THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



161 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PROVISION MARKET. 



The past season opened in December, 1858, at 

 moderate prices, say for Dantzic, Irish, and Hamburg 

 prime mess pork 85s. to 90s. per barrel, and American 

 prime mess beef 100s. to llOs, per tierce, and India 

 beef at about £1 per tierce. The market would pro- 

 bably have barely supported these quotations throughout 

 the year, but the Italian war caused such an unexpected 

 demand, through the requirements of France, Austria, 

 and Sardinia, and for which we were quite unprepared, 

 that at one period our stocks on hand were nearly all 

 taken away at an advance of 25 per cent, upon the above 

 opening quotations; pork selling at llOs. per barrel 

 and 9^. per tierce, and beef, although not in so much 

 request, was similarly influenced, as the stock of this 

 was small. 



These high rates encouraged supplies from different 

 countries, so that as the war came to an early con- 

 clusion, the season is winding up at about the same rates 

 at which it commenced. 



We are now on the eve of a new season, and we are 

 happy to find from the samples that have come forward, 

 that the quality promises to be finer than last year, the 

 opening prices being about the same ; yet we must not 

 lose sight of the fact, that population increases in a 

 greater ratio than food, thus making a demand for live 

 bogs and cattle, from the provinces, and all the ad- 

 jacent countries, to an almost unlimited extent ; this 

 tends greatly to advance the price of salt meats for ship- 

 ping purposes ; steam vessels and railways bringing 

 meats to market in a fresh state, that formerly were 

 obliged to be salted ; besides which, the continual in- 

 flux of gold, and the consequent increase of money all 

 over the world, has enhanced the rates of produce very 

 considerably, and is likely to have a still greater effect, 

 leaving out of consideration the possibility of any 

 political derangements. 



There has been a gradual advance in the price of pro- 

 visions for the last 30 years ; formerly Ireland alone 

 supplied all the extra wants of this country, and now 

 nearly every country in Europe, together with America, 

 can scarcely meet our demands, although drawn upon to 

 the full extent of their surplus food (and under free- 

 trade). Irish bacon tliat sold at 3Gs. per cwt., now 

 brings 63s. and 70s. per cwt. ; Irish pork 60s. per brl., 

 now 90s. to lOOs. ; beef that was then at about 80s. per 

 tierce, has now advanced to 100s. and 120s. ; butter, 

 with a duty of 20s. on foreign, that realized about 84s., 

 now sells at 110s. to 120s. per cwt., although the duty 

 on foreign butter has been reduced to 5s. per cwt. ; 

 Dutch cheese also, which formerly sold at about 42s. 

 per cwt., with a duty of 10s., is now selling at 63s., with 

 the duty reduced to 2s. 6d. per cwt. 



It may, therefore, be worthy of observation to the 

 political economist that the abundance of money seems 

 to give no stimulus to increase of agricultural pro- 

 ductions, but rather the contrary; whilst on the other 

 hand, cheap money seems to exert a great influence in 

 over -building, whether of ships or houses, as well as by 

 encouraging speculations of every kind, where the 

 security is immediately transferable. We noticed this 

 particularly^ some years ago in America, when, through 

 the agency of the United States' bank, money was made 

 so artificially plentiful, and all kinds of speculation 

 fostered thereby, that the United States at that time 

 ceased to produce enough food for themselves, so that 

 large orders came to this country for Irish provisions, 

 another proof of the well-known axiom, that cheap 

 money enables those to speculate in the productions of 

 others, who ought to be producing something for them- 

 selves. Edmund Phillips & Son. 



London, Dec, 1859. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH MANURES ON ASHCROFT'S SWEDE TURNIP. 



Sown 23rd June, and lifted 29th Nov., 1859. 



No. 



1 

 2 

 3 



4 

 5 

 G 

 7 

 8 

 9 

 10 

 11 



Description of Manures. 



Calcined bones (Poynter) 



Calcined bones (Towusend) 



Diasolved boues (Newcastle Chemical Co.) ... 



Blood manure (Odams) 



Turnip manure (Proctor & Ryland) 



Pfiospho PtTUviau guano (Seagrave) 



Peruvian guano (Gibbs, Bright, & Co.) , 



Upper Peruvian guano (Williamson) 



Aramoniacal guano (Newcastle Chemical Co.) 



Superphosphate of lime (Jordans) 



No manure , 



Cost per 

 cwt. 



d. 

 3 

 6 

 3 

 

 8 



11 6 

 13 



8 6 

 10 9 



8,0 



Quantity 



applied per 



imperial 



acre. 



cwt. qr. lb. 

 7 19 

 3 

 1 

 1 

 3 

 2 

 



6 

 6 

 7 

 6 

 4 

 4 

 6 

 4 



21 

 



17 

 4 

 1 

 1 



10 

 3 12 



6 1 ?6 



Coat per 

 acre. 



8. d. 

 51 llf 



52 

 51 

 51 



52 







n 







51 lOi 



52 

 51 

 52 



9 

 2 



51 lOi 



Weight of 



bulbs per 



acre. 



tons cwt. qr. lb. 

 20 18 12 



19 

 19 

 20 

 20 

 19 



3 

 3 

 3 

 3 

 1 



18 1 

 20 14 3 

 20 8 1 



2 

 10 



8 

 10 

 25 



7 



13 

 15 



19 12 20 

 3 17 3 



The manures experimented upon were the best of their kind. 

 The experiments were thoroughly accurate, and sufficiently 

 extensive for all practical purposes. The land a dry turnip 

 and barley soil, lying upon clay slate, and in bad condition. 



The lightness of the crop is accounted for from the dry season 

 delaying the period of sowing. 

 Borgue Hoiine, Kirkcudbright. 



N 2 



