c. 4.
The Secretary of State is not informed whether there have been
any, and what, alterations of these measures by the laws of the
particular States.
It is proposed to retain this series of measures, but to fix
the gallon to one determinate capacity, as the unit of measure, both
wet and dry; for convenience is in favor of abolishing the
distinction between wet and dry measures.
The wine gallon, whether of 224 or 231 cubic inches, may be
altogether disregarded, as concerning, principally, the mercantile
and the wealthy, the least numerous part of the society, and the most
capable of reducing one measure to another by calculation. This
gallon is little used among the mass of farmers, whose chief habits
and interests are in the size of the corn bushel.
Of the standard measures before stated, two are principally
distinguished in authority and practice. The statute bushel of 2150
cubic inches, which gives a gallon of 268.75 cubic inches, and the
standard gallon of 1601, called the corn gallon of 271 or 272 cubic
inches, which has introduced the mercantile bushel of 2276 inches.
The former of these is most used in some of the grain States, the
latter in others. The middle term of 270 cubic inches may be taken
as a mutual compromise of convenience, and as offering this general
advantage: that the bushel being of 2160 cubic inches, is exactly a
cubic foot and a quarter, and so facilitates the conversion of wet
and dry measures into solid contents and tonnage, and simplifies the
connection of measures and weights, as will be shown hereafter.
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