THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



553 



Stic notions, it may be that the ti-uth as to the comparativo 

 quantity will be found at a point between the two estienies. 

 The conductors of the public press have abundantly ven- 

 tilated the question of the harvest, in the discharge of their 

 daily and weekly duties for the benefit of the general pub- 

 lic. From tlieir writings, from private sources, and from 

 long practical farming knowledge, I am able to make up 

 the following tabular statement as regards such of the Mid- 

 land Counties as I am well acquainted with. Observe that 

 I have taken the mean proportional quantities, both as 

 regards number of bushels per acre, and weight per im- 

 perial bushel. 



Imp. Bush. Weight, 



per acre; per imp . bush. 

 Banbury., .. 38 .... CO 



Bicester, Oxford 24 60 



Korthamptou .. 34 .... 88 

 Herefordshire .. 28 .... 58 

 Haversham, Kent 36 .... 57 

 Norwich . . . . 34 .... 60 

 Ipswich . . . . 25 .... 29 

 Boston, Lincoln. . 26 .... 56 



Beccles, Suffolk.. 22 60 



S.Lincolnshire.. 34 .... 58 

 E. Lincoln, Slea- 



ford, & the Fens 16 .... 56 



Newark 30 58^ 



Bedford . . . . 40 56 



Grantham .. 32 60 



Maldon, Essex . , 24 .... 68 



Brighton.. .. 32 58 



Reigate .. .. 32 58 



Rochester .. 28 61 



Cambridge .. 30 58 



Suffolk .. .. 36 .... 59 



Oxford .. .. 44 69J 



Bideford.. .. 18 ...'. 64 



Blandford, Dorch. 20 58 



Devizes, Wilts .. 23 .... 87 

 Gloucester .. 42 .... 89 

 Worcester . . 54 .... 89 



Southampton .. 24 .... 56 

 Somersetshire .. 35 .v.. 59 

 Widdlesboro', Yk. 33 .... 60 



Northern Counts. 28 60 



Kettering .. 30 59 



Stratford-onAvon 38 .... 58 



997 1877 



Average .. 304 S8i 



Touching this comparison of the different districts, it 

 cannot fail to occur to a reasonable mind, that, as regards 

 quantity per acre, we are this year not much behind a fair 

 average of seasons. But the point of moment is the re- 

 duced weight per bushel, and the consequent amount of 

 food-producing power, wliich will have to be tested at the 

 mill. Now, to arrive at the solution of this grave question — 

 for certainly it is one worthy of serious attention, and of 

 calculation — suppose we take the average weight of an im- 

 perial bushel of wheat this year, say 58Ibs,, and compare it 

 with the average of any seven years, say 61 to 621bs. We 

 shall then find a deficiency of about 6f per cent, upon our 

 estimated growth in the United Kingdom, taken as 

 20,000,000 quarters, or a deficit of 1,350,000 quarters. I 

 have no prejudice whatever in favour of these deductions; 

 and any one who is disposed to think difierently can make 

 his calculations to his own satisfaction, by considering that 

 333,000 quarters of wheat and flour represent every pound 

 per imperial bushel, or one and two-thirds per cent. 



If the above should be the only momentous deficiency in 

 the wheat crop of 1860 we have not much to be uncom- 

 fortable about. Time will dry and mellow the grain, mak- 

 ing it serviceable for man's use ; for it must be borne in 

 mind, that though comparatively poor in quality, all has 

 been gathered sound, without blight, mildew, rust, or any 

 other disease incident to the crop. 



Now, the aid given by free foreign imports from all quar- 

 ters during the months of August, September, and October, 

 amounts, according to the Board of Trade returns, to 

 2,670,000 quarters of wheat and flour, being within 895,000 

 • quarters of half what we imported in 1853 — 6,235,860 quar- 



ters, which was our highest import in one year — and more 

 than half of the quantity received during the other years of 

 large foreign importations of wheat and flour, 1851, '56, and 

 '58. But besides this, what do we witness now ? I take 

 the last Mavk-Lanc Express, and 1 find that in nearly all the 

 reports of agricultural markets, English old wheat is pro- 

 minently quoted as brought for sale and sold. 



There can be no fear, then, of our being put upon " short 

 commons" for the "staff of life;" and as for speculation, beyond 

 that of fair importation, which will be promoted by every 

 needful assistance, no judicious and pubhc banker would 

 lend a helping hand in the present state of the discount 

 market. 



As regards the other crops of cereals and roots, they de^ 

 serve merely a passing notice, as being neither very bad nor 

 very good. Turnips and mangel wurzol and potatoes have 

 improved in size and weight through the late favourable 

 drv weather. 



The receipts of grain and flour since Tuesday form only 

 a very small portion of the supplies known to be on the 

 passage, and still detained hy opposing winds. It may not 

 be out of the business course to mention that, previously 

 this year, there have been received at this port 1,017,180 

 quarters of wheat, 898,734 sacks of flour (the American and 

 Canadian barrels being rendered into sacks of 2801bs.), 

 and 231,767 quarters of Indian corn, The majority of the 

 wheat has come in within the last three or four months, 

 and has found buyers from the ships' side, the fact of 

 storing being quite an exceptional event. 



Robert Puociek. 



Corn-Exchange, Liverpool, Nov. 23. 



THE AMERICAN GRAIN MARKET. 



A fortnight will still elapse before the annual statement 

 of the Western grain movement will he published, but a 

 close estimate can be made of the receipts at New York and 

 Montreal and other parts, for the two first weeks of Novem- 

 ber, with which the season closes. To the 16th of October 

 the receipts of all kinds of grain by the Erie Canal, at 

 New York, were 30,600,000 bushels, and to the 31st of Octo- 

 ber, 37,600,000 bushels ; and supposing the canal remained 

 open until the 15th of November, whUe the receipts con- 

 tinued on the same liberal scale, the aggregate movement 

 for the season by the Erie Canal would be 44,000,000 

 bushels. Estimated in the same way the receipts at all the 

 other points, including Montreal, reach 22,000,000 bushels, 

 which gives an aggregate for the whole lake region, for the 

 present season, of 66,000,000 bushels. This is very much 

 short of what was anticipated a month or two ago, and not 

 greatly in excess of the movement of 1856, which was 

 58,000,000 bushels, The movement by sea from the 

 United States and Canada to the United Kingdom, for the 

 twelve months ending 1st of September, was 13,300,000 

 bushels, against 2,920,000 bushels to the same date in 1859. 

 Since September 1st, and up to November 1st of the pre- 

 sent season, the movement by sea from the ports of the 

 United States and Canada to the United Kingdom has been 

 nearly equal to the movement of the twelve months ending 

 September 1st, being in excess of 11,000,000 bushels against 

 a merely nominal quantity in the same two months of last 

 year. . 



The great supplies of the American continent are, there- 

 fore, only now beginning to come forward. Up to Septem- 

 ber Ist, what was received was the remainder of the crop of 

 1859, and the 11,000,000 bushels since shipped to this 

 country is the first instalment of the crop of the present 

 year. The supply at this rate of five-and-a-half million 

 bushels a month would bring into competition with the 

 English crop from America alone, the enormous quantity of 

 66,000,000 bushels— very singularly the precise quantity 

 moved on the lakes— from the 1st of September, 1860, to the 

 1st of September, 1861 ; and at sis shillings a bushel would 

 involve an American expenditure for grain of .£19,800.000. 



Of course, if America has this large quantity of grain to 

 spare — and it is very much below the estimates formed some 

 months ago— there is nothing to prevent its being received, 

 and miUions would rejoice at the abundance wliich_ as- 

 suredly would prevail if it was all received at once ; but it is 



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