182 EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



of flour were quite firm during tlie whole year. For local trade the best 

 products of western mills are in constant requisition, and brands that are 

 reliable, that fully maintain their standard, will always meet with ready 

 sale, commanding from 25 to 50 cents per barrel more than brands 

 whose reputation is not well established. The best patent flours sold 

 at $8.50 to $10 ; the best Saint Louis and Illinois, $8 to $9 ; the best 

 Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, $6.50 to $7.50. Inferior flours are either 

 exported abroad or shipped coastwise. 



Wheat. — Iteceipts of 1S7G, 504,767 bushels, or less than half of those 

 of 1875 ; shipments, 112,915 bushels, against 784,941 in 1875. The wheat 

 trade of Boston has been of a fluctuating character, and has always 

 been limited in extent, compared with other great markets. Of wheat 

 and flour together the receipts of 1876 amounted to 0,689,692 bushels, 

 an increase of 464,723, nearly as much as all receipts of raw wheat ,• ship- 

 ments, 1,453,380 bushels, a decline of 687,411. Boston being almost 

 exclusively a consuming market, the proportion of flour to grain is 

 constantly increasing. 



Cor/i.— Keceipts of 1876, 9,005,375 bushels, a gain of 3,659,035, or 

 over 68 per cent.; shipments, 4,160,817 bushels, a gain of 2,609,041, or 

 168 i)er cent. The extreme annual range of prices of corn for ten years 

 past was as follows : 1867, $1.10 to $1.60; 1868, 95 cents to $1.42; 1869, 

 80 cents to $1.35; 1870, 78 cents to $1.25; 1871, 72 to 93 cents; 1872, 

 64 to 81 cents; 1873, 60 to 90 cents; 1874, 82 cents to $1.06 ; 1875, GH 

 to 93 cents ; 1876, 58 to 75 cents. The corn-meal trade of Boston shows 

 the receipts of from 80,000 to 100,000 barrels, the shipments taking 

 nearly the whole of the receipts. 



Oats.—Tho, receipts of oats during 1876 were 2,622,150 bushels, a de- 

 cline of 211,394, or nearly 8 per cent., the receipts being mostly for 

 local consumption. The exports are too small to attract the notice of 

 local statisticians and journalists ; the range of prices in 1876 was 

 from 30 to 58 cents per bushel, against 41 to 82 cents in 1875, and 52 to 

 72 cents in 1874. 



ii'^e.— Receipts of 1876, 34,594 bushels, an increase of 6,716 over 1875 ; 

 the receipts being mostly for local consumption ; no shipments are 

 noted. Prices ranged, in 1876, from 75 cents to $1 per bushel; in 1875, 

 from 95 cents to $1.25 ; in 1874, from $1 to $1.25. 



i^ar/cy.— Receipts of 1876, 798,689 bushels, an increase of 268,150 

 bushels, or 50 per cent.; no shipments noted. 



The grain movements of the last five years were as follows : 



