Did France use hectolitres instead of kg or tons to measure agricultural productivity, around the end of the 19th century, or was it just for maps like the one included here ? | AskHistorians Archive Observer

Did France use hectolitres instead of kg or tons to measure agricultural productivity, around the end of the 19th century, or was it just for maps like the one included here ?

by dumnezero

Map: https://i.imgur.com/awdjMxj.jpg

edit: higher quality image

Was posted to /r/romania, /r/mapporn and now dataisbeautiful.

I'm not sure they used hl for everything or of it's just this case, but I'm curious as to why they used hectolitres at all.

lu619

Grain products were always measured by volume rather than by weight- it was a whole lot easier to measure bulk quantities that way if your weighing devices were restricted to steelyards and the like. The principal Imperial/American unit of dry measure was the bushel, equivalent to 8 gallons.