Sect. 11. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 



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am of opinion that it would be adviseable to fix 

 the prices of all kinds of grain by weight. A 

 measure of capacity is a very uncertain standard 

 for ascertaining the value of grain. Soil, season, 

 and management, occasion often such a diffe- 

 rence of quality, that two firlots may be equal 

 to three But when the grain is weighed, though 

 there may be a difference of the value of the 

 same weight on account of the difference of qua- 

 lity, yet this difference will be, by many degrees, 

 nearer the truth than when measured. 



I would propose, then, that all kinds of grain, 

 though deliverable to the merchant by measure, 

 shall be appreciated by the weight. Suppose, 

 for example, the farmer and his merchant agree 

 that the price of barley shall be 1 6 s. per boll, 

 if the boll weigh 1 6 stones, and of course that 

 the price shall be more or less in proportion to 

 its weight : when the barley is delivered, a few 

 bolls or sacks may be weighed, which shall de- 

 termine the average weight of the whole cargo. 

 But as a stone of that barley, which weighs 1 8 

 stone the boll, is morevaluable than a stone of bar- 

 ley, the boll of which weighs only 16 stones/; and 

 as a stone of that which weighs only 14 stones 

 per boll, is not so valuable as a stone of that 

 which weighs 1 6 stones the boll, the price ought 

 to rise or fall by ah encreasing ratio. A boll of 

 barley, if worth 1 6 s. when it weighs i 6 stone, 

 would be worth more than 1 8s. if it should 

 weigh 1 8 stone ; because the encrease of weight 

 is owing to the encrease of meal, without a- 

 ny encrease of husk, which rather diminish- 

 es as the weight rises. In like manner, and 

 for- the same reasons, a boll of barley, weigh- 



