Potatoes

[Dark61]

Big(ish) argument with the Sis tonight - she reckons, she used to bring back a 56lb bag of potatoes from the local market , up a short hill , on a bus - then home. This is back in pommy land in the mid 60's - she would have been 10 years old. She's 4 years older than me and I have no memory of it. I think it sounds dodgy on many levels - but .................. I've got a vague memory I used to chuck 56lb bags of sugar about when I was working in a sweet factory back in the late 70's - so there possibly was a standard bag that came in 56lbs...... but as a 10 year old??!! I know they bred them tough in those days but Mmmmmmm.............. any thoughts?

[jerryd]

I remember our local greengrocer "Mr Kingston" had the 56lb weights by his scales, so I'd say yes they did sell sacks of spuds that weighed that much.

We used to buy a threepenny bit's worth of peanuts in the shells and eat them on the way to school :D

[Chris66]

A bushel is around 56lbs so the weight is probably legit. However the average 10 year old girl wouldn't weigh much more than 56lb. So she was pretty much carrying her own body weight of potatoes. A solid effort even in those days.

[roversmith]

A hundredweight is 112 pounds or 1 CWT, you bag of spuds is a half hundred weight. Never could work out why it was a hundred weight when it was 12 pounds more.

[Hoges]

Big(ish) argument with the Sis tonight - she reckons, she used to bring back a 56lb bag of potatoes from the local market , up a short hill , on a bus - then home. This is back in pommy land in the mid 60's - she would have been 10 years old. She's 4 years older than me and I have no memory of it. I think it sounds dodgy on many levels - but .................. I've got a vague memory I used to chuck 56lb bags of sugar about when I was working in a sweet factory back in the late 70's - so there possibly was a standard bag that came in 56lbs...... but as a 10 year old??!! I know they bred them tough in those days but Mmmmmmm.............. any thoughts?

that's a lot of chips on your shoulder... :eek::wasntme:

[JDNSW]

A hundredweight is 112 pounds or 1 CWT, you bag of spuds is a half hundred weight. Never could work out why it was a hundred weight when it was 12 pounds more.

A hundredweight was originally 100 pounds (medieval French Avoirdupois weights), but was rationalised with the more commonly used British weight of a stone, which, at 14 pounds, does not go evenly into 100 pounds, so that by about Elizabethan times a 'hundredweight' was informally eight stone. The difference was not a concern to the average person, as the value of a pound was ill defined anyway, and in the absence of large scales weight measurements larger than several stones were rarely made. This appears not to have become a legal definition until the nineteenth century, after the American revolution, and hence the definition of a hundredweight as 112 pounds never found its way to the USA.

John

[ramblingboy42]

some women I know carry more than 56lbs of body fat on them and think nothing of it , in fact at least one I know carries more than double that. she is same size frame as my 47kg wife , at over 125kg she's carry over 110 excess lbs on her body.

yesterday , I carried a 28 kg object a short distance and I really knew I was carrying it , so I don't know how they do it.

[Roverlord off road spares]

some women I know carry more than 56lbs of body fat on them and think nothing of it , in fact at least one I know carries more than double that. she is same size frame as my 47kg wife , at over 125kg she's carry over 110 excess lbs on her body.

yesterday , I carried a 28 kg object a short distance and I really knew I was carrying it , so I don't know how they do it.
Simple in a lot of cases too much junk food and no excercise. This trend has been happening for years, that's why we have an obesity problem

[loanrangie]

56lbs is about 25kg which is a standard size commercial produce bag so its possible it was the same back then, but being carried by a 10yo i doubt it very much.

[Rosco8]

Don't know about bags of spuds, but as kids in the 60's we had to carry hessian bags of Briquettes (Melbourne), they seemed really heavy at the time :):) No idea what they weighed ??

[JDNSW]

56lbs is about 25kg which is a standard size commercial produce bag so its possible it was the same back then, but being carried by a 10yo i doubt it very much.

The 10yo probably weighed about that much - and humans of any age above infancy are capable of carrying their own weight, at least for short distances and if they are used to it. I know that from as early as I can remember, myself and my identical twin used to carry each other without any particular problem and without thinking it was out of the ordinary. Probably not a good idea for joints that are still developing, but that does not mean it was not done.

John

[Chucaro]

At the age of 12 I was in a catholic agricultural college doing high school and at the same to a diploma in Agriculture.
We used to do many tasks and among them carry bags of maize, feed for cows, pigs and poultry which were well over 25kg.
It was not only one bag, we worked 6 hours in the farm at a pace that now will be classified as a children exploitation.
Yes it is possible for a child to carry that weight day in day out but the price will be paid on health.
The bastards (priest and the college) ruined my spine :mad:

[4xsama]

I saw the thread topic and thought bewdey, I'm not the only only one to bang on about spuds. I grew up in Tassie where there is a big variety of potatoes from the baking to the mashing to the steaming type (Pink Eye's - Yum!). I now live in Perth where the variety is much smaller and apparently growing is controlled by some sort of Potato Mafia. Still look forward to going back to Tassie to eat spuds.

Anyhoo - I can't remember buying spuds in a 56lbs bag so back in the box with me I suppose.

[UncleHo]

The old pre metric days :)
LBS=pound=16ounces

14lbs = 1 stone

28lbs =Quarter

56lbs =1/2

112lbs = 1cwt (hundredweight)

2240lbs = 1 ton (avoirdupois)

And one would see meat trucks delivering to butcher shops with the drivers humping beef sides over their shoulder :)

My daughter's party trick as a primary schooler 8-10 to impress her friends, was to pick me up and sit me on the outside table (I weighed 8.5 stone)

[Rextheute]

I like potatoes !

But I would think twice about armwrestling your sis , she sounds like a handful as well as being strong - even as a ten yr old !

[Bigbjorn]

Refined sugar was packed in 70 lb. bags. Raw sugar before the start of bulk handling was in 140 lb. bags. Pre WW2 raw sugar was in 2 cwt. bags (224 lbs.). Wharfies in the sugar ports were expected to take a bag off the stack in the shed onto their back and shoulder and carry it out to the sling ship-side. The generous and caring stevedoring companies worked out that by reducing the bags to 140 lbs. they could save one man in a gang. At 224 lbs. it took two men to lift a bag onto the back of the human mule but 140 lbs. only required one with the assistance of the carrier. Most wharfies didn't weigh as much as the bags they were expected to hump. Cairns port with the long jetty was known as "the long carry". Few who worked the sugar ports lived to enjoy a long healthy retirement being broken in health by their employment. People used to wonder why they were such militant unionists. They had to be. No one else looked after their interests.

[vnx205]

I saw the thread topic and thought bewdey, I'm not the only only one to bang on about spuds. I grew up in Tassie where there is a big variety of potatoes from the baking to the mashing to the steaming type (Pink Eye's - Yum!). I now live in Perth where the variety is much smaller and apparently growing is controlled by some sort of Potato Mafia. Still look forward to going back to Tassie to eat spuds.

Anyhoo - I can't remember buying spuds in a 56lbs bag so back in the box with me I suppose.

I heard a story once that the variety of potatoes grown in Tassie was dictated by McDonalds.

According to the story, they wanted a variety (I don't remember which one) that produced a larger spud. That gave them longer chips (or fries if you are American) and that with longer chips, there was actually less weight in a full container of chips.

I have no idea if the story is actually true.

As for your not being able to remember 56lb bags of spuds, that might be just because you are too young. I suspect that most of us who were born shortly after the dinosaurs became extinct can remember them. We probably also remember when bags of cement went 20 to the ton.

[ramblingboy42]

yes you are right vnx205, special types of spuds are grown specifically to make the long chip and being able to cut them thinner cook faster , saving power etc.

the fast food companies , although in denial , are ultimately responsible for the plight of many , many , farmers , and for the very existence or should I say destruction of forests that are still being cleared for the ever increasing demand for cattle grazing land.

[Bigbjorn]

I heard a story once that the variety of potatoes grown in Tassie was dictated by McDonalds.

According to the story, they wanted a variety (I don't remember which one) that produced a larger spud. That gave them longer chips (or fries if you are American) and that with longer chips, there was actually less weight in a full container of chips.

I have no idea if the story is actually true.

As for your not being able to remember 56lb bags of spuds, that might be just because you are too young. I suspect that most of us who were born shortly after the dinosaurs became extinct can remember them. We probably also remember when bags of cement went 20 to the ton.

I used to know all the weights of common freight when we were carting general to small towns on the inner Darling Downs. Bottled beer was 56 dozen to the ton in country pack cartons (cardboard dividers between bottles). Wheat was in three bushel bags. We were expected to, and did, manhandle 18 gallon kegs, drums of fuel, slings of star pickets, bundles of wool packs, and other heavy awkward items. Few places had hoists or cranes.

[Chucaro]

yes you are right vnx205, special types of spuds are grown specifically to make the long chip and being able to cut them thinner cook faster , saving power etc.

the fast food companies , although in denial , are ultimately responsible for the plight of many , many , farmers , and for the very existence or should I say destruction of forests that are still being cleared for the ever increasing demand for cattle grazing land.

Respectfully I disagree with you, the responsible are the consumers, without them fast food companies will be not in business.
Unnecessary consumerism and greed it is the main problem.

[superquag]

Perhaps your sister's memory is improving with age... :angel:

But as a 12 year old, I used to stagger under a full bag of wheat/barley/oats/superphosphate. dunno what they weighed, but more than a bale of hay.

[vnx205]

Bags of wheat didn't weight the same as bags of barley.


BUSHEL WEIGHTS:
1 bu. Wheat or Soybeans=60 lbs
1 bu. Corn or Sorghum=56 lbs
1 bu. Barley=48 lbs.
1 bu. Oats =32 lbs.

A bushel is a measure of volume. Certainly the density of those grains varies a lot.

[Bigbjorn]

Bags of wheat didn't weight the same as bags of barley.


BUSHEL WEIGHTS:
1 bu. Wheat or Soybeans=60 lbs
1 bu. Corn or Sorghum=56 lbs
1 bu. Barley=48 lbs.
1 bu. Oats =32 lbs.

A bushel is a measure of volume. Certainly the density of those grains varies a lot.

Yes, 180 lbs. was a bag of wheat. Canary was the heaviest bag but I don't remember its weight. Bagged grain was in its death throes by the mid-60's although still exported that way to certain countries without bulk handling facilities for some years.