Army']; for a 

 cart horse (IV. AJ") ^ bush., which bearing in mind 

 that beans were not supplied, and that the bushel 

 was probably somewhat light (as by modern weight) 

 is not inconsistent with present practice ; the pro- 

 fessed antiquary, however, should note that I bush, 

 of corn per horse (14 John, ut fup.j in the measure 

 of A.D. 1900, is just as inapplicable as the 120 

 acre plough theory, merely proving the unlikeness 

 of the quasi-standard (/. John) to our own. Walt, 

 de Henley's allowance of -^ bush. (/. Hen. III., 

 hence rather short of modern weight) of corn with 



* This includes the rider. 



