BRITISH CORN MEASURES.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12927, 19 March 1906, Page 6

BRITISH CORN MEASURES.

A COMMENTARY OX XfUDDLEMEXT. _ln answer to a correspondent sigcicg liimsilf " Muddled," an English agricuHutaJ journal writes: You wanted " a table to show h< w many pounds go to the bushel, etc., in different parts of tho .country." Since .January Ist, 1826. th« legal «r Imperial bushel is supposed to have superseded all other bushels, but in practice it has done nothing of the kind. The Imperial bushel has a capacity of 2218.192 cubic inches, and holds 801b .Tvirdupo'j* of distilled water.

The Corn Returns Act-lays down uard weights «s the units" -of conversion lor the purposes of the return ©f salts firming the basis of the computation of the tithe averages, but does nothing to secure uniformity, and is not binding «» between buyer and Keller. These weight* Hre 60!b per bushel for wheat. 50)b for barley, and 391b for oats, but the Select Committee appointed to inquite into the subject of corn weights and t&fcuftres some seven or eight years agA reported against ' weighed measures" as objectionable and misleading. From this report we find that these arc tJiree principal kinds of standard* of va]««— by weight, without- reference to ant iiim> sure of capacity, as by the stone, cwu or cental; by measure, without reference to weight, as by the coomb; and bv weighed measure, which is nominally a sale by measure, but really by weight. as by the bushel, which has to turn the scale at a certain weight. With the exception <1 oats, sold by the stone of MH>, which must be distinguished \from the SmithfieM stone of 81b. weight sales are*principal!?confined to the foreign grain trade, irs which the standard is the cental. or 1001 U. Measure sales are prlncipallvbv the coomb, usually of firnr bushels, and chicflv confined t-o Eastern Counties barJev.

The great bull: of the home-grown corn sale* are by the quarter or bushel, but the bushel; does not necessarily mean 2218.192 cubic inches. As stated, the Imperial standard foe wheat is 601b per bushel, but according to the report of i3:e Sekct- Committee referred to alme. thiic fuurtns <.f the weighs! uicasmc sales—ar.i (2 tent. of ali "the '.wiiscat : is l»y weighed 3iiCß<:;rc~ lie by tec b:;l,ci o! 63.b. or by the quaric «<s vjgiat i«>3e!« othe ssme weight, to _ Vor barieys the Imperial Msu...tru 501b. and for oats 39!b, but the t.tr* cial standard for barley, per cent, of the sales, is 561b p«s or 44Sib per quarter; and of «e.u>. i«nstituting 70 per cent, of that ««•:».. <J2iib per busue! or 356 ib per quarter. i .sis i> sufficiently absurd, but iu the l££i u.jrkct towns taken for the purposes of tr.s corn returns, there are 46 different wtighed measures for wheat, 26 for barley, ana oi> for oats. In these cases there orv vat St*tions in the wheat "bushel" fioni C2:b to 901b; in the barler from 421U i«i JC3b: and io oats from oolb to 651b. I.ess than 1 per cent, of the barley gimrn in this country is sold by the 50ib >tan<:'atd bushel.

Quartets, bushels, loads, bolls, c ombs, windies, nobbets, stones, and bartx-l* arc denominations by which grain is <:« suid sold, and they none uf than «i:e.«« the same thing every whet o. At Sheffield and Doncasttr a l«-a:I of "/heat is 3 bushels; at Bedford ;; means 5 bushels; but in Oxfoid arid C;.v..c*ler a load is 5 quarters. At Newcastle and D.u iingtcn <» -*! is 3 bushels, at Berwick it is 6 i«:?Hiejs; and in Scotland it is generally « i.i>ssc!s. •:reuj»; in Gls.«gotr. trl.cti-it ia< :< . aig to .!<• wwh a busne: m ,i!i. o-.ca:.- i^llb. In Mnr.mouth a bi:.''a! . i" means wvi'd, in s.iv«rjM«.l »U.I». in"" M.tncheiitar 601b, in Darlington in Lincoln 631b, and in Chester and Shrewsbury 751b. These are only a few of the wheat irari.v tions, and the provincial standards fr.r barley, oats and pulse aie eijuaJlv bewildering. Yet we claim to" be a prae* tical people.