15S 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



less, and the level of the lowest qualities has been £10 per 

 standard hundred. 



lu the sale of Swedish fir timber there has been a per- 

 petual ebb and flow durinj^ the past year. During 1858 it 

 touched the common minimum of 50s. per load, but rallied 

 at the close of that season, when the supply was deemed to 

 be short, so that the opening rate in 1859 was 578. 6d., still 

 rising as the stock was melting away till G2s. 6d. became 

 the highest quotation. By the time the first fleet of Swedish 

 ships arrived, there had been a considerable influx of Dan- 

 zic fir timber, which supplying to a certain extent the spring 

 demand, kept the Swedish in check. From 57s. Gd. the price 

 decreased each month as the supply increased, until 50s. 

 was again the minimum ; .5"2s. Gd. has since been made, and 

 from this it will probably rise on the reopening of the build-v 

 ing season. 



Norway. — The trade has been rather heavier in battens 

 and lighter in deals. We now have almost a uniform class 

 of battens from Dram, Frederickatadt, Sannesund, and 

 Christiania, and a very limited quantity of the superior 

 character of deals from the two last mentioned ports is now 

 imported. The whole import from Norway amounted to 

 068,000 pieces of battens, boards, &c., against 561,000 in 

 1858 ; 230,000 pieces of deals, &c., against 324,000 in 1858. 

 For cheap battens a steady ready regular sale has now been 

 established ; good yellow and most of the white make our 

 best flooring ; and the common qualities of yellow being as 

 cheap as square timber, are used for building scantling ; £'J 

 to £11 10s. Petersburg standard has been the range of 

 prices. The prime deals of Christiania are of limited use; 

 but when wanted, they realize prices superior to other de- 

 scriptions of wood. The quotations of best white and yel- 

 low are still £14 to £15 Petersburg standard. 



Norway Balks. — The importation of 74,000 pieces, com- 

 puted to be equal to 7,400 loads, being more than required, 

 many have been stored for future use. We observe the im- 

 port of 1858 was only 44,000 pieces. After beginning at 

 503. per load, they fell to 403. for the common descriptions. 



Norway Spars have been imported iu the usual form, but 

 not to the usual extent. The totals in 1859, 55,000 spars; in 

 1858, 69,000. The prices of ladder and scaffold poles, Jd. to 

 IJd. per running foot; of spars and small masts, 35s. to SOs. 

 per load. 



Norway Firewood. — This is a great trade, inasmuch as 

 it has been the freight of 60,000 tons of shipping. Imported 

 in 1859, 20,000 fathoms ; sold from 65s. to 903 per cubic 

 fathom. 



Russia.— Imported 917,000 deals aud battens; 321,000 

 of which from Archangel and Onega, and 383,000 from St. 

 Petersburg, more than compensate for the shorter supply from 

 Wyburg, consisting of 119,000 pieces. By establishing mills 

 at Archangel, the shippers have extended their trade j and as 

 there is continued esteem for the best red wood deals, we cau 

 take a liberal supply, but we cannot offer adequate prices for 

 second qualities as long as Swedish deals are less expeosive. 

 The prices paid for Archangel cargoes of first quality, as im- 

 ported, have ranged from £14 10s. to £15 lOs. standard. The 

 Onega stock has been very good, and, being limited iu quan- 

 tity, it commanded the highest quotation. Next in esteem to 

 the deals of the White Sea are those of the Gulf of Fmland. 

 The shipments at Croustadt have been much extended, in con- 

 gequence of the reduction made in the freight of returning 

 ships, particularly towards the close of the season. The high 

 contract prices of St. Petersburg would have exceeded the 

 net value in Loudon and the outports generally by 10 or 15 

 per cent., if an equivalent for this had not been given in the 

 abatement of freight. The sales have ranged from £13 to 

 £13 10s. standard throughout the autumn, and the importers 

 are striving to cover the import cost when the trade demand 

 revives. More cargoes than usual of prime Petersburg white 

 deals have been imported, without making much impression 

 on the wholesale trade ; the value, divided out, has been from 

 £11 to £11 lOs. standard. 



Wyburg Battens, in 1858, took the place of St. Peters- 

 burg in many respects; but during 1859 the substitution of 

 hand-sawn for mill-sawn has changed the character of much 

 of the supply. There were two or three cargoes of mill-sawn, 

 nine and seven inch, for which £12 to £12 lOs. was realized, 

 but the hand-aawn stock could not be valued at mors than 



£10 lOs. per standard hundred. Some few Fredcrickshamm 

 the same. 



The shippers at Riga and Narva seem to have been more 

 occupied in preparing railway sleepers then in their old ac- 

 customed trade in timber and logs. 4,190 Riga waiascot logs 

 were imported iu 1859, many of which should have reached 

 that port for shipment in 1858. Owing to this protracted 

 importation logs have been scarce and prices high. Crown 

 logs 1103. to 120 j. each, brack SOs. to 903. each, both rather 

 daugcrous precedents for the next supply. 



Riga Fir Timber imported about 5,900 loads, not much 

 of which could be classed above second Memel : 70s. to 75s. 

 per load was the nominal value, but not easily attained while 

 Dsnzic, Memel, and Stettin was always at hand, and 

 generally cheaper. 174,000 railway sleepers, which represent 

 17,000 loads of wood, are a large and new feature in the Riga 

 trade, though all were contract importations. There have 

 not been many deals from Riga beyond the stowage of red 

 aud white wood required for ships laden with logs and timber. 



Finland. — From the old northern ports of Finland, we still 

 have a moderate supply, more akin to the hand-sawn Swedish. 

 Forty cargoes, 13,100 tons, containing 268,000 deals and bat- 

 tens. Bjorneborg, Christinestadt, an-i Wasa are classed toge- 

 ther, the prices rising from £9 10s. for the whitewood deals 

 and inferior yellow battens, £10 lOs. for yellow deals, and £11 

 for the yellow planks. From Uleaborg and Jacobstadt, 

 there has been little to notice. 



Prussian Ports. — Fir timber is the great feature in the 

 past year's supply. The importation from Danzig, Memel, 

 and Stettin is computed to have been, in 1859, about 76,000 

 loads (127,000 pieces); whereas in 1858 it was only 52,000 

 loads; in 1857,' 67,000, and in 1856, 49,000 loads. If the in- 

 creased supply of 24,000 loads of Prussian fir timber be added to 

 25,000 loads previously shown to be the increase in Swedish, 

 we see from what sources the present large stock has accumu- 

 lated, and why the prices have continued low. In the common 

 consignments of Danzic fir there has been, as usual, insuflficient 

 character or denomination to preserve any fixed market value. 

 Still it does not appear that the prices have been lower than 

 in 1858, 503. to 70s. being the prices which have been paid for 

 all the varieties ; at the higher price of 703., we arrive at the 

 value of second Metr.el, Ststtinflr of long average, and genuine 

 good middling Danzic, rising to SOs. for the best, when such 

 a desigation is not misapplied. The stocks of Zablodousky, 

 Bialowitz, and Blamieser have again to be noticed as superior 

 to other Danzic shipments, but being too costly for the gene- 

 ral building trade, most of the importation remains on hand. 



The supply of 3,310 Memel wainscot logs has been service- 

 able as cheaper substitutes for the Riga; aud the value of 

 Crown has been raised to 903. each ; brack Memel logs are 

 not desirable. 



For Danzic and Memel oak timber there is no certain sale ; 

 the importation in 1859 appears to have been about 3,200 

 loads of square, sided, crooks, and plaaks, with a very small 

 portion of crown or of dimensions fit for ship-building. The 

 prices can be taken from 603. to 953. per load for pro- 

 miscuous Danzic parcels, and not higher than llOs. for Crown 

 Memel oak. 



The importation here of 367,000 railway sleepers, reckoned 

 as 36,000 loads, must be noticed as affecting the provision of 

 tonnage from the Prussian Ports in 1859, though all were 

 supplied on contract. 



Baltic STAYES,importedin 1859,754mille of pipe lengths. 



607 ,, short staves, 

 A diminution compared with 1858 and 1857, yet quite as heavy 

 a supply as required for the cooperage business. The cost of 

 staves iu the Baltic has been sustained at so high a level, that 

 the coopers aud brewers have again used Bosnian single staves 

 for their export casks. That importation has progressed as 

 follows : — 



In 1857, 209 mille ; in 1856, 1,016 mille ; 1859, 2,560 mille. 

 The prices of the Bosnian staves rose as high as £32 per mille 

 when the supply was in danger of being cut off by the blockade 

 of the Adriatic ports, but the rates of X28 lOs. to £30 were 

 accepted after the ports re-opened. Memel Crown pipe at the 

 highest were £220, and are now £205 per mille. First brack 

 pipe £170 to £180. Danzic first size?, £180 to £190; Stettin, 

 £220, with the usual reduction on lesser dimensions. 



Canadian Staves. — A languid sale throughout the ye-ar. 



