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28-408: One koku (roughly equivalent to five bushels ) was generally viewed as the equivalent of enough rice to feed one person for a year. The actual revenue or income derived from a holding varied from region to region, and depended on the amount of actual control the fief holder held over the territory in question, but averaged around 40 percent of the theoretical kokudaka . The amount of taxation

56-531: A standard weight to each commodity that is to be measured in bushels. These bushels depend on the commodities being measured, and on the moisture content of the commodity. Some of the more common ones are: Other specific values are defined (and those definitions may vary within different jurisdictions, including from state to state in the United States) for other grains, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, coal, hair and many other commodities. Government policy in

84-610: Is an intermediate value between the pound and ton or tun that was introduced to England following the Norman Conquest . Norman statutes made the London ;bushel part of the legal measure of English wine , ale , and grains . The Assize of Bread and Ale credited to Henry III , c.  1266 , defined this bushel in terms of the wine gallon , while the c.  1300 Assize of Weights and Measures usually credited to Edward I or II defined

112-483: Is established that all measures of the whole of England be of the same amount, as well of corn as of vegetables and of like things, to wit, one good horse load; and that this measure be level as well in cities and boroughs as without. This appears to be a description of the seam, which would later be equated with the quarter. The word seam is of Latin derivation (from the Vulgar Latin sauma = packsaddle). Some of

140-458: Is known of these standards except that, following the Norman Conquest , the physical standards (prototypes) were removed to London. In 1496, a law of King Henry VII instituted the bushel that would later come to be known by the name "Winchester". In 1588 Queen Elizabeth I, while reforming the English weight system (which, at the time, included no less than three different pounds going by

168-500: Is the volume of a cylinder 18.5 in (470 mm) in diameter and 8 in (200 mm) high, which gives an irrational number of approximately 2150.4202 cubic inches. The modern American or US bushel is a variant of this, rounded to exactly 2150.42 cubic inches, less than one part per ten million less. It is also somewhat in use in Canada . In English use, a Bushel was a willow basket with fixed dimensions. The basket

196-628: The London bushel in terms of the larger corn gallon . In either case, a London bushel was reckoned to contain 64 pounds, 12  ounces , 20  pennyweight , and 32  grains . These measures were based on the relatively light tower pound and were rarely used in Scotland , Ireland , or Wales during the Middle Ages . When the Tower system was abolished in the 16th century, the bushel

224-634: The Measure of a Bushel contain viij. Gallons of Wheat, and that every Gallon contain viij. li. of Wheat of Troy Weight, and every Pound contain xij. Ounces of Troy Weight, and every Ounce contain xx. Sterlings, and every Sterling be of the Weight of xxxij. Corns of Wheat that grew in the Midst of the Ear of Wheat, according to the old Laws of this Land. Even though this bushel does not quite fit

252-641: The United Kingdom and the British Colonies changed to "Imperial" measures in 1826, the US continued to use Winchester measures and still does. None of Edgar's standard measures, which were probably made of wood, remain, but the city's copy of the standard yard, although stamped with the official mark of Elizabeth I , may date from the early twelfth century, during the reign of Henry I . Preserved standard weights date from 1357, and although

280-697: The United States is to phase out units such as the bushel and replace them with metric mass equivalents. The German bushel is the Scheffel . A Prussian scheffel was equal to 54.96 litres. The Polish bushel ( korzec ) was used as measure of dry capacity . It is divided into 4 quarters ( ćwierć ) and in the early 19th century had a value of 128 litres in Warsaw and 501.116 litres in Kraków . The Spanish bushel ( fanega )

308-409: The basket was made 13 inches high, but with a ring of "waling" (a special willow weaving technique) to mark the 12 inches height. Bushels are now most often used as units of mass or weight rather than of volume. The bushels in which grains are bought and sold on commodity markets or at local grain elevators , and for reports of grain production, are all units of weight. This is done by assigning

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336-600: The description of the Winchester bushel, the national standard prototype bushel constructed the following year (and still in existence) is near enough to a Winchester bushel that it is generally considered the first, even though it was not known by that name at the time. The Winchester bushel is first mentioned by name in a statute of 1670 entitled An Act for ascertaining the Measures of Corn and Salt ( 22 Cha. 2 . c. 8) which states, And that if any person or persons after

364-621: The earliest documents defining the gallon, bushel and quarter is the Assize of Weights and Measures , also known as the Tractatus de Ponderibus et Mensuris , sometimes attributed to Henry III or Edward I , but nowadays generally listed under Ancient Statutes of Uncertain Date and presumed to be from c.  1250 −1305. It states, By Consent of the whole Realm the King’s Measure

392-565: The existence of any these units in Britain prior to the Norman Conquest. Furthermore, all of the units associated with Winchester measure (quarter, bushel, peck, gallon, pottle, quart, pint) have names of French derivation, at least suggestive of Norman origin. Prior to the Norman Conquest, the following units of capacity measure were used: sester , amber , mitta , coomb , and seam . A statute of 1196 ( 9 Ric. 1 . c. 27) decreed: It

420-518: The future, it is hereby declared that every round Bushel with a plain and even Bottom, being Eighteen Inches and a Halfe wide throughout, & Eight Inches deep, shall be esteemed a legal Winchester Bushel according to the Standard in His Majesty's Exchequer. In 1824 a new Act was passed in which the gallon was defined as the volume of ten pounds of pure water at 62 °F (17 °C) with

448-450: The name "avoirdupois") based the new Exchequer standard on an ancient set of bronze weights found at Winchester and dating to the reign of Edward III. These incidents have led to the widespread belief that the Winchester units of dry capacity measure, namely, the bushel and its dependent quantities the peck , gallon and quart , must have originated in the time of King Edgar. However, contemporary scholarship can find no evidence for

476-406: The other units are likewise of Latin derivation, sester from sextarius, amber from amphora. The sester could thus be taken as roughly a pint, the amber a bushel. However, the values of these units, as well as their relationships to one another, varied considerably over the centuries so that no clear definitions are possible except by specifying the time and place in which the units were used. One of

504-547: The other units of volume changing accordingly. The "Winchester bushel", which was some 3% smaller than the new bushel (eight new gallons), was retained in the English grain trade until formally abolished in 1835. In 1836, the United States Department of the Treasury formally adopted the Winchester bushel as the standard for dealing in grain and, defined as 2,150.42 cubic inches, it remains so today. While

532-546: The present day. It consists of the Winchester bushel and its dependent quantities, the peck , (dry) gallon and (dry) quart . They would later become known as the Winchester Standards, named because the examples were kept in the city of Winchester . Winchester measure may also refer to: During the 10th century, the capital city of the English king, Edgar , was at Winchester and, at his direction, standards of measurement were instituted. However, nothing

560-478: The time aforesaid shall sell any sort of corn or grain, ground or unground, or any kind of salt, usually sold by the bushel, either in open market, or any other place, by any other bushel or measure than that which is agreeable to the standard, marked in his Majesty's exchequer, commonly called the Winchester measure, containing eight gallons to the bushel, and no more or less, and the said bushel strucken even by

588-613: The wood or brim of the same by the seller, and sealed as this act directs, he or they shall forfeit for every such offence the sum of forty shillings . It is first defined in law by a statute of 1696–97 ( 8 & 9 Will. 3 . c. 22 ss. 9 & 45) And to the End all His Majesties Subjects may know the Content of the Winchester Bushell whereunto this Act refers, and that all Disputes and Differences about Measure may be prevented for

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616-500: Was assessed at 26 million koku , with the Shōgun directly controlling 4.2 million koku . This Japanese history–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu. ) is an imperial and US customary unit of volume based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity . The old bushel is equal to 2 kennings (obsolete), 4 pecks , or 8 dry gallons , and

644-543: Was made, so that an English Penny, which is called the Sterling, round without clipping, shall weigh Thirty-two Grains of Wheat dry in the midst of the Ear; Twenty-pence make an Ounce; and Twelve Ounces make a Pound, and Eight Pounds make a Gallon of Wine; and Eight Gallons of Wine make a Bushel of London; which is the Eighth Part of a Quarter. In 1496, An Act for Weights and Measures ( 12 Hen. 7 . c. 5) stated That

672-432: Was not based on the actual quantity of rice harvested, but was an estimate based on the total economic yield of the land in question, with the value of other crops and produce converted to their equivalent value in terms of rice. The ranking of precedence of the daimyō , or feudal rulers, was determined in part by the kokudaka of the territories under their administration. In 1650, the total kokudaka of Japan

700-565: Was redefined as 56  avoirdupois pounds . The imperial  bushel established by the Weights and Measures Act of 1824 described the bushel as the volume of 80  avoirdupois pounds of distilled water in air at 62 °F (17 °C) or 8 imperial gallons. This is the bushel in some use in the United Kingdom . Thus, there is no distinction between liquid and dry measure in the imperial system. The Winchester bushel

728-442: Was round. Its inside measurements were: Base diameter 12 inches, top diameter 18 inches, height 12 inches. A basket filled level to the top was a bushel. A basket filled to the top but overfilled to a height where it overflowed was considered to be a bushel and a peck, a generous measure (a similar concept to a baker's dozen). Hence, the old song " I love you, a bushel and a peck...." meant "I am overflowing with love for you". Sometimes

756-525: Was used as a measure of dry capacity. It is roughly equal to 55.5 litres in Castille . The Welsh hobbit was equivalent to two-and-a-half bushels when used for volume; when used for measuring weight the hobbit was dependent on the grain being weighed. Winchester measure Winchester measure is a set of legal standards of volume instituted in the late 15th century (1495) by King Henry VII of England and in use, with some modifications, until

784-612: Was used mostly for agricultural products, such as wheat . In modern usage, the volume is nominal, with bushels denoting a mass defined differently for each commodity. The name "bushel" is also used to translate similar units in other measurement systems. The word "bushel" as originally used for a container itself, and later a unit of measurement. The name comes from the Old French boissiel and buissiel , meaning "little box". It may further derive from Old French boise , thus meaning "little butt ". The bushel

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