A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an

imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

and US customary unit of

volume Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). Th ...

based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel is equal to 2 kennings (obsolete), 4 pecks, or 8 dry gallons, and was used mostly for

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

products, such as

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeolog ...

. 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.

Name

The name comes from the

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligi ...

' and ', meaning "little box".. It may further derive from

', thus meaning "little

butt Butt may refer to: * Figurative or literal ''blunt ends'': ** Butt joint, a woodworking joinery technique ** Butt splice connector, a type of Crimp connection#Simple crimp connectors, crimp electrical connector ** Buttstock or butt, the back par ...

History

The bushel is an intermediate value between the

pound Pound or Pounds may refer to: Units * Pound (currency), a unit of currency * Pound sterling, the official currency of the United Kingdom * Pound (mass), a unit of mass * Pound (force), a unit of force * Rail pound, in rail profile Symbols * Po ...

and ton or tun that was introduced to England following the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

. Norman statutes made the London bushel part of the legal measure of English wine, ale, and grains. The

Assize of Bread and Ale The Assize of Bread and Ale ( la, Assisa panis et cervisiae) was a 13th-century law in high medieval England, which regulated the price, weight and quality of the bread and beer manufactured and sold in towns, villages and hamlets. It was the firs ...

credited to Henry III, , defined this bushel in terms of the wine gallon,. & while the Assize of Weights and Measures usually credited to Edward I or II defined the London bushel in terms of the larger corn gallon.. & & In either case, the bushel was reckoned to contain 64 pounds of 12 ounces of 20 pennyweight of 32 grains. These measures were based on the relatively light tower pound and were rarely used in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, or

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. When the Tower system was abolished in the 16th century, the bushel was redefined as 56

avoirdupois pound The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defi ...

s. The

bushel established by the Weights and Measures Act of 1824 described the bushel as the volume of 80

s of distilled water in air at or 8 imperial gallons. This is the bushel in some use in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Thus, there is no distinction between liquid and dry measure in the imperial system. The Winchester bushel is the volume of a cylinder in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

and 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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

Volume

Weight

Bushels are now most often used as units of

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force acting on the object due to gravity. Some standard textbooks define weight as a vector quantity, the gravitational force acting on the object. Others define weight as a scalar q ...

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 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: * Oats: ** US: 32 lb (14.5150 kg) ** Canada: 34 lb (15.4221 kg) * Barley: 48 lb (21.7724 kg) * Malted barley: 34 lb (15.4221 kg) * Shelled maize (corn) at 15.5% moisture by weight: 56 lb (25.4012 kg) * Wheat at 13.5% moisture by weight: 60 lb (27.2155 kg) * Soybeans at 13% moisture by weight: 60 lb (27.2 kg) 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 the United States is to phase out units such as the bushel and replace them with metric mass equivalents.

Other units

The German bushel is the '. A Prussian scheffel was equal to 54.96 litres. The Polish bushel (') was used as measure of dry capacity. It is divided into 4 quarters (') and in the early 19th century had a value of 128 litres in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

and 501.116 litres in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

.. & The Spanish bushel (') was used as a measure of dry capacity. It is roughly equal to 55.5 litres in Castille.

References

External links

* {{United States Customary Units Units of volume Imperial units Customary units of measurement in the United States Grain production