120 "BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



townc should send in writing to Capt. Gibons the 21''* p'sent, 

 what wheatc wilbcc adventured to bee ready by the first of the 

 first month, and who will undertake for the towne." At the 

 same session of the Court, the following Act was passed : — 

 " Forasmuch as it appearcth to this court, that wheate is like 

 to bee a staple comodity, and that a ship is w*'' all convenient 

 speed to bee set fourth and fraited with wheate, for the fetching 

 in of such forraine comodities as wee stand in need of, it 

 is Therefore Ordered ; that after the last day of this p'sent 

 8"' month, no baker or ordinary keeper, or other p'son, shall 

 bake to sell, or set for sale, any bread or cakes made of wheate 

 meal, or wherein any wheate meal shall bee put, upon paine to 

 forfeit double the valewe thereof. And the Cunstables of every 

 towne are hereby required to see that this order be observed 

 and that they make seizure of all such bread so set to sale and 

 distribute the same to the poor." 



In October, 1648, a law was passed making wheat a legal 

 tender, and ordering it to be received in payment for taxes at 

 five shillings per bushel. This law remained in force, with 

 occasional changes in price to correspond with the supply, for 

 about a century. It is a significant fact that the price of wheat 

 thus fixed by law, was often the same as that of Indian corn, 

 the native grain of the country, and rarely more than two 

 shillings per bushel higher. And that price was generally 

 from tlu'ce shillings to five shillings sixpence. The " Great and 

 General Court," from year to year, determined the price at 

 which it should be bouglit and sold, and as it was a staple 

 article of food, watched with Argus eyes, the yearly crops and 

 supplies, that if possible, enough should be on hand for the 

 sustenance of the colonists, and new emigrants who were 

 continually arriving. At times, it was permitted to be exported, 

 and again its exportation was interdicted. Occasionally, it 

 might be brought in, in foreign ships ; then, " taking into their 

 serious consideration the great necessitye of upholding the 

 staple comodityes of tliis countryc for the support of the inhabi- 

 tants thereof," it was forbidden to import it. 



In May, 1662, the Court passed an order in the following 

 words : " The Court being informed by the dcputyes of the 

 seucral townes tliat bread corn is scarce amongst the people, 

 and that seueral ships and passengers out of England are 



