174 



FARMERS' REGISTER— FOREIGN CORN TRADE. 



termed, "first open water." From the territory of 

 Volhynin, the wheat is conveyed down the River 

 Bt(g, which joins the Vistula, and thus reaches 

 Danzig. The expense of tliis transport, owino;to 

 the great distance, is from 9s. to 14s. 6d. per fjuar- 

 ter, making the cost when warehoused in Danzig 

 26s. 6<l. ])er quarter, or, to use the words of a Pohsh 

 ]iroprietor, "If I could ahva>'s reckon on obtaining 

 2Gs. per quarter for my wheat dehvered at Danzig, 

 I and my neighbors woukl be perfectly satisfied," 

 The merchant who buys the wheat, either stores 

 it on speculation, — sells it at a certain price, ?ree on 

 board a vessel, — or shi[)s it on consignment to a 

 corn-factor in London, or any other port where he 

 imagines it can be sold to the best account. The 

 expense of freight and insurance varies according 

 to the season of the year, scarcity of vessels, and 

 other causes. At present the nite is only 3s. 6d. 

 per quarter, with 10 per cent, "jirimage" or gratui- 

 ty to the master, frequenlly designated "hat money," 

 and the msurance is 15s. per cent. On arriving in 

 London, the cargo is entered "in bond," unless in- 

 tended for immediate sale, when the duty is forth- 

 with paid, and the cargo sold and delivered to the 

 buyers direct from the vessel. 



if landed, an expense of 7d. per quarter for 

 lighterage is incurred, and about 8d. per quarter 

 city-due!s for metering the coni; this work being 

 performed by sworn officers, apjiointed by the cor- 

 poration, and who alone can measure grain out of 

 any vessel arriving in the port of London. Several 

 attempts have been made to do away with this 

 monopoly J but inefi'ectually. It is certainly an im- 

 proper state of things, that a man may not employ 

 his own workmen to take his own corn out of his 

 own vessel; but such is the case in London, and in 

 JLondon only, I am happy to say. 



When the wheat is landed, the granary rent im- 

 mediately commences at the rate of 5s. per 100 

 quarters per week. "Turning and screening," 

 should the corn lie long and require it, are 7s. per 

 100 quarters; and there is, lastly, an expense of 

 about 4d. per quarter again paid to the corporation 

 for re-metering the corn out of granary. Tlie ex- 

 penses of sale in Mark Lane are Is. per quarter, 

 and 1 per cent, for guaranteeing the debt, tohich 

 oil London corn-factors do, they never acting in 

 the capacity of brokers. The credit given is one 

 month, consequently the net proceeds are due in 

 cash one month from the date of sale; but the fo- 

 reigner generally re-imburses himself by drawing 

 a bill at two or three months' date, when he hands 

 the bill of lading of the wheat for about two-thirds 

 of the probable net proceeds, and the balance is 

 either remitted, or a bill at sight drawn by the 

 shipper lor the same. 



A good deal of corn is changed against ducats; 

 the ducats are, in general, coined in Holland. The 

 bankers in Hamburg and the bankers in London 

 do the business on joint account; they send those 

 ducats to Danzig and Konigsberg, and against 

 them they get bills upon London, sometimes at two 

 or three per cent., sometimes at one per cent., and 

 through that medium they thus get a market for 

 their bills. The people in Poland generally take 

 gold or ducats; these ducats are in general new 

 Dutch ones, and they go there at a particular 

 value, about twenty-eight guilders. 



Tlie next princij)al market for grain to Danzig, 

 as regards an export trade to England, is Hamburg, 

 that being a considerable depot for the com grown 



on the banks of the Elbe and neighboring territo- 

 ries. When a sufficient price can be given, barley 

 is sometimes sent to Hamburg from Bolumia, in 

 which province some of the finest quality is grown; 

 indeed, it is fit for malting purposes, and always 

 commands a preference in the London market. To 

 the .agricultural reader, it may not be iminterest- 

 ing to learn' how tillage is conducted in those dis- 

 tricts which are at a comparatively shoil distance 

 from us. 



Instead of a plough in the Duchy of Mecklen- 

 burg (to which I shall principally confine mj^self) 

 an instrument called "hacke" is usually applied. 

 It is merely a broad coulter, somewhat curved at 

 the bottom; hence the tearing up of the soil is not 

 called ploughing but "hacking." .In fallowing, the 

 land is hacked tour times; namely, in autumn, in 

 June, in Julv, and the fourth time in September or 

 October. The first hacking is called the stubble 

 furrow; the second, the fallow furrow; the third, 

 the turn furrow; and the fourth, the seed furrotv< 

 For barley, which follows after the winter corn, 

 the ground is furrowed three times, viz. in autumn 

 the winter furrow, in April the turning furrow, and 

 in May the seed furrow. For the oats, which fol- 

 low after barley, the land is hacked twice, first in 

 autumn, called the turn furrow, and the second in 

 May, called the seed furrow. Peas, when sown 

 in the first course after the Avinter's corn, are fur- 

 rowed twice; when sown in the second course 

 three times. Beans are not much cultivated; the 

 soil, qualified for their growth, not being abundant 

 in that country. Rape requires five courses, or 

 one time more than wheat and rye. The harrow 

 is applied each time after the tearing up of the soil 

 with the hacke. A good soil is usually harrowed, 

 first Avith an iron-tined, and afterwards with a 

 wooden-tined harrow. With the latter the land is 

 generally cross-harrowed, that is to say, in ari 

 oblique way, on patches of ground of about two 

 rods in width. The rollers are particularly appli- 

 ed in the turnfiirrow (April) for crushing the clods. 

 Some agriculturists use also the roller after sowing 

 for the purpose of making the soft, soil either more 

 solid, or crushing the clods on the strong lands. 

 Others prefer to liave the clods that are found in 

 the seed furrows broken by the hands of laborers. 

 On the lands Avhich are neither too loose, nor liable 

 to form into clods, the roller is not generally ap- 

 plied. 



A laborer can moW and bind in a day^ of wheat 

 ly-ffrv acre; of rye 1 jo"(,- acre; of barleys ^^m acre; of 

 oats \j-^\ acre. However, the space of land 

 which can be mown in a day, by one laborer, de- 

 pends very much on the strength of the corn itself; 

 and the expense of mowing ought, on that ground, 

 to be calculated rather in the proportion of the 

 quantity of produce than the extent of surface. 

 The binding is generally done by women, the 

 shocking by men. The rj^e is usuall}' bound to- 

 gether behind the scythe; the female binder fol-- 

 lowing immediatelj' after the moAver, a method 

 Avhich is not practised AA'ith the other sorts of grain. 

 On some estates, this mode of binding the rye, 

 close behind the scythe, has been done away Avith. 



The value of 100,000 Mecklenburg roods, equal 

 to 536~/n acres of land, of medium soil, Avith suita- 

 lile buildings, and sufficient Avood belongmg to it, 

 is £4082 "9 sterling. An estate of 1834 acres 

 has recently been sold ibr 82,000 dollars, or £ 13,960 

 Bterling, which is in equal ratio to the abo\'e voJua- 



