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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



important to observe, that the supply must necessarily ha 

 spread over a somewhat lengthened period. The present 

 liberal shipments from New York and other ports cannot be 

 maintained beyond next month, because these ports of ship- 

 ment are cut off by tlie winter from the Western sources of 

 supply. Early in November the weather sets in stormy on 

 the lakes, and usually before the end of the month the 

 lakes and canals are frozen over, and until the spring thaw 

 in the early or latter part of April, there is no resumption 

 of the Western grain movement. Practically, therefore, 

 the exports from America will be limited to the 6li,000,000 

 bushels moved this season on the lakes, and up to November 

 1st 24,200,000 bushels of that quantity had been shipped to 

 the United Kingdom. Of the balance, a portion only will 

 be received by us, as the lower British provinces draw the 

 bulk of their grain supplies from New York and Boston, and 

 in Newfoundland there is at the present time a famine. 

 Cuba and the West India Islands also draw grain supplies 

 from the Atlantic ports; and it therefore seems that not 

 until after the 1st of June, when supplies begin again to 

 reach New York, will we receive more than 10,000,000 or at 

 most 11,000,000 bushels, in addition to 29,300,000 bushels 

 which have been shipped already. When June comes there 

 will be all the uncertainty of the American grain crop then 

 in bloom, and further shipments will be made sparingly, 

 until at least the new American harvest shall have been 

 secured. 



Two circumstances may, however, destroy this very pro- 

 bable assumption. The one is the possibility of large 

 quantities of flour being manufactured in the United States 

 and Canada ; and the other is the possibility of large quan- 

 ties of grain being moved down the Mississippi to New 

 Orleans and shipped to Liverpool. In fact, either of these 

 new and probable circumstances coming into operation 

 might involve the immediate movement of enormous quan- 

 tities. With respect to the first, the difficulty of getting 

 tonnage to convey grain from the producing ports of Chicago, 

 Milwaukee, and Lake Michigan generally to the openings 

 of the Erie Canal, accounts for the comparatively small 

 lake movement that has taken place, and has no doubt 

 offered an inducement to the manufacture of flour in large 

 quantities. 



The Western production of flour, it is scarcely necessary 

 to say, is large, reaching in ordinary years to 8,000,000 

 barrels, one half of which is sent eastward on the lakes 

 and railways, and is estimated in bushels of grain. Pro- 

 bably if it were thought desirable the production in such a 

 season as the present could be doubled by working more 

 hours, and as flour admits of railway transportation even 

 from St. Louis to New York, it is within the limits of pro- 

 bability that when the supply of grain fails in New York, 

 large shipments of barrel flour will begin. It is only right 

 to add, that although the stock of flour is large at several 

 points — at Toronto, Buffalo, and Oswego — there is so far 

 no reason to expect shipments on an unusually large 

 scale. 



The second circumstance, namely, the possibility of sup- 

 plies of grain by the Mississippi throughout the winter, is 

 deserving of attentive consideration. The practicability of 

 that route has just been established by the successful 

 attempt made by the directors of the IlUnois Central Rail- 

 way to supply the deficiency of Indian corn in the more 

 Southern States of the American Union. For such a trade 

 the Illinois Central Railway is well adapted, draining as it 

 at all times may do the whole State of Illinois to its southern 

 extremity at Cairo, from which point the Mississippi is 

 open throughout the winter to New Orleans. Obviously, 

 when Indian corn can be carried from Cairo to New Orleans 

 wheat and flour may be also carried, and at New Orleans— 

 the great cotton shipping port— freight is to be had in 

 more or less abundance to Liverpool. But for the present 

 the wants of the Southern States are sufficient to give full 

 employment to the whole available tonnage of the Missis- 

 sippi river. There is another obstacle. Should political 

 agitation for a breaking up of the American Union be ear- 

 ned ou, nowhere will the excitement be greater than in the 

 cotton-growing districts of the Mississippi, and it might be 

 unsafe to open up a new trade. Still, political excitement 

 may soon cool down, and the Indian corn wants of the 

 bouthem States may be more easily supplied than is just 

 now supposed, and then nothing would really stand in the 



way of a grain movement down the Mississippi during the 

 present winter equal in volume to the usual movement down 

 the lakes. During thel summer season neither grain nor 

 flour can be safely carried down the Mississippi in conse- 

 quence of the excessive heat, but in winter there is really 

 no obstacle of any kind. 



Finally, it is deserving of passing notice that the ship- 

 ments from America to Continental ports is very small. 

 For the 12 months ending 1st September, the following 

 wei-e the shipments from Canada and the United States : 

 Flour, 49,200 barrels; wheat, 178,000 bushels; corn, 19,300 

 bushels. 



For the two months ending 1st November, the shipments 

 have only been: Flour, 10,000 barrels; wheat, 964,400 

 bushels ; com, 50,000 bushels. 



France is, therefore, neither buying nor receiving grain 

 from America at the present time. 



KINGSTON CATTLE FAIR. 



As might have been expected, the Kingston Cattle Fair 

 of November 13 was less attractive than the fairs of previous 

 seasons. The dealers have been losing money, or, at best, 

 realizing bare profits, at the earlier fairs held in different 

 parts of the country ; and, as a consequence, there has 

 been no inducement to bring stock from the more distant 

 districts. Scotch, Welsh, Irish, and North-country faces, 

 long familiar to the frequenters of cattle fairs, were con- 

 spicuous by their absence ; and the cattle offered were from 

 Middlesex and Buckinghamshire and the near counties, 

 with the remnants of a few Welsh and Irish herds, which 

 had been driven from county to county and from one fair to 

 another, in the vain hope of being sold. The graziers, for 

 reasons of their own, did not show themselves in great 

 numbers. These reasons were, the scarcity and high price 

 of oats and hay, and the questionable margin left between 

 the price asked for store beasts and the price paid for fat 

 cattle, should oats and hay require to be purchased. Nor 

 were those present in a buying mood ; and most of them , 

 after spending an hour or two in the fields, found their way 

 back to the station without making a single purchase. In 

 fact, the scarcity and high price of keep appeared, for once, 

 to have made all the graziers sellers instead of buyers ; and 

 the supply of barn-feeding cows and calves was dispropor- 

 tioned to the supply of the larger and more fleshy cattle. 

 Very seldom, at any fair, have so many old cows been 

 brought together; and the difficulty — or rather, impos- 

 sibility — of effecting sales, at prices more than usually low, 

 furnishes the most convincing proof that feeding, during 

 the coming winter, will be carried on less extensively than 

 usual, and that the price of fat cattle promises to be more 

 than ordinarily high. The unpropitious haymaking season, 

 and not the farmer, is of course to blame. Sheep and pigs, 

 and farm-work horses, from the same cause that brought 

 the old cows to market, were most abundant; and low prices 

 failed equally in their case to attract purchasers. Not 

 nearly a half of the cattle offered changed hands in the 

 regular way, to graziers; and when the fair was over, there 

 was little- disposition on the part of dealers to make invest- 

 ments in each other's herds, unless at a considerable reduc- 

 tion from current prices. The major portion of what 

 remained unsold left the fair-field for Kent. 



The Welsh Field. — The North Wales cattle barely 

 numbered 700 head, of which a good half were calves. The 

 cattle were, upon the whole, in fair condition, although 

 some of the calves bore unmistakeable traces of long- 

 continued driving. In the morning, some hours were 

 spent without the appearance of a single buyer; and 

 throughout the day transactions took place at long inter- 

 vals, and were in all cases of almost a retail character. 

 There were no buyers of fifties, nor, unless in one or 

 two cases, of twenties ; and tens were considered large 

 purchases. Never had buyers so much of their own way 

 before ; and after their low bids were taken, there was no 

 difficulty in getting one concession more — that, namely, 

 of drawing out what beasts were wanted, in those cases 

 in which drawing did not precede the purchase. It was, 

 in fact, dangerous for graziers making bids of any kind, 



