The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #112155   Message #2370979
Posted By: kendall
20-Jun-08 - 03:56 PM
Thread Name: Folklore: Expression - a peck of dirt
Subject: RE: BS: Expression - a peck of dirt
When I was a teen ager back home we used to dig and sell clams. A bushel weighs 60 pounds, a half bushel 30 pounds and a peck, 15 pounds.

The hogshead is a bit less precise, in Maine it is 17 and 1/2 bushels. There are still many archaic terms in our local dialect which we inherited from our English ancestors.