THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



93 



REVIEW OE THE CORN TRADE 



DURING THE PAST MONTH. 



The closirjcr month of this extraordinary year has 

 partly recovered tlie heavy dechne of November, 

 say in wheat 3s. to -is. per qr. The weather, at the 

 first very wet and unfavourable, has followed on 

 with an intense frost, commencing on the 19th, 

 so that the unsown lands must wait the return of 

 Spring, the character of which must determine 

 whether they shall receive wheat or Lent corn. 

 No doubt every ettbrt will be made to get in the 

 higher-priced grain ; but if circumstances are 

 strongly against it, barley may be more profitable, 

 especially as malting sorts continue to rule high, 

 and there is less room for foreign competition in 

 this grain. The past year may literally be said 

 to have passed without a Summer, and but very 

 short periods were without rain. Hence the uni- 

 versal complaint of poor crops and a general defi- 

 ciency; but on a review of the state of the atmos- 

 phere, it seems marvellous that, notwithstanding 

 such adverse circumstances, there has been so 

 fair a yield that [some still cling to the notion 

 that there is not much below an average of wheat, 

 and more hay was certainly gathered than could 

 reasonably be expected. The fact most prominent 

 is doubtless the failure in potatoes, which as 

 Spring advances must be severely felt. What the 

 new year may do for farmers is beyond human 

 calculation, but we certainly wish them much 

 happier results than the year I860 has brought 

 about, and we trust their good spirits and perse- 

 verance will carry them through their diflSculties. 

 Certainly the occupants of heavy land will need 

 the utmost energy and patience to stem the tide of 

 untoward events. But times and seasons are so 

 fickle that the next harvest may be as much in 

 their favour as the last was against them. 



In reviewing the course of the averages of wheat, 

 we find the lowest were in February, viz., 43s. 6d.; 

 from this point they slowly rose to 51s. 9d. in the 

 beginning of May. There was then a further gra- 

 dual progress till they reached their highest, 623. 

 lid. at the end of September; from that period 

 they took a retrograde course very gradually till 

 they came to 51s. 5d. in December. So that we 

 have fallen during the last quarter lis. 6d. per 

 qr. ; and now appears a slight reaction upward. 

 Fully half of this decline must be traced to in- 

 creased inferiority of sample, and the remaining 

 half, say 5s. 6d., must be considered as caused by 

 the unprecedented arrivals from abroad, which 

 have been pouring in at the rate of one million 

 quarters a month, and had it not been for an 

 equally extraordinary demand, prices would proba- 

 bly have been reduced fully 20s. By the side of 

 these immense imports we place a parallel defi- 

 ciency in our own deliveries, which being only half 

 what they were last year, prove to what an extent 

 the use of foreign wheat has gone in the manufac- 

 ture of fiour, as the spirit of speculation has all 



along been dormant, from the prices being too 

 high. Should frost continue, our own samples 

 will be more fit for use, and find a better sale on 

 diminished foreign supplies, which must now be 

 reduced by the closing of the Baltic, and the canals 

 in America; but even on the re-opening of naviga- 

 tion, we do not expect the united eflforts of the 

 world could serve us up to the next harvest at the 

 same rate, and the void made by the potato failure 

 would take offmuch, if it did. We think, therefore, 

 the upward movement which has commenced 

 will be of a permanent character, with probably 

 some further advance more or less in accordance 

 with foreign arrivals. 



The stocks of old wheat both English and foreign 

 have been working oflf at such a rapid rate that the 

 chief demand has been for dry new American as 

 its best substitute. 



The following were the prices noted in the most 

 recent foreign markets : — At Paris the best quali- 

 ties were quoted 56s. per qr., good 54s. ; Bordeaux 

 top price was 54s. ; Nantes, 52s. 9d. At Antwerp 

 Baltic and American brought 6ls, 6d., fine Ameri- 

 can 64s. 6d. ; Marianople, 57s. 3d. ; old white wheat 

 at Rotterdam 67s., new 55s. 6d. ; fine Pohsh and 

 red to 72s. At Hambro' 61 lbs. Holstein wheat 

 was worth 59s., 62 lbs, fine 63s. 6d. ; 60 lbs. Wis- 

 mar wheat, 59s. 9d. — all for Spring shipment, cost 

 and freight included ; new 58 lbs. red at Groningen 

 was 46s. per qr. free on board. The range of 

 prices at Odessa was from 3Ss. to 48s, per qr. At 

 Ibrail soft wheat was quoted 32s. 6d. ; Marianople 

 wheat at Leghorn was sold at 52s. 8d. Fine white 

 wheat at Santander 60s. ; soft wheat at Algiers, 

 58s. 6d, Winter red at New York 40s., with a 

 freight of 10s. to 12s. per qr. ; white Western 

 43s. 4d. 



The first Monday in Mark-Lane commenced on 

 a good foreign, and fair supplies of English wheat. 

 The show in the course of the morning from Kent 

 and Essex was small, but the condition was too 

 poor to make it saleable, though only held on the pre- 

 vious terms. Foreign, however, experienced a fair 

 demand at full prices for good quality. The same 

 complaints as to condition prevailed this week in 

 the country, where prices generally were unaltered, 

 though Newark was Is. perqr, dearer, and Boston 

 2s. for good new. The first market at Liverpool 

 was 3d. per cental cheaper, but on Friday there 

 was some reaction. 



On the second Monday there was a very heavy 

 foreign supply, say 64,000 qrs., two-thirds of this 

 being from New York, The English show from 

 the near counties was again short, and of poor 

 quality : a few picked lots went off well, but the 

 rest hung on hand. The supply from America 

 attracted many from the country, who bought 

 freely at full prices, and old foreign was generally 

 against buyers. More tone and some improve- 



