xxiv AGRICULTURAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



Standard gallon to be the measure of capacity. The standard measure of capacity, as well for liquids 

 as for dry goods not measured by heaped measure, shall be the gallon, containing ten pounds avoirdu- 

 pois of distilled water weighed in air, at the temperature of sixty-two degrees of Fahrenheit's thermo- 

 meter, the barometer being at thirty inches ; and a measure shall be forthwith made of brass, of such con- 

 tents as aforesaid, under the directions of the commissioners of his majesty's treasury ; and such brass 

 measure shall be the imperial standard gallon, and shall be the unit and only standard measure of capacity, 

 from which all other measures of capacity to be used, as well for wine, beer, ale, spirits, and all sorts of 

 liquids, as for dry goods, not measured by heap measure, shall be derived, computed, and ascertained ; 

 and all measures shall be taken in parts or multiples or certain proportions of the said imperial standard 

 gallon, and the quart shall be the fourth part of such standard gallon, and the pint shall be one eighth of 

 such standard gallon, and two such gallons shall be a peck, and eight such gallons shall be a bushel, and 

 eight such bushels a quarter of corn or other dry goods not measured by heaped measure, s. 6. 



Standard for heaped measure. The standard measure of capacity for coals, culm, lime,,fish, potatoes, 

 or fruit, and all other goods and things cominonly soldby heaped measure, shall be the aforesaid bushel, 

 containing eighty pounds avoirdupois of water as aforesaid, the same being made round with a plain and 

 even bottom, and being nineteen inches and a half from outside to outside of such standard measure as 

 aforesaid, s. 7. 



In making use of such bushel, all coals and other goods and things commonly sold by heaped measure, 

 shall be duly heaped up in such bushel, in the form of a cone, such cone to be of the height of at least six 

 inches, and the outside of the bushel to be the extremity of the base of such cone ; and that three bushels 

 shall be a sack, and that twelve such sacks shall be a chaldron, s. 8. 



Measure of weight, or heaped measure, to be used for wheat. Provided always that any contracts^ 

 bargains, sales, and dealings, made or had for or with respect to any coals, culm, lime, fish, potatoes, or 

 fruit, and all other goods and things commonly sold by heaped measure, sold, delivered, done, or agreed 

 for, or to be sold, delivered, done, or agreed for by weight or measure, shall and may be either 

 according to the said standard of weight, or the said standard for heaped measure; but all con- 

 tracts, bargains, sales, and dealings, made or had for any other goods, wares, or merchandise, or 

 other thing done or agreed for, or to be sold, delivered, done, or agreed for by weight or measure, shall 

 be made and had according to the said standard of weight, or to the said gallon, or the parts, multiples, 

 or proportions thereof; and in using the same the measures shall not be heaped, but shall be stricken 

 with a round stick or roller, straight, and of the same diameter from end to end. s. 9. 



Weight in Ireland. But nothing herein shall authorise the selling in Ireland, by measure, of any ar- 

 ticles, matters, or things, which by any law in force in Ireland are required to be sold by weight only.' 

 s. 10. 



Contracts for sale, S(c. by weight or measure. All contracts, bargains, sales, and dealings, which shall 

 be made or had within any part of the United Kingdom, for any work to be done, or for any goods, wares, 

 merchandise, or other thing to be sold, delivered, done, or agreed for by weight or measure, where no spe- 

 cial agreement shall be made to the contrary, shall be deemed to be made and had according to the standard 

 weights and measures, ascertained by this act ; and in all cases where any special agreement shall be made, 

 with reference to any weight or measure established by local custom, the ratio or proportion which 

 every such local weight or measure shall bear to any of the said standard weights or measures, shall be 

 expressed, declared, and specified in such agreement, or otherwise such agreement shall be null and 

 void. s. 15. 



agisting weights and measures may be used, being marked. And as it is expedient that persons should 

 be allowed to use the several weights and measures which they may have in their possession, although 

 such weights and measures may not be in conformity with the standard weights and measures established 

 by this act ; it is therefore enacted, that it shall be lawful for any person or persons to buy and sell goods 

 and merchandise by any weights or measures established either by local custom, or founded on special 

 agreement : provided that in order that the ratio or proportion which all such measures and weights shall 

 bear to the standard weights and measures established by this act, shall be and become a matter of com- 

 mon notoriety, the ratio or proportion which all such customary measures and weights shall bear 

 to the said standard weights and measures shall be painted or marked upon all such customary 

 weights and measures respectively ; but nothing herein contained shall extend to permit any maker of 

 weights or measures, or any person or persons whomsoever, to make any weight or measure at any time 

 after the 1st day of May, 1825, except in conformity with the standard weights and measures established 

 under this act. s. 16. 



American Weights. The several European colonies make use of the weights of the states or kingdoms 

 of Europe they belong ta For, as to the aroue of Peru, which weighs twenty-seven pounds, it is evi- 

 dently no other than the Spanish arroba, with a little difference in the name. 



African Weights As to the weights of Africa, there are few places that have any, except Egypt, and 

 the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, whose weights have been already enumerated among 

 those of the ports of the Levant. The island of Madagascar, indeed, has weights, but none that exceed 

 the drachm, nor are they used for any thing but gold and silver. 



The above information is taken from an elaborate quarto volumes of Dr. Kelly, and the very use- 

 ful Commercial Dictionary of Mortimer. It is impossible to turn over the leaves of such a book as 

 Kelly's, without lamenting the time which every commercial man must lose in acquiring, and in 

 practising, the art of overcoming the obstacles which not only impede the intercourse of nations, 

 but open a fertile source for deception and chicanery. How easy it would be for one nation to 

 become acquainted with another, even if they spoke different languages, provided their weights, mea- 

 sures, monies, and all that was done by figures, were the same ! How easy for the three leading powers 

 of the world, France, Britain, and America, to effect this ! Naturalists in every part of the world use 

 the same language, and the same names for natural objects, and they accordingly form but one family, 

 every member of which, however remotely situated, holds ready communication with all the others. 

 How easy for the great powers alluded to, by prospective measures, which would occasion no inconve- 

 nience to any one, not only to render one description of weights, measures, and monies, universal, but 

 one language 1 The establishment in one nation after another oi Parochial Institutions, such as those al- 

 ready existing in Wirtemberg and Bavaria, and obliging some one language to be taught to every one in 

 addition to that which was the native tongue, would have the complete effect in two generations. But 

 legislators, at least in Europe, have hitherto been too much occupied with the concerns of their own day 

 and generation to think of futurity ; and the policy has too generally been to devise measures which 

 should isolate nations, and separate their interests, rather than unite them in one common intercourse, 

 commercial and intellectual. 



