THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



175 



Until the middle of Augu&t the market lemDined steady 

 at 49s. to 50s., thea rapidly advanced to 53s. ; « large 

 speculative demand for oil appearing, and cake being dearer, 

 about the middle of October a further improvement took 

 place. On the 1st of November the market value was uOs. 

 to 5(3s. Cd. per qr., with a still rising tendency, until 58s. 

 was demanded, when a vei^ unsettled state of monetary 

 affairs ensued, and the bank rate was raised to 6 per cent.; 

 a reaction was brought about, and the market declined Is. 

 to 2s. per qr., oil and cake giving way in price. Consider- 

 able dulness prevailed during the month of December, and 

 many of the mills wholly or partially closed; with severe 

 weather there is again a somewhat better enquiry, and now 

 there are no sellers under 57s. (id. to 58s. per qr. Con- 

 siderable purchases, partly speculative, for spring shipment 

 in the AzofF and Black Sea, were made in February at ASs. 

 per qr., and were followed up by further business at gradu- 

 ally advancing rates during the year, until November, when 

 as much as 58s. Gd. to 598. was paid for shipment to the 

 close of the navigation. Our crushers mostly held aloof 

 until the season was well advanced, and serious conse- 

 quences were generally apprehended from the excessive 

 wetness of the season, both with respect to the hay crop 

 and the harvesi, a most important element as affecting the 

 success of the business done in anticipation. The quality 

 of linseed from the Black Sea and Azoff has been of the 

 usual inferior character, but the sales were made, chiefly 

 by sample, thus establishing a standard of quality. A few 

 cargoes have changed hands on speculation, for next spring 

 shipment, at 54s. per qr. delivered, a high price to com- 

 mence with, and which our crushers refuse to entertain. 

 The import from Petersburg has been large, 50 per cent, 

 above that of last year, the greater portion of which proved 

 of middling and inferior quality, a small part only being 

 really line. Riga about the same as last year. Of Bombay 

 there is an increased direct import of 44,267 qrs„ against 

 20,750 qrs. last year; this description of seed gains favour 

 in our market, being more reliable than other sorts, though 

 there is a marked difference in the sMpments. Archangel 

 seed has proved rather better than last season, though of 

 light weight, and by no means fine ; samples are shown for 

 spring shipment, very superior to the import of late years. 

 The piesent value of Black Sea is 57s. 6d. to 583. per qr. ; 

 Bombay 62s, per qr. ; Petersburg 45s. to 58s. per qr. ; iVIemel 

 46s. to 54s. per qr. ; Konigsberg 46s. to 54s. per qr. 

 Stocks are estimated at about 8fi,000 qrs., against 90,000 

 same time last year. 



Linseed Oil shows a greatly increased export, amount- 

 ing to 19,352 tons, against 14,754 tons in 1859. The year 

 opened at 27s. 3d. to 27s. 6d, per cwt., and this price con- 

 tinued with slight fluctuations until the end of March, when 

 it stood at 28s. per cwt., varying but 3d. more or less until 

 the end of July, at which time 28s. 6d. was paid ; and during 

 August it further improved to 30s. 6d ■ to 39s. 9d. per cwt. 

 Throughout September and October it ruled from 30s. to 

 30s, 6d., receding to 29s. 6d, at the end of November ; anil 

 at the close of the year to 28s, 10|d, to 29s, 



Linseed Cakes. — The partial failure of the turnip crop 

 was severely felt in the early months of the year. The first 

 week in January the value was £d 2s. 6d. to ^£9 5s., and by 

 the end of the month =£10 5s, to 56IO LOs. per ton, and 

 touched £10 15s. before the middle of March: a decline 

 then followed, £d IDs. to £\0 being the value in April and 

 during the first fourteen days of Jlay ; after that time the 

 demand fell off rapidly, and in June and July £d to £9 5s. 

 was their value. The latter end of August brought about a 

 better demand, and improved prices; £d 15s. to ^610 was 

 realized for the next few weeks. Early in November sales 

 were made at £10 lOs, to i'll, and before the month was out 

 ^11 5s. to ^11 10s, was demanded, and in some instances 

 paid. These high rates stopped business, and brought 

 orders to resell, in many instances, both from dealers and 

 speculators. The market became very dull, many of the 

 mills closed , and in exceptional cases as low as 5s, was 

 accepted in the early part of December for inferior qualities. 

 Towards the close of the month, hard weather and heavy 

 falls of snow caused a revival in the demand, and the price 

 again went up to ^10 15s, to i£ll 10s, per ton. During 

 the last fortnight, stocks in the mills are considerably re- 

 duced, and with every prospect of a good demand it is not 

 improbable that the price wilHurther improve, 



PiAPESEED AND ITS PRODUCTS. — The import of Rape and 

 Rubseu was considerably in excess of previous years, being 

 74,706 qrs., against 45,013 in 1850, and 23,074 injl858. A 

 very large proportion of this import was composed of the 

 latter seed from Dantzic aud Stettin, which gradually gains 

 favour with our crushers. 'J' here was little doing in the be- 

 ginning of the year, crushers being almost the only holders 

 of Seed, and the quotations were almost nominal. An ad- 

 vance of 2s, perqr. on Seed, and a corresponding one in Oil 

 and Cakes, took place in February, in consequence of the 

 increased duty on the export of Olive Oil from Naples, but 

 by the end of April prices had nearly resumed their previous 

 standard, A slight advance occurred again in May, when 

 Seed was quoted 60s,, refined Oil i'43, and Cakes ^'5 10s. per 

 ton, In July considerable transactions took place in New 

 Baltic Seed at 00s, to 61s., for delivery in October. The new 

 Seed began to arrive freely in September, when prices rather 

 receded, and during that and the following mouth Uls. was 

 the value of good dry Seed, i'45 10s, Oil, and i£'5 15s. to £G 

 for Cakes, Prices of Seed afterwards again advanced in 

 November to their highest during the year, say 63s, 

 for Eubsen, 64s. to 61s. 6d. for Rape, Oil being i'45, 

 and Cakes <£6 5s, to £{} 10s. ; since then there has been no 

 alteration of moment in any of these articles, and the year 

 closed at 62s. to 63s. for Seed, ^41 lOs. for brown, and ^44 

 10s, for refined Oil, and £6 5s, for best green Cake. 



Flax. — The total import of Flax during the year 

 amounts to 18,274 tons, against 13,695 tons, 17,913 tons, and 

 19,466 tons the three previous years; and of Tow and Co- 

 dilla to 2,554 tons, against 3,968 tons, 3,252 tons, and 3,381 

 lonsin the years 1859, 1858, and 1857. In the early months of 

 the year the buyers of Flax acted cautiously, being under the 

 influence of the reports that the supplies to be brought 

 down to the Russian shipping ports, especially to Riga, 

 would be very consideraljle. In the montlis of March, 

 April, and May there was a continued good demand at fair 

 prices. At the end of May the Riga market somewhat de- 

 clined, which produced a corresponding reduction on this 

 side during the month of June, The demand, however, 

 remained steady. In July and August prices revived both 

 at home and abroad, and fears were beginning to be felt 

 that the future supplies would ba much less than had been 

 anticipated. The months of August and September brought 

 an active demand, with an upward tendency in prices. To- 

 wards the end of October the value of Flax advanced 40s. to 

 60s. per ton. The higher rate in discounts did not affect 

 the advanced prices of Flax, which continued to prevail to 

 the close of the year, the market leaving off with much firm- 

 ness, while stocks in first hands are in a limited compass. 

 The total import of Flax into the United Kingdom for the 

 first eleven months of last year is 65,196 tons, against 

 65,658 tons same period in 1859. 



Hemp. — The import of hemp into this port amounts to 

 5,168 tons (viz., 2,940 tons from St. Petersburg, and 2,228 

 tons from Riga), against 4,023 tons in 1859, and 4,159 tons 

 in 1858. There have also been received 541 Ions of Rus- 

 sian hemp yarn. The prices were steady for clean hemp at 

 about £29 per ton, with a good demand from the beginning 

 of the year up to the middle of October, when it became 

 certain that the import of the year must fall very short of 

 1859. In consequence the price of clean hemp rose to ££35 

 per ton, at which rate many transactions took place. Since 

 then the market has receded to about £34, with small 

 stocks remaining. Although there is an excess in the quan- 

 tity of hemp imported into Hull this year, yet the total im- 

 port into the United Kingdom for the first eleven months of 

 the year exliibit a deficiency of 19.867 tons, being 31,642 

 tons, against 51,509 tons for the same period in 1859. 



Olive Oil,— The import this year has been 5,015 tuns, 

 against 5,200 in '59, 4,400 in '68, 3,410 in '57, and 4,920 in 

 '56. As was anticipated in the last annual report, prices 

 have continued very steady during the year, notwithstand- 

 ing the Neapolitan Government twice made large additions 

 to their export duty, and subsequently as suddenly took 

 them off again ; yet the fluctuations caused thereby, as well 

 as by large exports in the autumn to Cronstadt, were very 

 trifling, Gallipoli having ranged between £58 in January to 

 £60 to £61 in December, which latter price is likely to con- 

 tinue for some time, if we do not see an advance arising 

 from small remaining stocks here, and short crops at the 

 (jhipping porta. 



