CHAP. XII.

FLUCTUATIONS IN CORN.

343

that vacuum which was created by the scarcityof corn. The flocks of sheep were kept in Eng-land then as they are now in Spain, in Saxony ,and in Poland —for the sake of the profit gainedby the wool, and not for the sake of the meat,which, unless in years following an unproductiveharvest, was of very little value.

After these observations on the uncertaintyof the price of wheat as a standard by which tomeasure the value of the precious metals, wemay be permitted to lay before our readers thebest account we have been enabled to collect ofthose prices at different periods.

The great fluctuations in the value of corn informer ages have been already noticed. Theyarose out of the want of capital by which apart of the surplus produce of the most pro-ductive years might be retained to meet theexigencies of following years of scarcity. Therequisite capital was not then created, and theland with its annual fruits was almost the onlykind of wealth in existence. The surplus of theproductive years could find no purchasers whocould store it, and the price fell so as scarcely torepay even the labour which had been expendedon the crops. On the other hand, when a yearof scarcity occurred, as there was no previouslystored stock, the few who had money becamecompetitors with each other, and the pricesrose to a height above those of medium years