THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



417 



ditto, prices high and sales brisk, first-rate nags made from 

 £40 to £45 each, cart horses from £20 to £40 ditto, Welsh 

 colts from £14 to £18 ditto, ordinary ponies from £10 to £14 

 ditto. 



NEWTON-STEWART MARKET. — Three-year-olds 

 sold from £8 to £10 each, two year-olds £7 to £8, cows £6 

 to £12, aud the others from £3 to £5 each. Of pigs the 

 number was about an average, riagiug from 103. to 12s. 6J. 

 each, sccordiiig to age and quality. 



SHIPSTON-ON-STOUR FAIR, so famed for cart-horses, 

 was numerously attended by dealers from all parts of the 

 kingdom. There was an excellent show of usefnl draught 

 horses, which realized prices varying from 30 to 75 guineas, 

 and were re-sold at higher prices. The cattle fair was also 

 well supplied, and there was a good demand for stores. Mr. 

 Print, of Wolford, disposed of some tegs at 54a. a-head. 

 There was likewise a good demand for beef and mutton, aud 

 on the whole the fair was a thorough business one. 



ST. COLUMB MONTHLY MARKET.— There was a 

 small supply of fat bullocks and sheep, iu consequence no 

 doubt of the farmers being busy putting iu their spring crops. 

 The former fetched from £3 to £3 5s. per cwt., and the latter 

 (there being only a few) from 7^il. to 8d. per lb. 



THORNBURY MONTHLY MARKET.— There was a 

 good supply of capital fat beef, w hich sold readily at from 608. 

 to 70s. per cwt. There was also a large supply of good 

 grazers, which were soon disposed of at prices varying from 



£14 to £18. Some useful ia-season heifers aud heifers with 

 calves were also offered, and these found ready sale at prices 

 from £16 to £20 each. The supply of fat mutton was short, 

 but good store sheep were plentiful, and a good trade iu this 

 department was done ; mutton S^d. to 9d. per lb. Pigs were 

 as usual very plentiful, aud business good ; bacon 10a. 6d. to 

 lis. per score. 



WEYIHLL FAIR. — The number of sheep much exceeded 

 the expectation of all who attended this market, and a good 

 clearance was effected at an advauce from 2s. to 3s. per head 

 from late fairs. Couples sold from 36s. to 46s., tegs from 268. 

 to 3(Js. ; prime lots at much higher prices. Mr. Child, of 

 Wcyhill, obtained the high price of 55s. per head for a very 

 prime lot (100) of wether tegs. In the cattle fair, although a 

 great quantity was brought for sale, the supply was not equal 

 to the demand, and many lots exchanged hands over and over 

 Dgsiu. There was also a great number of horses, which sold 

 at high figures. 



WORCESTER FAIR.— The supply of beef and mutton 

 was good. There was a great atttndance of buyers, and all 

 kinds of stock sold readily at an advance. Beef brought 7|d. 

 toSd.; mutton, shorn 7i-d. to 8d., iu the wool 9d. per lb. 

 Ewes and lambs of the best quality sold briskly at good prices. 

 Good cows and calves fetched from £15 to £20; barrens 

 were greatly looked for, but few on offer. Good business done 

 in fat pigs, which realised 10s. 6d. to Us. per score. A good 

 many horses offered, but very little business done. 



REVIEW OE THE CORN TRADE 



DURING THE PAST MONTH. 



The want of dust in March has been nearly 

 made up in April, dry and cold weather having 

 prevailed. After the long prevalence of wet, 

 nothing could be better for the tillage and seeding of 

 the ground ; and farmers have, therefore, taken 

 every opportunity to make up the serious amount 

 of work in arrears. The wheat plant has, how- 

 ever, made but little progress, the frosty nights 

 keeping it back; and with the slow growth made, 

 its thinness . and the numerous blanks have 

 become more visible — so visible as generally to 

 show the error committed in trusting to last year's 

 seed. In many cases it just had strength to vege- 

 tate and die ; while those who used sound one- 

 year-old seed have generally found healthy plants 

 in spite of the roughness of the weather. What a 

 warm season may do for the yet surviving plants 

 time will show ; but, with very few exceptions, 

 there is no promise of even an average yield. Oats 

 are said to come up strong and well in many 

 places ; and the spring-sown wheat, as well as 

 most Lent corn, are promising ; but if the weather 

 prophets are in the secret of the future, there is 

 another agricultural struggle in prospect against 

 the elements. But let us hope that He who 

 "guides Arcturus and his sons," and has ordained 

 the seasons, will be propitious, and order all 

 things well. 



The early opening of the Baltic by steamers 

 has brought about a temporary depression in the 

 wheat trade, and, beyond this influence, the 

 prospect of a free trade in corn throughout France 

 has produced its effects ; but as our neighbours, 

 like ourselves, had a poor crop last year, as well as 

 unfavourable seedtime, with frosty nights, their 

 prices lately have rather improved, and the amount 



of our own decline for good new English wheat 

 has not exceeded Is. to 2s. per qr,, the scarcity of 

 old, both English and foreign, keeping u]) the rates. 

 The late shipments from the Baltic being princi- 

 pally of last year's growth, were mostly inferior 

 and damp ; holders were therefore disposed to ac- 

 cept the first loss rather than land, and hence 

 there was some pressure on the market : but the 

 unfavourable result is calculated to reduce the 

 number of shipments, and already we see this 

 consequence even with favourable winds. The 

 qualities required, viz., fine dry heavy samples, 

 appear nowhere abundant but in America. 

 Odessa has not yet received her best supplies. 

 The Mediterranean ports are generally dependent 

 on the Black Sea, and it Is only the North of 

 Spain that can give any quantity, and prices there 

 are too high for this market. The certainty that 

 more would be wanted at New York, with the 

 prospect of the reopening of the canals, has lately 

 produced more buoyancy there; but with the 

 civil war now commenced, though prices 

 have since rather receded, but little depend- 

 ence can be placed on a continuance of heavy ship- 

 ments. We do not, therefore, anticipate much re- 

 duction on present rates, even with fair weather ; 

 but, with any serious change either on this score or 

 in European pohtics, there is yet room for a con- 

 siderable advance, as our own miserable crop is 

 being fast used up, as well as the stocks of good 

 foreign corn ; and there is no available resource to 

 fall back upon, in case of need. 



The following prices show the state of foreign 

 markets. The best wheat at Paris was worth about 

 62s. per qr., second quality 6 Is., at Louvain 61s. 

 to 62s. also. Rotterdam prices varied from 35s« 



