A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an imperial and US customary unit of

volume Volume is a measure of regions in 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) ...

, based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel was used mostly for

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

products, such as

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

: 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 word "bushel" as originally used for a container itself, and later a unit of measurement. The name comes from the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th . It may further derive from

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

', thus meaning "little butt".

History

The bushel is an intermediate value between the pound and pound (mass)">pound and ton or tun (unit)">tun that was introduced to England following the Norman Conquest of England">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 Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

Norman Weights and Measures Acts (UK)">statutes A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

made the London bushel part of the legal measure of English wine, ale, and food grain, grains. The Assize of Bread and Ale credited to Henry III of England, 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, a London bushel was reckoned to contain 64 pounds, 12

ounce The ounce () is any of several different units of mass, weight, or volume and is derived almost unchanged from the , an Ancient Roman unit of measurement. The avoirdupois ounce (exactly ) is avoirdupois pound; this is the United States ...

s, 20

pennyweight A pennyweight (dwt) is a unit of mass equal to 24 grains, of a troy ounce, of a troy pound, avoirdupois ounce and exactly 1.55517384 grams. It is abbreviated dwt, ''d'' standing for ''denarius'' (an ancient Roman coin), and later ...

, and 32

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and le ...

. These measures were based on the relatively light tower pound and were rarely used in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, or

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

during the

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

. When the Tower system was abolished in the 16th century, the bushel was redefined as 56 avoirdupois pounds. The imperial bushel established by the Weights and Measures Act 1824 described the bushel as the volume of 80 avoirdupois pounds 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Thus, there is no distinction between liquid and dry measure in the imperial system. The

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

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 centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...

and high, which gives an

irrational number In mathematics, the irrational numbers are all the real numbers that are not rational numbers. That is, irrational numbers cannot be expressed as the ratio of two integers. When the ratio of lengths of two line segments is an irrational number, ...

, of approximately 2150.4202 cubic inches. The modern American or US bushel is rounded to exactly 2150.42 cubic inches, a difference of less than one part per ten million. In English use, a bushel was a round willow basket with fixed dimensions, and its inside measurements were as follows - base diameter 12 inches, top diameter 18 inches, height 12 inches - thus giving a volume of 8595.4 cubic 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 the basket was made 13 inches high, but with a ring of "waling" (a special willow weaving technique) to mark the 12 inches height: these baskets had a volume of 9311.68 cubic inches.

Volume

Weight

Bushels are now most often used as units of

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

rather than of volume. The bushels in which grains are bought and sold on

commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic goods, good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the Market (economics), market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to w ...

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 () ** Canada: 34 lb () ** UK: 38 lb () *

Barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

: 48 lb () *

Malted barley Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as " malting". Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar ...

: 34 lb () * Shelled

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

(corn) at 15.5% moisture by weight: 56 lb () *

Wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

at 13.5% moisture by weight: 60 lb () *

Soybeans The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source of f ...

at 13% moisture by weight: 60 lb () 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 Metric or metrical may refer to: Measuring * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics ...

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, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and 501.116 litres in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

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

hobbit Hobbits are a fictional race of people in the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien. About half average human height, Tolkien presented hobbits as a variety of humanity, or close relatives thereof. Occasionally known as halflings in Tolkien's writings, ...

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.

References

External links

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