Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-01-23
Bushels and Barrels.
Southern Lumberman.

lhSi NotiiAettAhS ohU oVlihS iulli
products that were in vogue in the
South prior to the war, and in some
sections until the present time, often
puzzle northern man, and perhaps
brief explanation Of some Of the
terms and methods in common use
then, and still retained in many of
the rural sections, may not be with
out interest.
A barrel of corn is five bushels. 1t
is said the reason why five bushels
came to be adopted as a barrel for
corn is because, under the old style
of milling, it required five bushels of
wheat to make a barrel of flour The
connection between the two ideas is
not very apparent, but that is the
best explanation that has been given.
At any rate, corn was always estima-
ted and sold by the barrel, prior to
the war. Ten barrels of corn, equal
to fifty bushels, was considered a
large yield for an acre, and six bar
rels was considered an "average"
yield. Corn, when sold in the ear,
with or without the "shuck" on, was
always measured in an empty flour,
whisky or molasses barrel, or tub,
and each measure in the total ac-
count was called stub" of corn.
One average "tub" of corn was
"shucked," shelled and carefully
measured-rarely weighed-and the
amount of the sale calculated by null
tiplying the contents of one "tub" by
the number of Clubs" The shelled
corn was measured in half-bushel
measures, and peck and half-peck
measures, when they could be pro-
cured, but generally the fractions of
Il half-bushel were measured in gal
lon, quart and pint cups, suchas were
bought from the timers. OF course,
these tin measures, if they were cor
rect, which is extremely doubtful, be-
cause every timer in those days made
his own patterns, were intended to
represent liquid measure and would
be too small to represent the cores
ponding parts in dry measure, but
there was never any trouble on this
account, for the true Southerner
never charged any odd cents less than
a $50 pence' five cents) in any bill,
and stuck to the idea that "a pint is
pint the world over" and it made
no difference who made the measure
so he was "hOme folks" and not a
yankee.
The half-bushel measure itself was
not of uniform capacity. Most farm
ers kept one and some had two, one
of which was called the "sealed"
measure. The first was always made
of slaves and hoops by the country
Coopers and resembled a wooden but
ter tub. The "sealed" measure was
smaller, made sup North of bent
hoop, like the modern half-bushel,
only it was without the iron stays.
The State (Tennessee) had some kind
oflaws in regard to weights and
measures and an officer called "seal-
er of weights and measures" in every
county, whose duty it was to test and
place his seal upon every standard
weight and measure presented
to him for this purpose. There was
small fee attached to each applica.
ton of his "seal," which was a small
branding iron containingthre letters
which were nearly always illegible
H. always "sealed" everything pre-
scented for that purpose, and took the
fee when he could get it, but it is not
recorded that the holding capacity o.
any measure was ever effected by his
"seal." But the "sealed" half-bush.
el measure was legal and satisfactory
even after it was known that all the
half-bushel measures soldby the store'
were made by yankee machinery anC
branded with the seal at the factory
Besides the pint or more difference
IN the capacity of the different makes
of half-bushel measures there was an
other that entered into the considera
ton of every importantsale, and tina
was known as the "heaping" and tn,
"struck" measure. In the "heaping'
measure the grain, or other produce
was heaped up on the top of the half
bushel measure to an extent that wa
only regulated by the ruling custom
in the neighborhood, the nature o
the article sold and the conscience O
the seller. AS a matter of course
there was not much uniformityln tn
measure but, to the honor of the ante
belLum farmers be it said, the cheap
ing" was always liberal. In tn