186 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE 



Wheat. — The receipts of wheat during 1876 were 3,945,247 bushels, a 

 decline of 464,423 bushels, over 10 per cent., from the receipts of 1875. 

 The foreign exports amounted to 1,659,861 bushels, a decline of 19 per 

 cent. At the beginning of the year the stock left over from 1875 in the 

 hands of millers and dealers amounted to 311,043 bushels, which, added 

 to the current receipts, made the total stock in the market during the 

 year 4,256,290 bushels. Of this amount, about 2,000,000 bushels were 

 ground by the city mills, 1,659,861 bushels exported to foreign countries, 

 about 100,000 bushels shipped coastwise or to millers of neighboring 

 districts, with 247,856 bushels left in the elevators, and 248,573 in the 

 hands of millers and dealers or on shipboard. The crop of 1875, in 

 regions dependent upon the Baltimore market, was considerably short- 

 ened, which caused a reduction in the receipts of the first six months. 

 The crop of 1876 being larger, the receipts were more abundant and of 

 better quality. Southern red wheat, on the 1st of January, was quoted 

 at $1.35 ® $1.45 per bushel. It showed a rising tendency through the 

 winter and spring, reaching $1.40 © $1.50 in May. Subsequently it 

 declined as the prospects of the crop around Baltimore be came more 

 cheering, falling to $1.18 ® $1.22 in August, but rallied to the opening 

 figures at the close of the year. Southern white exhibited about the 

 same range of fluctuations, opening and closing at $1.45 © $1.55. Of 

 wheat, and flour reduced to wheat, the receipts amounted 10,892,937 

 bushels, a decline of 1,351,288, or 11 per cent., from 1875. 



Corn. — Kcceipts, 24,084,230 bushels, an enormous increase over the 

 receipts of 1875, which embraced but 9,567,141 bushels. This increase 

 gives Baltimore the leadership in the corn trade among the distributive 

 markets on the Atlantic coast. It results from a judicious manage- 

 ment of the immense railroad facilities centering at Baltimore in offer- 

 ing differential rates of transportation for through freight. During the 

 last seven months of the year the Baltimore and Ohio Kailroad, compet- 

 ing with rivals farther north, put down the tariff on transportation to 

 17^ cents per cental from Chicago to Baltimore. Of the receipts, about 

 3,000,009 bushels came by the Chesapeake Bay. The stock on hand at 

 the opening of the year was 155,385 bushels, which, added to the 

 receipts, amounted to 24,839,015 bushels. This aggregate was disposed 

 of as follows : Exported to foreign countries, 20,953,724 bushels ; ex- 

 ported coastwise, 600,000 bushels ; ground by city mills, 250,000 ; taken 

 by distilleries, 350,000 ; taken for local wants, 1,200,000 ; stock left in 

 elevators, 1,038,650 ; stock left in hands of millers and others and on 

 shipboard, 447,241. The prices of southern white corn were uniformly 

 lower than in 1875. The year's quotations opened at 48 © 55 and closed 

 at 55 ® 56, the maximum, 62 ^ G3, being reported in April and May. 

 Southern yellow averaged about the same. 



Oafs.— Receipts, 810,212 bushels, a decline of 167,302. The receipts 

 were nearly all taken for home consumption, the shipments being too 

 small to be worthy of notice. The receipts were cut down by a failure in 

 the demand, caused by the inferior character of the crop as well as by the 

 abundance of the hay crop of 1876, which largely superseded it as a 

 feeding material. Prices were uniformly lower than during 1875; 

 January 1, the quotations were 40 ® 50 cents; they gradually subsided to 

 30 © 36 November 1, with a partial reaction toward the close of the year. 

 liye. — Receipts 112,160 bushels, an increase of 37,631 bushels, or 50 

 per cent., over 1875. The annual receipts of the last few years show 

 great variations, showing a fluctuating relation between supply and 

 demand. Greater storage facilities for this branch of the grain trade, 

 it is thought, would enlarge the local consumption, and induce a profit- 



