OSCHERSLEBEN. 
401 
sold in miniature cheeses, weighing from 2 to 2| ounces each when quite fresh, 
at the uniform price of 5 pfennige or a fraction over \d. The only other kind 
sold is Limburg cheese at 6^d. per lb., but this is found in very few shops in 
working-class streets. Fresh butter is sold at Is. 2\d. per lb., and a kind 
imported from Friesland by one dealer, who has four branch shops, is sold at 
Is. Ud. per lb. Margarine is very largely purchased, the prices for the three 
qualities being 8|d., 7\d. and 6fd. per lb., of which the first is in greatest 
demand. 
Only two kinds of bread are baked, “ white,” consisting of wheat, and 
“ grey ” which is made from finely-ground rye. The dark coloured and coarse 
kind usually known as “ black bread ” is not sold here at all. Wheaten bread 
is not made into loaves but into rolls which resemble a small bun in appearance. 
These are taken only with coffee at the " first breakfast” before going to work. 
Rye bread is sold in long fiat loaves rounded at the ends and top, and usually 
weighing 7 to 7§ lbs. Bread is not sold by weight but per loaf or per roll, 4he 
equivalent prices in October, 1905, being 9d. per 4 lbs. English for wheaten 
bread, and 4Jd. to 5\d. per 4 lbs. English for rye bread. For his second 
breakfast, taken from 8.30 to 9 o’clock, the workman eats slices of rye bread 
covered with butter or margarine and slices of sausage, and drinks either beer or 
“ Schnaps.” The sale of milk is practically in the hands of one of the sugar 
manufacturing firms, which farms on a large scale, yet purchases also from 
farmers and milk-dealers. The price of pure or “full” milk was in 1905 
2d. per quart. 
The coal used at Oschersleben is the kind known as lignite or “ brown 
coal,” a coal much softer and possessing much less heating power than the 
English pit coal. This is got from mines in the neighbourhood. Many of the 
workmen fetch this coal from the mines, a distance of about three miles, in hand 
wagons, as they are able to buy it there at the low price of 3 id. per cwt. 
Briquettes are also used for heating purposes, though in small quantities, and 
in October, 1905, these cost 9fd. per cwt. For cooking purposes coke obtained 
from brown coal, after extracting paraffin, &c., is used in every working-class 
household, as already explained. This was sold at Is. 1 \d. per cwt. Petroleum, 
which is entirely American, costs 9£d. per gallon. 
The following table summarises the predominant prices paid by the 
working classes in October, 1905, and May, 1907. During this interval bacon 
had somewhat fallen in price, while potatoes, flour, bread, milk, and coal had 
all risen. 
Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in October, 1905, 
and May, 1907. 
Commodity. 
Coffee ... 
Sugar :— 
Loaf ... ... ••• 
White Granulated ... 
Bacon :— 
at ... ... ... 
Streaky 
Eggs 
Cheese :— 
Country Cheese 
Limburg 
Butter ... 
Margarine 
Potatoes 
Flour, Wheat 
Bread, Rye (grey) 
Milk 
Lignite briquettes 
Coke ... .. 
Paraffin Oil, American 
Predominant Price. 
... per lb. 
... „ 
... „ 
... per Is. 
October, 1905. 
11 d. 
2# 
d-t 2^d. 
8fd. to lid. 
8§d. „ lid. 
13 to 16 
May, 1907. 
lid. 
2# 
2\d., 2\d. 
8|d. 
8|d. to 9fd. 
13 to 16 
per lb. 
per 7 lbs. 
per 4 lbs. 
per qt. 
per cwt. 
per gallon 
3|d. to 4|d. 
6^d. 
Is. 2fd. 
8%d. 
21d. to 3d. 
ll\d. 
4|d. to 5\d. 
2d. 
9# 
Is. Hd. 
9|d: 
3fd. to 4fd. 
6^d. 
Is. 2\d. 
8|d. 
3d. to 3fd. 
Is. 0\d. 
5\d. to 6d. 
2fd. 
lf)id. 
Is. 2|d. 
9# 
3 E 
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