168 



TMK FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



sorts not exceediug 400 tons. It must be added that the 

 farmers, to a very great extent, have been using the inferior 

 part of their wheat-crop lo feed their cattle, owing to its ex- 

 treme low value— thus displacing, to a great degree, the con- 

 8unip*,!on of cakes. 



Rapeseed. — The import this year is 2,412 lasts, against 

 6,100 last year, and 1,690 iu 1856. The bulk being generally 

 ou crushers' account, but little has appeared on the market. In 

 the beginning of the year we quoted £30 to £31 per last, a 

 nominal figure, there being no demand except a trifling one for 

 foreign account. Towards the middle of the year the appear- 

 ance of the crop, iu consequence of drought, being unsatisfac- 

 tory, an advance of £4 to £5 took placi-, and in August £3(3 

 was paid. Prices both of Danish and Eist India declined 

 towards the end of the year to £33 for the former and £28 to 

 £31 for the latter, accorduig to couJitiou aud quali'y. • 



Rape SEED Oil. — The trade during the year was a purely 

 consumptive one, at pretty regular prices : an advance took 

 place in the middle of May, arising from the high price of 

 seel, which reached £45 in August for brown Engliah. Since 

 then prices have drooped about £2 per ton, and we close the 

 year with brown at £43 lOs., and refined at £47 ptr ton. 



Rape Cakes.— The past ye.ir commenced with limited 

 stocks and low prices, £5 15s. being about the value iu the 

 early months for fine green sorts. In April it reached £6 lOa., 

 the highest price during the year, and continued with slight 

 fluctuation', to the end of the year, whioh closes with prices of 

 best feeding quality at £6 Ss. for both English aud foreign. 

 Import tliis year 4,000 tous, and stocks about 300 tons. 



Flax. — Although the lineu trade experienced less injury 

 from the effects of the " panic" at the close of last year than the 

 other branches of our great textile manufactures, yet the de- 

 mand for flix was of a quiet character and accompanied with 

 little variation in prices during the first few months of 1858. Iu 

 the month of June the reports, which had been previoualy 

 ciicnlated and only partially believed, of the short supplies to 

 be experted for shipment at the Baltic portj bigan to ba fully 

 verified ; this wa? more especially the fact at Riga and the 

 Prussian ports. Towards the end of the month it was also 

 found that the extremely hot weather and long-coutiuued 

 drought had inflicted serious injury ou the contiueutal crops ; 

 the spin;:er3 consequently now began to be alarmed at 

 the prospect, aud to evince a desire to get into stock. 

 In July aud August prices went up £4 per ton. Early 

 in September the deficiency iu the imports into 

 the United Kingdom, more especially in the Scotch ports, as- 

 sumed a very serious aspect, and the conviction was forced 

 upon all parties that the very reduced stocks of flax both at 

 home aud abroad must bring on higher rates of value ; ex- 

 tensive transactions in consequence took place at advanced 

 prices. Towards the end of October, the r-pinuers again came 

 forward, being excited by the prestnce of buyers from Fraiice 

 and Belgium, and prices took a further considerable rise. In 

 November, the French bought on an extensive scale, both in 

 the Dundee and Hull markets ; and the certainty of a large 

 deficiency iu the article to meet the demands of the spinners 

 in Great Britain and Ireland, as well as in France and Bel- 

 gium, drove up the prices several ponnds per ton. The early 

 appearance of frost in the Baltic ports further agitated the 

 trade. The msrk WPK, which on the first of Juud was 

 quoted at £l4 to £45, had now reached £58 to £G0 per ton. 

 Iu December, a large business was again effected with France 

 at extreme rates, leaving the stocks in a diminutive compass, 

 aud totally inadequate to meet the requirements up to the 

 coming spring. Tne same active demand has existed both at 

 home and from the French spinners for flax tow, aud the 

 prices for Archangel tow No. 1 and 2 have run up from £37 

 and £35 iu June to £50 aud £48. The market closes in an 

 excited state, and the nearest quotations for the several marks 

 of flax areas follow : WFPK £65 to £66, HFPK £63, FPK 

 £62, St. Petersburg 12 hds„ £5'J to £60, 9 luls., £18. The 

 Petersburg flax received at this port during the year has ge- 

 nerally exhibited an improvcmeut iu tiie dressing, causing it 

 to be more adapted to the wants of this district than in for- 

 mer years. The new classification adopted iu the marks at 

 Riga has siven greater satisfaction. The total inipurts of flax 

 into Hull during the year aioount to 17,913 tons, against 

 19.466 tons in 1857, 18,941 tonsiu 1856, and 14,909 iu 1855. 

 Of low aud codilla, 3,252 tons (viz., from St.Petersburg 1,730 

 toiiS, Archangel 920 tons, ll»mburg 80 tons, Holland 190 



tons, Narva 210 tons, Pernau 10 tons, and from sundries 62 

 tons), against 3,3fcl tons, 3,859 tons, and 1,554 tons in the 

 three previous years. The exports of flax from this port to 

 France aud Belj;ium are 1,605 tons, and of tow 730 tons, 

 some further quantity being iu the course of shipment. The 

 total import of fl»x, tow, andcndilla into the Uuited Kingdom 

 this year is ab jut 30,000 tons less than in 1857. 



Hemp. — The total import of this article has been 4,159 

 tons (viz., 2fi'.'>'.) tons from Petersburg, 2,097 tons from 

 Riga, G2 tons from Bombay, and from sundries 21 tons), 

 being 1,200 tons above that of 18.57, and about the same as 

 tliat of 1856. The prices of purely roping descriptions have 

 remained without alteration from the opening rates at the 

 commencement of the year— viz., £29 to £30 for clean ; 

 and the prospective demand for such is certainly not favour- 

 able to any advance in price. For the finer descriptions a 

 more active inquiry has prevailed of late, in consfquence of 

 the advancing price of iiax, they are still relatively so much 

 cheaper, and can be applied to so manj' manufacturing pur- 

 poses wherein the consumption of flax, &c , largely enters, 

 that there is everj' probability of a much-extended con- 

 sumption of fine harlcd hemp in future. The present quo- 

 tations are — for clean, £30 ; half-clean, £28 ; Riga Rhine, 

 32 ; and Pass, £31 per ton. 



Tallow.— Our import is 2,834 tons, against 2,174 in 

 1857, a large proportion of which is for the interior. The 

 trade has been chiefly a retail one, and the value rejjulated 

 almost entirely by the London market, which has this year 

 ranged from £57 to £48 10s., the price closing dull at £51 

 per ton. 



Olive Oil. — The import this year has been 4,400 tons, 

 against 3,410 in 1857, and 4,920 in 1856. The market 

 was very steady nearly the whole year, gradually falling 

 from £50 at the beginning to £45 at Midsummer, aud so 

 continued till the middle of November, when, from an im- 

 proved trade in the manufacturing districts causing a better 

 demand, accounts of a very bad crop in some places, and a 

 total failure in others, a sudden excitement took place, and 

 the price ran up to £50, where it remains at present. 

 Although the stocks in the kingdom of Naples are stated 

 to be large, it is supposed present prices will be maintained, 

 and perhaps a further advance take place, as the stock here 

 is under 40 tons (chiefly Seville), and light in other ports of 

 the kingdom. It is not expected that seed oil can be sup- 

 plied or produced so as to cause any material effect on the 

 price of olive. 



Cattle Bones. — With hardly any stocks in the be- 

 ginning of the year, and few arrivals, prices continued to 

 advance to £7 per ton for best quality up to April, and 

 were maintained within 10s. of that price throughout the 

 season, since which they fell to £5 lOs. to £5 123. Cd. ; and 

 these prices contiuued to rule to the end of the year. The 

 import is 17,000 tons, against 10,000 in 1857; and the 

 stock on hand is estimated at 2,300 tons. 



Tak. — The import reached an aggregate of Stockholm 

 and Archangel together of only 17,527 brls., against 

 26,810 brls. last year. The bulk of thi.s supply arrived in 

 the earlier part of the season, and owing to a stow demand 

 from the trade, was mostly disposed of coastwise, at prices 

 varying from 12s. to 13s. per brl. ; a small portion of Slock- 

 lio'in having been taken to warehouse, which later on 

 brought 143. per brl. on the sale. No further arrivals sub- 

 sequently taking place, and dealers becoming generally low 

 in stock, there has latterlj' been some stimulation in the 

 demand, and a large cargo of Stockholm, recently arrived, 

 is reported to have changed hands at about 15s. per brl., 

 sold partly to the trade, and the remainder disposed of 

 coastwise. There were only a few shipments brought for- 

 ward from Archangel, which description seems to be fast 

 losing, in the estimation of consumers, that superiority over 

 Stockholm which, for some manufacturing purposes, it for- 

 merly held. 



TuRPKNTiNK.— The direct import last year was 5,000 brls. 

 (with about a simdar quantity coastwise), against 7,353 in 

 1857. In consequence of unfavourable accounts from 

 America, the value advanced in the beginning of the year 

 from 34s. per cwt. to 4f:s. in March, and in .Itine to 48si. ; it 

 receded, however, almost as rapidly as it advanced, and the 

 year closes at about 408. per cwt. 



Iron.— The imports this year are 19,490 tons, against 



