The Hay and Straw Truss
Three different weights, and a law to stop the fraud.
Origin
Regulated by successive Hay and Straw Acts governing the London markets, which set truss weights and required them to be certified.
The catch
New hay and old hay had different legal truss weights, because hay loses moisture as it cures. Sell new hay at the old weight and you were selling water. The law fixed both figures precisely to stop exactly that.
| Commodity | Truss (lb) | Load | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| New hay | 60 | 36 trusses | Cut in the current season, still holding moisture |
| Old hay | 56 | 36 trusses | Cut the previous season, dried out |
| Straw | 36 | 36 trusses | Lighter and bulkier than hay |
| Load of new hay | — | 2,160 lb | Just under a ton |
| Load of old hay | — | 2,016 lb | Eighteen hundredweight |
| Load of straw | — | 1,296 lb | About eleven and a half hundredweight |
London consumed prodigious quantities of hay and straw, because the city ran on horses: every cab, omnibus, dray and private carriage needed feeding and bedding. The Haymarket takes its name from the trade, and the Smithfield and Whitechapel hay markets were substantial commercial institutions. The Acts regulating truss weights were repealed only in the twentieth century, by which time the horses had gone and the problem with them.