THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



149 



well informed of the main elements of cultivation and 

 production, of crops and live stock, of all relating to 

 the internal progress of North Britain. But, as it is 

 desirable to know also what is its external trade, we 

 avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by some of 

 the annual circulars, to examine those features of im- 

 ports, consumption, and stock of articles interesting to 

 the agriculturist. The Clyde may be considered to 

 some extent the great entrepot of the foreign commerce' 

 of Scotland, the imports into Leith and other eastern 

 ports being trifling in comparison with Glasgow. 



Taking first the grain, we find that the imports of 

 wheat into Glasgow and Leith last year were much in 

 excess of those of the previous year. Messrs. W. 

 Connal and Co., of Glasgow, in their annual circular, 

 state that considerably less barrel flour has been received 

 from Canada and the United States, but it has been 

 made up by the increase in sack flour from France and 

 other continental countries. The reported deficiency 

 in the crops of the United Kingdom have no doubt 

 contributed much to the present firmness in prices. 

 The quality of the new grain of England is very 

 various, but it is gratifying to know that in Scot- 

 land it is good, and that the new Baltic wheats 

 now arriving are better in quality and condition 

 than for some years past, many of the parcels 

 weighing G31bs. per imperial bushel. The high price 

 at which fodder now sells gives confidence to the 

 holders of spring corn that ere long enhanced rates 

 will be obtained. Still the most remarkable feature 

 in the Scotch grain trade of last year is the extent 

 of the stocks in the granaries of Glasgow, which are 

 considerably larger than at any former period. There 

 are now 400,000 bolls of foreign wheat and 43,000 of 

 British and Irish wheat, or double the quantity at the 

 same time last year. 



The import of guano into the Clyde during the past 

 year appears to have been limited, compared with former 

 years, comprising only 5,633 tons, of which 1,500 tons 

 were Peruvian. The chief demand was for this descrip- 

 tion ; the price remained stationary at £12 to ^^13 per 

 ton. The value of other sorts has fluctuated considera- 

 bly, prices ranging from £4: to £8 per ton, the present 



quotations being nearly 30 per cent, under those ruling- 

 two years ago. The great disci'epancy in price between 

 these and Peruvian is beginning to attract attention, 

 as the scarcity and high prices of every article for fod- 

 der and cattle-feeding will, in all pi-obability, lead to 

 an extended consumption. It is believed that the 

 farmer by a judicious use, more particularly of those 

 qualities rich in phosphates, along with Peruvian, 

 would effect a saving of fully 30 per cent. During the 

 last few years there has been little inducement to prose- 

 cute the importation of these descriptions, which, not- 

 withstanding the unprecedentedly low freights, has been 

 attended with serious loss. In many cases the prices 

 realized for cargoes from Chili, Bolivia, San Francisco, 

 Kooria Mooria, and other deposits, have much exceeded 

 the freight and charges. The supply from these 

 sources for the ensuing season is expected to be small, 

 while that from the Cliiucha Islands, from the small 

 amount of tonnage believed to be engaged, is likely to 

 be on a moderate scale. The annual consumption of 

 all sorts, in the United Kingdom, is calculated at about 

 250,000 tons. The imports in 1857 were 288,362 tons, 

 and in 1858, 353,541 tons; of which 264,230 tons and 

 302,207 tons respectively were Peruvian. In the eleven 

 months of last year the imports of all sorts were only 

 78,651 tons. The present stock in the Clyde is 2,830 

 tons, of which only some 20 tons is Peruvian. 



Thei-e is another article which has been brought into 

 the Clyde largely, namely ashes, the imports having 

 been 11,645 barrels, against an import of 7,888 barrels 

 in 1858. The stock held is small. We need not go 

 into the details of timber imports, cotton, and general 

 articles of colonial and foreign produce. We have 

 done enough to direct attention to the import trade of 

 articles of agricultural produce and those in which 

 farmers are most interested. We may refer, in conclu- 

 sion, to the very comfortable condition of the great 

 mass of the population in the north as well as the 

 south, and though there may be a tendency towards 

 an advance in the prices of food, the prospects for the 

 present year to both labourers and capitalists are, we 

 believe, full of hopeful promise. 



TRADE OF THE PORT OF HULL. 



REVIEW FOR THE YEAR 1859. 



The present year has been one of successful commercial 

 enterprize generally, and yet characterized by an almost total 

 absence of speculative action. Money has been abundant and 

 discounts low, the raw material buoyant, and manufacturers 

 unprecedentedly active ; at the same time the staple food of 

 the people has continued moderate in price. We thus close a 

 year of sound and extensive business, with prospects of its 

 continuation during the next. The tonnage entering ttie port 

 this year amounts to 1,137,926 tons, being 51,229 tons above 

 that of 1857 and '58, which were nearly equal. The steam 

 tonnage exhibits a sUght increase, being 41,432 tons and 

 40,541 tons respectively ; that of vessels reported inwards on 

 foreign voyages is 780,212 tons, against 748,463 tons in 1858, 

 being an increase of 31,749 tons. 



WHEAT.— The import of this article this year is 203,344 

 qra., showing a falling off of neatly 60,000 qrs. as respects last 

 year, and 83,000 qrs. in 1857. In reviewing the course of the 

 wheat- trade for the past year, the most striking feature that 

 presents itself is, with one or two exceptions, the extremely 

 moderate fluctuation in price of an article of such importance 

 as to be justly designated " the staflf of life." This may be 

 partly accounted for by the concurrence of two consecutive 

 favourable harvests, both in this kingdom and in most 

 of the chief corn-producing countries on the continent 



of Europe, and partly by the increased facilities afforded 

 by the telegraph, and the rapid transit by the intro- 

 duction of a greater amount of steam tonnage in the carrying 

 trade, a mode of conveyance which is every year increasing. 

 The facility thus afforded to business in the present day ap- 

 parently does away with the old-fashioned system of hoarding 

 corn for a lengthened period of time; and as the British 

 grower is brought into such constant competition with the 

 foreign producer, more reliance appears to be placed by him on 

 increased exertions and the improved cultivation of the land, 

 than on any artificial means of attempting to raise prices by 

 withholding produce. The fact of being free to trade with all 

 the world exercises great influence, and the value of grain is 

 regulated by supply and demand much more than formerly, 

 and in this respect the trade may be said to be on a more 

 sound and legitimate footing, the fluctuations being fewer and 

 less important. Another remarkable feature as regards wheat 

 at the present moment is the disparity that exists in the value 

 in this country and the prices ruling at most of the contmental 

 shipping ports. We find good red wheat quoted at Hamburg 

 47s. to 483. per qr. (504 lbs.) for spring, and about the same 

 prices ruhng"atKonigsberg and Stettin, whilst fine Konigsberg 

 and Dantzig white is quoted up to 508. to 53s. per qr. free on 

 board for spring; thus, fiom no part of the world cau wheat 



