213 
FOREIGN MARKETS. 
WHEAT.—In the British isles the spring temperature up to the middle 
of May was very unfavorable to vegetation and discouraging to farmers. 
Night-frosts have been injurious to the more delicate grains, and have 
retarded, if they have not seriously injured, the hardier wheat-crop. The 
continued pressure of these abnormal conditions of growth caused gen- 
eral apprehension in regard to the outcome of growing crops. The light 
lands still promised fair crops, but the cereals on heavy soils by no 
means indicated a high or eyen average condition. Wheat looked 
sickly and yellow, and the growth in many cases was irregular and 
“patchy.” Perhaps the speedy approach of warm spring weather 
would entirely change this prospect, but the period within which such 
an improvement is possible was rapidly narrowing, and the public mind 
was becoming more anxious as the unfavorable weather was protracted. 
The country-markets expressed this anxiety by a universal rise in the 
value of all unsold stocks of grain. The trade of the metropolis was 
firm, with a steady demand for the continent. Wheat during the week 
had advanced 1s. per quarter. The steadiness of this demand for 
export indicated a new cause for anxiety in a deficiency in regions 
which have hitherto constituted a resource for supply. . The inquiry for 
export embraced not only stocks on the spot, but also cargoes on the 
coast and én transitu from Australia and California, and these at the 
highest market-prices. 
The same class of unfavorable conditions retarded the grain-crops of 
France, and, with the exception of a few favored districts in the south, 
the general aspect of grain-farming is anything but cheering. Germany 
also looked with apprehension to short crops, and purchases have been 
made for direct shipment from America, Russia, and other great grain- 
fields to meet an expected searcity. Still later French reports present 
a less gloomy aspect of affairs, and give rise to hopes in certain quar- 
ters that grain prospects are on the mend. In the grain-growing 
regions of Eastern Europe there is a considerable improvement in the 
prospects of the growing crops. At Algiers the weather’was all that 
the grain-farmer could desire. At Alexandria, Egypt, small supplies 
checked business. 
The sales of English wheat during the week closing May 20 amounted 
to 44,989 quarters, at 45s. 1d. per quarter, against 62,370 quarters, at 
42s, 2d., during the corresponding week of 1875. The London averages 
were 45s. 3d. on 2,981 quarters. The imports into the United Kingdom 
during the week previous, ending May 13, amounted to 660,093 cwt. 
The following week opened with considerable firmness, though the 
trade was not remarkably brisk. Fresh supplies of English wheat were 
small and readily cleared out at previous prices, or with considerable 
advance. In Mark Lane, Hssex, and Kent, white brought 43s. and 52s. 
per quarter; ditto, red, 40s. and 47s.; Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and York- 
shire red, 40s. and 46s.; Dantzig mixed, 52s. and 56s.; Konigsberg, 50s. 
and 54s.; Rostock, 50s. and 53s.; Pomeranian, Mecklenburg, and Ucker- 
mark red, 48s. and 50s.; Shirka, 43s. and 45s.; Russian hard, 45s. and 
46s.; Saxonska, 47s. and 48s.; Danish and Holstein red, 46s. and 49s. ; 
American red, 44s. and 54s.; Chilian white, 47s.; Californian, 51s. ; 
Australian, 51s. and 53s. ; 
In Liverpool British white was quoted at 9s. 8d. to 10s. 2d. per cental ; 
ditto, red, 9s. 4d. to 9s. 10d.; Canadian white, 9s. 6d. to 10s.; Red Club 
and Golden Drop, 9s. to 9s. 9d.; American red, winter, 9s. 6d. to 10s. 
4d.; No. 1, Minnesota, 9s. 4d. to 9s. 9d.; No. 1, spring, 9s. 4d. to 9s. 10d. ; 
