The Chaldron survives for coke. When coal is coked at the gas-works it swells, so that a ton of coal, = about 3/4 chaldron, yields about a chaldron of coke.
It has been seen that in 1392 the bushel was to be measured ‘striked’ and not heaped. Yet the love of extra weight or measure is so ingrained in human nature that it persisted, at least in retail transactions. With a pan-shaped bushel more than twice as broad as deep, heaping increased the measure by not less than one-fourth. With a drum-shaped bushel, its depth equal to its diameter, the increase of heaped over striked measure would be about an eighth, so that a bushel of wheat would weigh about 70 lb. instead of 62 lb. Heaped measure was made illegal in 1835.
It is possible that some long-bushels (as that of Chester = 70 lb.) were originally, or actually, heaped bushels.
In 1824 some of our measures were reorganised, and among the changes was the unification of wine and corn measure. The better concordance of capacity with weight by a single gallon containing exactly 10 lb. of water at ordinary temperature has been a great advantage. It has enlarged the decimal capabilities of our system without impairing its convenient and popular series of capacity units. It is indeed an advantage that the slight increase of the corn-gallon now gives a weight of 64 lb. good wheat to the bushel, so that the pint corresponds very exactly to a pound of wheat.
Yet it must be remembered that our brethren of the United States, not usually deemed unprogressive, get on very well with Queen Anne’s wine-gallon and corn-gallon.
The new gallon holds exactly 10 lb. of pure water at 62° or 277·274 cubic inches.
The bushel is of the capacity of 2218·19 cubic inches. It holds 80 lb. of pure water.
The change from the old corn-gallon was very slight, increasing it by only 3 per cent., from 268·8 to 277·27 c.i. (and rather less from the Winchester gallon of 270 c.i.), so that the bushel formerly holding 62-1/2 lb. of wheat now holds 64 lb.
Wine-measure was increased by almost exactly 20 per cent., from 231 c.i. to 277·27 c.i., so that a gallon of wine is contained in 6 customary bottles, instead of 5 as formerly, or as at present in the United States.