The Past Asks You: Apple Economics, 1698

Johann Hermann Knoop, Pomologia (1758)

It's time for another puzzle from the past:

"A man sent his three Sons to Market, to his Eldest he gave twenty two Apples: To the second sixteen: and to the third ten Apples, and bid them sell all at a price, and bring all Money alike." 

T. T. A Rich Treasure (1698)

To review: each son has to sell all his apples. No son can set a higher price than his brothers. And each of them has to bring home the same amount of money as the others. How will the clever trio accommodate the economically incoherent demands of their father?

If you think you have what it takes to be a 17th-century apprentice fruit vendor, post your answer in the comments. I'll add the 1698 solution tomorrow.

How to Get Rich, 1556

"Dear Past, How can I get rich?"

Detail from Artemisia Gentileschi, Danaë (1612)

"Of all ways whereby great wealth is acquired by good and honest means, none is more advantageous than mining... So let the farmers have for themselves the fruitful fields and cultivate the fertile hills for the sake of their produce; but let them leave to miners the gloomy valleys and sterile mountains, that they may draw forth from these, gems and metals which can buy, not only the crops, but all things that are sold."  

Georgius Agricola, De re metallica (1556)

If you really want to get rich, quit your zucchini farming and go find some gems and metals. You may not have considered how many things you can buy with a mine full of gems, but the answer is: all the things.