Bushel

Bushel

A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an imperial and US customary unit of weight or mass based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel was equal to 4 pecks or 8 gallons and was used mostly for agricultural products such as wheat. Presently, the volume is usually only nominal, with bushels referring to standard quantities of mass instead. Two pecks make a kenning (obsolete), and four pecks make a bushel.

The bushel is an intermediate value between the pound and ton or tun that was introduced 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 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 pence of 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 was redefined as 56 avoirdupois pounds.