THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



445 



country ia improving — that many of the manufacturers are 

 working to order— and that the wliole of the mills are running 

 full time — the wool trade has become heavy, and prices have 

 had a drooping tendency. The causes of the depression in the 

 demand may be attributed, not so much to the want of orders, 

 83 to the limit at which they are fixed, and which do not corres- 

 pond to the advance which took place iu wool during the 

 mouths of August and September. 



Another very large growth of hops has been secured, conse- 

 quently prices have ruled very low. When we consider that 

 an immense supply of hops of the growths of 1856 and 1857 

 still remains on hand, we can hardly anticipate any improve- 

 ment in the quotations. 



Throughout Ireland and Scotland produce generally has 

 ruled dull and drooping. The shipments of wheat, oats, &c, 

 to England have steadily increased. 



REVIEW OF THE CATTLE TRADE DURING 

 THE PAST MONTH. 

 Since the passing of the new tariff, we have never witnessed 

 such an inferior importation of foreign stock into London as 

 during the month just concluded. From all parts of the Con- 

 tinent, but more especially from Sweden, both beasts and 

 sheep have come to hand in miserably low condition, and of 

 course corresponding prices have been paid for them. The 

 cause of this great deficiency in weight and condition has 

 arisen from the long-continued drought, a scarcity in the sup- 

 ply of winter food, and the great difficulties experienced on 

 the part of the graziers iu finding sustenance for the stock. 

 Tiie shipment of large supplies to England in a state which 

 would hardly warrant the Customs' officers in allowing them 

 to be landed for consumption, has of course entailed serious 

 losses to the owners ; and it has given rise to much discussion 

 in more than one quarter whether it will not eventually have 

 considerable influence upon the value of food iu this country. 

 Although very large sums have been drawn from England 

 from time to time by the foreign graziers for stocV, great 

 poverty is said to exist amongst them^ (those residing in Hol- 

 land maj', perhaps, be deemed an exception to this rule) ; 

 hence they are not ia a position to follow up any advantage 

 which might be derived from a large importation of hay, straw, 

 &c., either from London or Hull. In the early part of the 

 month, over 20D tons of compressed hay were purchased here 

 in each week for transmiision abroad, but smce then the 

 transactions have fallen to under 20 tons per week ; so that 

 we may look forward to continued imports of stock in less 

 than a half-fat state, and, to some extent, we may agree with 

 many parties that prices must at some future time show con- 

 siderably more firmness than within the last six weeks. It is, 

 however, necessary that we should approach this question 

 with much caution, or not a few of our graziers may be led 

 into the error — for such it may turn out — of giving more 

 money for store animals than the future state of the trade 

 may warrant. In the first place, we may safely assume that 

 France and Belgium will have no stock to spare for us during 

 the coming year ; and here we may remark that it is a fallacy 

 to assume that, because stock has been shipped from Calais 

 and Ostend on several occasions during the last three or four 

 month?, either beasts, sheep, or calves have been drawn from 

 those countries, the supplies being forwarded from Holland 

 and Germany by railway, in order to secure a shorter sea- 

 passage ; that the importations from Holland will exhibit a 

 falling off in number, though they may improve in quality ; and 

 that the receipts from Holstein, Denmark, &c,, will show a 

 great deficiency. But this falling off in condition and weight 



will, we imagine, ba made {good by additional arrivals both 

 from Ireland and Scotland, but more especially from the 

 former country. Who that has travelled iu Ireland can but 

 feel surprised at the wonderful improvement which has of late 

 years been observed iu the condition of its agriculture ? and 

 who cm but feel gratified at the receipt into Loudon week by 

 week, during what may bd termed the " 8ei3on,"of 1,00 J head 

 of beasts, and an equal number of sheep, all above average 

 quality, irrespective of the supplies forwarded almost daily to 

 Liverpool for some of the inland markets ? The old and de- 

 fective breeds of stock in Ireland, though a few of them are 

 still coming to hand from the north, are gradually receding 

 before our shorthoraed heists, and our Lincoln, Leicester, and 

 half-bred sheep. It may bo said, however, that there is ample 

 room for further improvement. Doubtless; but beasts from 

 Ireland, to produce from £22 to £23, and sheep from 50i. to 

 56s. each in Loudon, is a strong proof that Irish agriculture is 

 flourishing under the auspices of a good ready-money market 

 in England. 



The want of an adequate fall of rain has been severely felt 

 in some of our own grazing districts, into which large supplies 

 of fodder have been sent from other counties ; but we are cer- 

 tainly better off for food than our Continental neighbours, 

 whilst in Ireland no actual scarcity exists, and stock feeding 

 may, therefore, continue to progress successfully. We can 

 hardly venture to state that the excess iu the receipts from 

 the various Irish ports will be very large, but we may safely 

 predict a steady increase in it, sufficiently extensive, indeed, to 

 compensate for any forthcoming deficiency in the importations 

 from the Continent. But then it may be asked. What has 

 produced the great heaviness in the trade for all kinds of 

 stock during the past mouth, seeing that very little consum- 

 able meat has been imported in that time? It is well known 

 that from the period of the last famine in Ireland, until the 

 conimencemeut of 1857, the deficiency in the number of pigs 

 in the United Kingdom was very great. Prices, of course, 

 ruled high, and high quotations for pork had a corresponding 

 influence upon the value of beef and mutton. Last year, pigs, 

 although they had rapidly increased in number, commanded 

 extravagant rates, and everywhere they were to be met with, 

 without checking the demand. However, it was clear that 

 very high prices, daring several consecutive years, must be 

 followed by low prices, taking into account the rapidity with 

 which pijs increase in a general way. The present season 

 has, therefore, opened with wonderfully large sipplies; in 

 point of fact, our markets have been literally glutted with 

 pork, and the cousequence is that that description of food has, 

 from its low price, been preferred to beef and mutton ; and 

 the pig dealers have before them one of the worst winters, as 

 to pries, almost on record. It has, however, been argued that 

 he heaviness in the cattle trade generally is the result of a 

 falling off in the consumption of the better kinds of food. No 

 such thing. Trade and commerce are steadily improving from 

 the effects of the last commercial panic, and consumption 

 everywhere is very large, considerably larger, indeed, than aj 

 the corresponding period in 1357. Another cause which may 

 have reduced the price of stock in the metropolitan markets 

 may be the large numbers exhibited. True, many of the 

 forei-'u beasts have sold as low as £5 each, and there has 

 been an actual deficiency of prime meat ; but we all know 

 that great heaviness in the demand for inferior animals is sure 

 to be followed by a somewhat dragging trade for prime stock, 

 and with it drooping currencies. 



Notwithstanding the comparative shortness in the supply 

 of food in some quarters, the health of the stock in this coun- 

 try has continued good, and very few losses have been sus- 



