THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



453 



REVIEW OF THE CORN TRADE 



DURING THE PAST MONTH. 



Like the previous months of this extraordinary 

 year, April has been without the usual character- 

 istics (shower and sunshine), dry weather having 

 far preponderated, with, however, a good deal of 

 cold in the early part of the month, so that the 

 progress of vegetation, on the whole, has not been 

 rapid. This, however, is more in favour of a crop 

 of wheat, as the blooming time is more likely to be 

 out of the reach of rough weather. The young 

 plants continue to look well and promising, and 

 the seed-time for Lent corn has been most favour- 

 able; but more rain would be serviceable, especially 

 to the grass, which is backward and short. 



The wheat crop in Europe is generally well re- 

 ported, especially in the South of France, Spain, 

 and Italy ; but on the coast of Africa and in the 

 French colonies drought is doing harm to spring 

 corn, and there were some fears for wheat. The 

 anticipations that other Italian States would follow 

 the example of Rome, in a permission to export, 

 have been only partly realized. Naples, at last, 

 has come out with an act of grace in favour of 

 grower.s there ; the export of wheat being permitted 

 on payment of one silver ducat per cantar, equal to 

 about 8s. Gd. per qr., and only reaching to the 

 15th June, which is nearly tantamount to a pro- 

 hibition, though a few choice parcels for a limited 

 use may come on to France and Britain. We now, 

 therefore, pretty well know the worst of it ; and 

 this news coming with fine weather, has not pre- 

 vented a rise in the market here of Is. per qr., 

 which is about the balance of the month's gain, 

 after several fluctuations. 



The idea of last year's fine crop has been bandied 

 about as though it could be grown and shipped for 

 nothing, and the contents of every foreign slack- 

 yard was on board ship, and the labouring fleets all 

 bound for Britain. But if England has lost heart, 

 and her imperial ally has caught the infection, it is 

 not so with Germany, the United States, or Russia, 

 They, at least, think they ought to be paid for their 

 work and produce, and very good pay may be yet 

 in store, should any accident occur between now 

 and harvest, which is yet fully four months dis- 

 tant ; and the short stocks in London, after this 

 year of plenty and continued imports, show a 

 consumption going on unprecedented. 



Dating the new era for farmers from the last 

 Bill, it appears the last average price is 12s. 8d. 

 below the average of the eleven years preceding ; 



and as there is no inducement to increase the rate 

 of shipments in the present state of prices here, it 

 seems fair to look forward to receiving only about 

 1,200,000 qrs. more foreign wheat as the total 

 arrivals before the maturity of our own crop, which 

 is below one month's consumption ; and should 

 we advance, our friends abroad, with telegraphic 

 means of information, histead of forcing off their 

 stocks, will be more likely to hold for better prices. 

 As it is, the surplus at disposal is only out of last 

 year's produce, as the stock of old on hand every- 

 where was much below an average amount. The 

 falling off in the weekly deliveries indicates a 

 general resistance of any further depreciation ; and, 

 if still more straitened, they would soon settle the 

 question, for the abundance of money waiting for 

 speculative opportunities would be then partly 

 directed to the corn trade. 



In the Baltic less than an average quantity of 

 wheat is likely to be shipped. At Danzig, the top 

 quotation was about 45s.; at Stettin, 41s. (id.; 

 Hambro' quotations for red 62lbs. Holstein 

 were 44s. 6d., Gllbs. white 45s., extra red Marks 

 and Saale 45s. Gd. In Rotterdam, white Zealand 

 was worth 45s. ; the best heavy red Rhine bring- 

 ing 46s. to 47s. per qr. Antwerp advices note 

 43s. as the value of Louvain red. Paris quotes 

 about 39s. as the higliest price. Nantes, 40s. for 

 red, and 43s. the best white; first quality flour 

 being held at 31s. Gd. (only worth 34s., duty and 

 expenses paid, in London). Madrid quotes 53s. to 

 GOs., and Alicante 52s. Gd. for Taganrog. The rates 

 at Odessa were 38s. to 44s. ; at Taganrog and 

 Berdianski, 37s. to 41s. Prices at Galatz, freight 

 included, were 38s. per qr. New York was high, 

 the best southern red being about 42s., and best 

 white 50s. Some reports made the stocks in the 

 several Lake Ports reach to 700,000 qrs. ; but this 

 seems an exaggeration, and there were few symp- 

 toms of giving way. 



The first Monday commenced on moderate sup- 

 plies, both English and foreign, with a very slender 

 contribution from Kent and Essex, as the morn- 

 ing's addition; this being in fine condition^ millers 

 took it off' slowly at Is. per qr. advance, and their 

 attention was also more turned to fine foreign at 

 full prices. The country markets mostly exceeded 

 this improvement— Manchester, Leeds, Birming- 

 ham, and Bristol agreed with it; Hull, Newark, 

 Boston, and most of the Saturday's reports made 



