376 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



For the best cottager'* pig, premium £1. No cottager to 

 be eligible to compete who is the occupier of more than half- 

 an-acre of land, or whose rent exceeds £6 per aninira. Second 

 prize 103., William Harris, Hereford ; first prize William 

 Hughes, Hereford. 



HORSES. 



For the best cart stallion (premium gift of H. T^e Warner, 

 jun., Esq.), £5 53. It will not be presented until the October 

 meeting, 1859, as the winner must engage that the horae ex- 



hibited by him shall, in the ensuing season, cover regularly in 

 the county of Hereford. Rev. Archer Clive, of Whitfield. 



For the best cart mare and foal at foot (ffift of Sir E. F. S. 

 Stanhope, Bart.), £5 Ss. Clement Downes, Eardisley Park. 



For the best three-year-olJ colt, gelding, or filly, suited for 



huBtiiig purposes, to have been bred by the exhibiter, or in his 



possession ten months prior to the day of slio «•, age to be 



reckoned from Ist January (gift of Mr. W, James), £5. Chas- 



I Hunt, Hereford. 



THE STATE OF THE CORN TRADE. 



The stagnant state of the corn trade for now seve- 

 ral mouths, and this notwithstanding the absence 

 of supplies from the United States, has occasioned 

 considerable surprise both to those engaged in it 

 and others, who, without any immediate interest ex- 

 cept as consumers, have habituated themselves to watch 

 the operations of the market. 



There are, howevir, many causes tending to pro- 

 duce the torpidity, which has for so long a period 

 kept the price of flour fiom fluctuation. Amongst 

 these we may, in the first place, reckon the result of 

 the late harvest, which has exhibited fewer cases of 

 partial or local failui'e in the wheat crop than in the 

 average of years ; and, although on the light lands 

 some cases of deficiency occurred to a certain extent, 

 no one now believes that the aggregate will be less than 

 an average, the deficiency being made up by the croj)s 

 on the best wheat lands. Another cause is the great 

 abundance and excellence of the potato crop, a root 

 that appears to have almost surmounted the fatal dis- 

 ease which for upwards of ten years lias more or less 

 destroyed the produce. If we add to thi3 the unpre- 

 cedented supply of vegetables and fruit of all kinds 

 that has supplied in some respects the place of 

 other food, there must have been a great falling off 

 in the consumption of bread. Even beyond these 

 causes the supply of wheat from Northern Europe, 

 although not overwhelming, has been more than ade- 

 quate to the demand, so that wo may readily account 

 for the dulness of the trade. 



W^hetherwith continued absence of the usual supplies 

 from the United States, and with short deliveries of native 

 wheat, a revival of the trade will take place when the 

 further imports from the North of Europe are stopped 

 by the frost, remains to bo seen. We cannot ex- 

 pect any great advance in prices. Still, whilst taking 

 into consideration the expenses of transit, our prices 

 for wheat are lower than those in America, and 

 even imports from the Continent will scarcely afford a 

 profit. So long, however, as the ports are open we 

 shall get supplies from the latter, as we are now be- 

 come the store-keepers of corn and other produce for 

 all Europe. 



On looking over the returns of the Board of Trade, 



we find that the imports of wheat, and flour as wheat, 

 for the nine months up to the 30th of September 

 amount to 4,.'360,18-2 qrs. It is probable, too, that the 

 remaining three months of importation will nearly 

 make it up the average amount of five millions, unless 

 the frost sets in very early and severely in the Baltic. A 

 trood deal of the wheat imported has gone into granary, 

 and is scarcely offered for sale at present prices. It is 

 very likely that the disproportionately high price of both 

 barley and oats will affect the price of wheat in some 

 degree, in the spring. The imports of oats have 

 been large during the last six weeks, but by no means 

 sufficient to supply the deficiency in the crop, 

 which amounts to several million quarters ; 

 there is a still greater falling off on the Continent, 

 especially in the south and centre of France, where 

 they did not reap more than one-sixth of an average 

 crop, cither of oats or barley. Our imports of oats for 

 the nine months up to the 30th of September have not 

 much exceeded one-and-a-quarter million quarters, 

 being le.=s than were imported the corresponding period 

 of last year. This will account for the high price that 

 grain has borne throughout the season. We have no 

 doubt the price will again rise, as soon as the imports 

 from the Baltic arc discontinued, as the demand will 

 then begin to increase with the approach of the winter 

 months and the commencement of the London season. 

 The high price of animal food is likely to continue, 

 if the state of the continent in regard to fodder and root 

 crops is calculated to affect us. Never were the gra- 

 ziers of France in a more deplorable condition, every 

 kind of winter food for cattle having to a great extent 

 been consumed to keep the stock alive. A great num- 

 ber of lean stock of all kinds have been brought over to 

 this country, the price, which is not more than half the 

 real value, proving a great temptation to speculate in 

 them. Those farmers who are in a condition, from the 

 goodness of their root crops, to fatten largely, will be 

 likely to reap a considerable advantage this season from 

 having been able to buy in their cattle at so lowaprice. 

 It is fortunate, too, for the graziers that the season 

 cont'nues so open, with moderate rains to promote the 

 growth of the after-grass j by which they will be en- 

 abled to keep their stock out of doors to a late period. 



