market measure

The system of volume measures used for large quantities of goods, now in hectolitres (100 litres). In the pre-metric system the most common were the bushel (equal to 8 gallons, either imperial or US), the quarter (equal to 8 bushels), the bag, sack, chest, hogshead and barrel. Because many dry goods were originally sold by volume, the weights of a bushel and other volume measures were standardized, e.g. a bushel of wheat equals 60 lb, of maize, 56 lb, of oats, 39 lb in the UK and 32 lb in the USA and so on.