THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



153 



was about fiOs. per qr., with a prospect of a still farther ad- 

 vance, as the previous crop— not only in this country, hut 

 on the continent— was defective both in quantity and qualit}', 

 added to which a considerable denuind for export existed 

 froni the South of Kurope. Prices, however, instead 

 of improving, rather declined, large supplies from the 

 Black 8e* and Mediteiranean having satisfied the require- 

 ments of the Peniusiila. At the end of the first quarter, in 

 conjequei;ce of more Ubcral supplies from our growers, and 

 larger imports from abro;id than were calculated op, prices gave 

 way Ss. pjr qr. on English, and 4s. to 5s. on foreign scrts. A 

 better demand however set in, and by the end of May the 

 value had ra r.; lliin recovered the depression existing in the 

 four previous months ; and at the end of June English red was 

 quoted 6Ss. to 703., mixf.'d Danzig 669. to 70s., Baltic red GOj. 

 to G-ls., and Russian SSs. to 623. per qr. A good consumptive 

 demand nevertheless continued, and in the month of June 

 prices appear to have reaclieJ their highest point. The ap- 

 proach of the harvest at this time was signalized by the most 

 brilliant weather, and the splendid appearance of (he wheat 

 crop was all that could be desired. Prices accordingly soon 

 gave way; in fact, a sort of weather panic appeared to influ- 

 ence all parties connected with thi trade, and a decline of lOs. 

 per qr, was submitted to before the end of July. In this lo- 

 cality heavy storms, attende 1 with severe floods, endangered 

 the favourable iLgithering of the crops, a portion of which had 

 eventually to be harvesttd iu a state hardly fit fur human food. 

 Still, taking the country throughout, it is generally admitted 

 that this year's crop of wheat is fully an average.^both as re- 

 gards quantity and quality ; and this appears to be fidly borne 

 out by the general, yet important, reduction in value. At the 

 end of August, at which unusually early period the bulit of 

 the wheat crop was secured, new English red of first quality 

 was worth 6O3. to GSs., old English 60s., Baltic red 553. to 

 58s., and white 60i. to 623. per qr. From this date the 

 value remained pretty steady, until affected by a more strin- 

 gent state of monetary affairs ; this increasing in intensity, 

 drove prices rapidly downward until the middle of the mouth 

 of November, at which time we appear to have reached the 

 lowest point, red English wheat having been forced off at 453. 

 per qr., GSlhs. ; Baltic red for 46". to 48s, choice white 523. 

 to 543. Since then the gradual and apparently sound improve- 

 ment in commercial matters generally, combined with a good 

 consumptive demand, partly arising from the failure of that 

 valuable esculent the potato, the prospect of a cessatioa of 

 supplies from abroad of any magnitude for some time to come, 

 the tone of the market has gradually improved, buyers gene- 

 rally show less hesitation in operating, and prices have ad- 

 vanced on all good useful wheats 23. to Ss. per qr., at which 

 advance we close the year, with a good steady trade. The 

 stock ou hand is estimated at 74,000 qrs., agamst 40,000 qrs. 

 last year. 



Barley. — The import of this cereal during the year has 

 been oa a very liberal scale, exceeding any since 1850, b:ing 

 250,682 qrs. These large supplies have principally reasbed us 

 from the Baltic, whence little has been drawn for many years 

 past, and part from Turkey, where the cultivation has very 

 much improved, as shown by the quality of the shipments. 

 This grain has during the present year commanded high prices, 

 English malting up to the close of the malting season having 

 brought 463. to 48^ per qr. About this time arrivals to an 

 almost nnprecedeated extent from Silesia and the Baltic Ports 

 affected its value, which declined Ss. to 4s. per qr. ; but well- 

 founded accounts of continued drought on the Continent en- 

 dangering the crop, produced a speculative demand for every- 

 thing of malting quality, and prices soon rallied. Monetary 

 causej, however, having affected this in common with every 

 other artirle of import, the value declined, and at the close of 

 the year quotations were 343. to 363. for English, and 328. to 

 35'. for foreign malting ; whilst grinding stands at 28s. to 29s. 

 for stout, and 27s. to 27s. 6d. for thin qualit.es. Tlie stock on 

 hand is 4,01)0 qrs , agaiust 31,500 the previous year. 



Oats — The import this year consists of 99,500 qrs., against 

 42.045 the preceding one. This grain has fluctuated less than 

 any other ; prices scarcely varied from the commencement of 

 the year until April and May, when, owing to the drought and 

 the backwardness of the season, an advance of 23. per qr. was 

 obtained ; this, however, was of no long duration, prices since 

 having gradually followed in the wake of other articles, and 

 chose considerably lower, especially for Russian, of which the 



major part of the stock here at present consists, say 28,000 

 qrs , against 3,000 qrs. in 1856. 



Beans — The import shows a small decrease as compared 

 with last year, the same being 57,956 qrs. this, and 69,756 up 

 to the end of last year. The demand has been good through- 

 out the year, and, with the exception of some portion of Egyp- 

 tian supplies, which we:it to granary ou arrival, nearly all the 

 supplies from the Baltic and nearer ports were realized ex-ship, 

 and the stock is now very light. In the first nud second quar- 

 ters of the year prices varied from 383. to 44 1., third from 43i. 

 to 463., October and November 42s. to 43s., and the closing 

 prices are now SSs. to 393. per qr., all 6alb3, per bush. Stock 

 9,500 qrs., against about same quantity last year. 



Pe.\s. — The supplies have been very large in comparison 

 with those of the preceding year, when they reached o:ily 

 4,736 qrs.; whereas this year they amount to 24,004 qrs. 

 Although the demand has been confined tomeri consumption, 

 supplies have found readj sale, and the year closes with but a 

 small stock. Iu ihe first half-year prices ruled frorn 38j. to 

 423. ; during the following five months, from 40s. to 483. ; 

 and the present value is 383. to 423. per qr. of GSlbs. Stocks 

 small — say 2,500 qrs. 



Clover and other Agricultural Seeds. — During 

 the present year seeds have been subjected to great fluctua- 

 tions, particularly red cloverseed, which early in January 

 opened at rather moderate prices ; but iu coasequeuce of fiue ge- 

 nial weather prevailing from the middle of that month to the 

 second week iu March, an active demand appeared, and was 

 continued up to this period for all desciptions of seeds, and 

 prices were well maintained, whilst in some cases there was a 

 considerable advince, red cloverseed having improved in value 

 since the opening of the year 83. to lOs. per cwt. About the 

 middle of March, however, from unfavourable weather, the 

 trade was almost suspended. Notwithstanding this great 

 curtailment of the consumption, the stocks at the close of the 

 season were by no means extensive. The new crop of red 

 cloverseed promises well eb to quality, particularly in Holland 

 and Belgium, from both of which countries we have had some 

 arrivals of very choice seed ; the breadth that has been culti- 

 vated, however, is said to have been small. In Germany the 

 crop has not been well spoken of as to quality, in quantity 

 pretty fair. In France moderate, with an average quality. la 

 this country the crop at one time was expected to be an abun- 

 dant one ; but in consequence of the loug continuance of wet 

 weather at the time of maturing, the seed was much injured 

 both as to quality and production ; but it is still thought there 

 will be a tolerable yield in some districts of rather inferior 

 seed. The new crop of white in Germany, whence we receive 

 our principal supplies, is reported to be very much short of 

 last year, both in quality and quantity, particularly as respects 

 the latter, and under this impression prices have been well 

 supported, fine and middling old seed having sold the last few 

 weeks at higher prices than such qualifies would have produced 

 at the close of the season and to the present time. We have 

 had very small arrivals of new seed. 



Linseed.— Of this article our import has heenagain very 

 large, being only a few thousand quarters deficient of last 

 year's, which was the greatest import recorded. The year 

 commenced with considerable stock in warehouse; notwith- 

 standing which, the value of seed steadily improved, until 

 Black Sea qualities attained GfJs. per qr. iu March. Our 

 imports becoming large about this time, prices gradually 

 gave way about 5s., the value in April of Taganrog seed 

 being G'is. to 63s. For the next two or three months the 

 market fluctu.itcd to the extent of 23. to 3s. per qr. in favour 

 of sellers, but prices were generally well maintained until 

 the development of the financial crisis in the beginning of 

 October, which influenced the value of this article very se- 

 verely, and in the course of two months a decline took place 

 on fine seeds of about 15s. per qr. from the utmost vahie; 

 common qualities suffering in proportion, the prices 

 at the close of the year being 49s. to 50s. for lair quality 

 of Taganrog and Odessa seed, 4b's. to 48s. fine Petersburg 

 521bs., 43s. to 45s. for medium, while inferior are not sale- 

 able at beyond 333. to 403., weighed 5llbs. The position of 

 of iho crushing trade during the year has been of an un- 

 satisfactory nature, the value of seed having been kept upat 

 an extraordinary high point, which generally precluded the 

 manufacturer from carrying on his business in a profitable 

 manner, the raw material being so much above the relative 



