298 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



to follow them. I do not say these markets are an unmixed 

 good j but the benefits arising from them, I am convinced, 

 greatly preponderate over the evils ; and, taking advantage of the 

 long experience of others, some of these evils we may either 

 remedy or avoid. It would prove highly beneficial to our 

 farmers if they could have certain established markets for the 

 sale of their produce when it is ready for sale j if prices could be 

 fairly adjusted and equalized ; and especially if the markets 

 could be for cash ; and that credit, in all cases excepting for 

 very short periods, could be abolished. It would be equally 

 useful to them to know where they could buy as well as where 

 they could sell ; for they often want lean or store stock for fatten 

 ing, a change of seed for sowing, horses for farm service, young 

 stock for grazing, and cows for dairy use. 



With the exception of three or four of our large towns, as 

 Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, we have no established 

 cattle market in the country ; and markets such as Brighton near 

 Boston, and the Bull s Head near New York, are almost exclu 

 sively for the sale of fat cattle, sheep, and swine. Our farmers 

 sell, as they can, to agents or purchasers travelling through the 

 country, and buy as they can, and where, by chance, after taking, 

 in many cases, long and expensive journeys, they may find the 

 stock which they need. In frequent cases, stock, both cattle 

 and swine, are driven through the country and sold to those who 

 wish to purchase, as accident may direct. A wool fair or 

 market, is not, within my knowledge, held in the country ; nor 

 a corn or grain market.* In the purchase of wool, agents scour 

 the country, and in general the farmers are quite at their mercy. 

 In respect to grain, the farmer carries his wheat, or other grain, 

 to the miller or the trader, and must make the best bargain that 

 he can. In such case, in the first place, there is no competition ; 

 and no possibility of calculating the quantities on hand for sale ; 

 and no mode of fixing any general or equal price ; and, indeed, no 



* Howard Street, in Baltimore, affords the only place in the United States 

 resembling an exclusive market for the sale of grain or flour ; and this is only 

 attended by individual purchasers, and is not a meeting of farmers, grain-dealers, 

 and millers, coming together on particular days m the week, and at a particular 

 hour in the day, to exhibit samples, to collect and impart information respecting 

 the grain prospects of the year, to discuss prices, and to afford to all parties the 

 advantages of comparison and competition. 



