Weights and Measures - The Bushel

Weights and Measures - the Bushel

The bushel was a measure of capacity used for corn, fruit, etc.

The imperial bushel, legally established in Great Britain in 1826, contained 2218.192 cubic inches, or 80 pounds of distilled water weighed in air at 62° Fahrenheit. The Winchester bushel, much used from the time of Henry VIII, was somewhat smaller, containing 2150.42 cubic inches, or 77.627413 pounds of distilled water; it is still generally used in the USA and Canada.

The bushel had a great variety of other values, now abolished by law, though often in local use, varying not only from place to place, but in the same place according to the kind or quality of the commodity in question. Frequently it was no longer a measure of capacity, but a weight of so many [eg 30, 40, 45, 50, 56, 60, 70, 75, 80, 90, 93, 220] pounds of flour, wheat, oats, potatoes, etc.


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