Statk Agricultukal Society. 143 



PRlliDLANDHR'S ANNUAL GKAIX C1RCTI,AR. 



San Franx'ISCo, June 30th, 1878. 



The course of the San Francisco grain market is so dependent on 

 that of Liverpool, that before i)roceeding to review our trade for the 

 year just closed, it may be well to glance at that of Great liritain 

 during the same period, as it is there that the key to the fluctuations 

 of our market can generally be found. 



The harvests of eighteen hundred and seventy-five and eighteen 

 hundred and seventy-si:x had both been deficient in Great Britain, 

 and the month of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, found 

 Liverpool with small stocks of all descriptions of breadstufis. The 

 weather at the same time was very unfavoral)le for the growing corn, 

 while on the Continent the sanguinary war raging between Russia 

 and Turkey seemed destined to cut off some of the largest and most 

 available sources of supply. Under such circumstances it was not 

 suri)rising that prices ruled comparatively high, and they undoubt- 

 edly would have ruled much higher had it not been well established 

 that the Western States of the American Union were getting ready 

 to cut by far the largest crop ever harvested in that great grain pro- 

 ducing region. Average California wheat "off coast" at the begin- 

 ning of that month ranged from lifty-seven shillings to fifty-eight 

 shillings per quarter, and about twelve shillings for spot deliveries 

 ex quay; while as high as fifty-nine shillings ninepence was paid 

 for "all the year" shipments. The market subsequently fluctuated 

 with the weather, but as a general rule weakened for cargoes just 

 shipped, while it remained very strong for those close at hand. Thus 

 fifty -six shillings sixpence was offered early in i^ugust for the former 

 while as high as sixty shillings was i)aid for the latter. Western red 

 wheat meantime was selling for nearly the same figures, say fifty 

 nine shillings for four hundred and eighty }^ounds. The harvest in 

 England was a late one and proved very unsatisfactory, being deemed 

 by many the worst that had been gathered for twenty years. The 

 yield was poor and the grain gathered in bad condition, some of it in 

 Scotland standing in the fields until caught by the snows of Novem- 

 ber. The market in consequence advanced steadily through Septem- 

 ber and October, as high as sixty-four shillings having been paid for 

 California "olf coast" in the latter month, but tlie inflnenceof thocrop 

 in the Atlantic States still kei)t prices for "forward shipment" down, 

 and the rise for such shipments was moderate, say from fifty-six shil- 

 lings in August to fifty-eight shillings and fifty-nine shillings in Sep- 

 tember and October. Number two spring, new crop, meanwhile had 

 dropped from fifty-six shillings to forty-eight shillings sixpence "for 

 shipment." During the balance of the fall the same state of affairs 

 existed, the market for California cargoes near at hand being strong, 

 while comi»aratively weak for those just shinped. This on the whole 

 made a satisfactory business for dealers and operators in England, a 

 cargo purchased in San Francisco rising gradually but steadily dur- 

 ing the passage, and leaving a hand.some profit on arrival, and (hiring 

 this time a good deal of money was made in Liverpool. But the 



