The Express.
London, England, 1863-12-26 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 26, 1863.

STATISTICAL socnerr.

At a meeting of the above society, held on Tues-
day December 15, PrOilll•Of J. S. T. Room, of Oxford,
read a paper "Oa the continuous price of wheat for 106
yean, from 1380 to 1484." The writer observed that the
prime of wheat annexed to his paper were takes from •
series of farming amanita of Heyford Warren, in Oxford-
shire. The metes is complete, except foe the pars 1380,
1383, 1386, and 1390. The prices. however, for these Pen
are supplied from Wooden, in Backs, • pia* atfilaisally
avert the purposes of compatioon. It will be manifest.
Profane Roger remarked, that during the whole
of the period before us prime of food were, with
few exceptioos, remarkably low. They were far
lower than those which prevailed during the
,14th century, and that part of the 13th daring
which accounts of farm produce have come under my in.
spates. The harvest daring this time mat have hiss ex-
ceedingly abundant, more so in all hkebbood than, araitatia
niutandis, they were in the early half of the 18th men ,
a period which has always been sited as thirlidieibiaT
prosperous. Of the 106 yeah, 21 &beware relatively dear ; fa
them the price is above 6s. per qr. Those 21 years are 1389-
90,1400.1-2, 1408-9, 1416, 14114, 1428, sad 1429 ; 1432-3,
1437.8,1460-1, 1477.78,1480.81 ; and in *sly two of those
was the price radiative of famine, namely, 1390 and 1438.
The highest prim is much below that at which wheat am
sold during two or three years of Edward IL and
Edward lIL In orataidoring these prima thanks of thecoia
is which they are expressed has to be considered. Theooin of
the time was of customary fineness,ths pound of silver con-
taining 1 loz. 2 dwts. of pure motel and 18 dwa of alloy.
But the currency was twice degraded during the period.
Up to 1412 the pound sterling was equal is meters value to
24 6e. 66., in 1412 it was diminished to 14 18a. 9d., and in
1464 to 11. lie, At the commencement of the period re-
viewed by the writer, the price of common labour was gene-
rally 3d. per d ;of artisans, such as cane•ten, masons,
and sawyers, 44. About the end of the tint quarter of the
15th century them kinds of labour rose respectively to 4d.
and to &L, and so remained to the close of Henry VIIL's
reign. On the other hand, the price of lead, wrought iron,
and brass, slightly falls—the prios of these metals was
about 3e. 4d., lid., and 3d. per lb. respectively. Wheat
was, I have no doubt, obasnad Professor Rogers, the
habitual food of the people. Of all the prima of grain, the
moos abundant are those of wheat, barley, and oats ; of
theme, lON the largest information is that which tea be
supplied for wheat. Labourers rarely used eau, =mpg on
occasion in their porridge. The breadth of wheat, barley,
and oats grown on the land from per to year, occapies by
far the largest of the aoreage. Most cult use need at har-
vest, when, snow, wages for day-work were mach higher
than at ordinary times. Corn was reaped at la. to
8d: per acre. Rye was • rare penis. The Hayford
;OK:of wheat wen then compared with the at
church iu Ease:, and Stert in Wilts. As might be ex-
pected, the dirrgeam of prioes is greatest in the cheap
years. It is a haown exacenind law that the prices of
what, or of any other absolute of life, decrease
in plentiful years eta very different ratio that is which
they increase ial dear noes. The price of labour appears to
have been higher is Load= than in the ectiatry by 26 per
Gent. A table of the prices of wool at Altos Buses, is
Wiltshire, was.apponded to the paper. It was toted that
dramas amongst docks in the mid' die ages perpauslly de-
stroyed one-fourth of the number kept. With respect
to the productiveness of the land it was stated
that • crop of 30 bushels on average land under
widen culture is by no means excessive ; land
under tillage io the present time yields two and a half times
more than in the days of our forefathers. It was during
this time that the class of small farmers roes ; the fact is
traceable not only in the suggestions of legislation sod
history, but in the change made by owners of land in the
insaagesteut of their estates by a bailiff. Bawer the last
thirty years of the 14th century and the first forty of the
15th this practice is almost universally abandoned. The
landowner cases to cultivate his own land, his rests are
in by a collector, and • farmer cultivates the soil
Crthhilincilwn profit, at • fixed rat sometimes for • long term,
but with his landlord's stock, which he is pledged to restore,
or its equivalent in money, at the expiring of his tenancy.
After a short time, however, this practice ceases, the tenant
finds stock himself, and occupies an estate either under a
lease, or very censor by purcham.