FARMERS' REGISTER— FOREIGN CORN TRADE. 



175 



tion. The t.ixes on this estate amovuited to £. 13 

 19 10 ster]ui<;'. On an estate of 1152 acres, I have 

 been furnished with the foilowino- particulars ol 

 taxation, which may be deenu'ii interesting: — 



1. Church-rates, clergymen, re[)airing 

 the minister's house, and conveyance 



of materials, £9 18 2 



2. Insurance of the building implements 

 and live stock against fire, also insu- 

 rance of tlie croj)s against hail, - - 17 1 9 



3. Repairs of bridges, roads, ditches, 



and canals, _---__-- 386 



4. Support of the poor, ----- 7 13 5 



5. School tax, about ------ 7 13 2 



£45 15 



The extent of estates varies from 320 to 2850 

 acres. Sucii estates are managed in one fjirming 

 establishment; but tliere are otliers of a still larger 

 extent, arising trom the annexation of smaller 

 estates to the j)rincipal ones. 



There is a novel kind of association established, 

 called the "Board of Hypothecation," where each 

 estate has its hyjiothecation book clepositcd. In 

 this book all the mortgages with which the estate 

 is encumbered, are inscribed. This system has 

 the effect of giving a hill and clear view of the 

 state of incumbrances on the estates. Besides this 

 institution, a credit vereiii (credit association) has 

 been formed, to which a considerable part of the 

 proprietors of the estates of Mecklenburg belong. 

 The estates which thus belong to this association, 

 are mutual guarantees ibr halt" the amount of the 

 taxed valuation, when that sum is borrowed upon 

 their security. Tlie directors of this association 

 issue transferable bonds, bearing 4 per cent, inter- 

 est, but the landholders pay ^ per cent, more, or 4| 

 per cent., from which the expense of administra- 

 tion is defrayed, and the remainder is applied to- 

 wards forming a reserve fund. 



Wlieat can be produced at 25s. per quarter, on 

 an average of late years. I say of late, because 

 from the year 1796 to 1808, wheat often sold there 

 at 9s. per bushel, and even more! The expense 

 of receiving wheat into store at Hamburg is 9d. 

 per quarter, and the granary rent, so long as it re- 

 mains there in warehouse, is 2d. per quarter per 

 month. The expenses of freight and insurance 

 are in general about half those trom Danzig; some- 

 times even less. When the traders (who sail at 

 stated periods full or 7wt) cannot get a cargo, I 

 have known the li-eight as low as Is. per quarter. 

 The other charges are precisely the same as those 

 already enumerated. 



Of late 3'ears a considerable trade has been 

 carried on with Odessa; but the immense distance 

 will always militate against a very large importa- 

 tion direct from thence. Much business has, how- 

 ever, been done by means of shipping to Malta, 

 Gibraltar, &c. taking out and cooling the cargo, il' 

 requisite, and then reshipping it for England. — 

 As some may not know the meaning of "cooling," 

 it is necessary to state, that many cargoes ha\'e 

 been so heated on the voyage, as to render the 

 pick-axe necessary to get tlie wheat out of the 

 ship's hold and in several instances the whole has 

 been thrown overboard by permission of the Board 

 of Customs, or burnt for manure, as it would have 

 endangered the safety of the warehouses, from the 

 intense heat which it engenders} fbr, even spread 



ing out heated corn on a floor three or four inches 

 thick will not cool it. lnde|)endently of the length of 

 voyage from Odessa, there is another circumstance 

 attending the trade there, which forms a consider- 

 able impediment to it, namely, that the money 

 must be advanced to the growers belbre harvest, 

 or they will not send it down to Odessa, the ex- 

 pense being so heavy, and the confidence in that 

 country so little; but I believe the merchant is 

 mostly the suiferer, as the farmers frequently pock- 

 et the money, and never send the wheat. 



I should mention, that a good deal of wheat is 

 shipped li-om Odessa to Malta, where it is landed 

 and stored in the Jlock, and then hermetically 

 sealed, the advantages of which are these, thatany 

 worm in the wlieat rises to the top and dies; and if 

 the Avheat is put into the Rock in good condition, 

 Avhenever it is removed the condition v/ill be equally 

 sound, and the expense of keeping it is only one 

 per cent, per annum. In case of any demand 

 arising, the wlicat is within a reasonable distance, 

 and can be tbrthwith shijip.ed off, which is of course 

 a great convenience to the owners. 



Having thus given a summary statement of how 

 foreign cui-n is cultivated and sent to England, it 

 may not be uninteresting to many to know a litUe 

 more of the details of the trade. And, in the first 

 place, to describe how grain is brouglit from the 

 interior to the shipping ports. In Russia, Prussia, 

 Germany, Poland, &c. where the estates lie con- 

 tiguous to rivers, the corn is sent down them in 

 flat-bottomed barks or barges; but the navigation 

 is Irequently very dangerous, and at all times pre- 

 carious. In winter, the rivers are sid)ject to great 

 inundations on the breaking up of the ice; and in 

 summer they are sometimes quite unnavigable for 

 want of water. These causes, preventmgsupplies 

 from coming to market, occasionally produce a 

 considerable advance in the prices. The river 

 Dnieper has many cataracts and shallows, so that 

 barks can pass fbr a very short period only in the 

 spring, and those only of a small size. Conse- 

 quently most of the corn that goes to Odessa is 

 sent in carts, carrying about 5 quarters each. 

 These carts are drawn by oxen, and they travel in 

 parties of 100 to 150. The oxen are pastured dur- 

 ing the night, and they take advantage of the time 

 wlien the ]5easantry are not occupied with the har- 

 vest; so that the proprietors can send their wheat 

 300 or 400 miles at a veiy trifling charge. These 

 districts might be cultivated to almost any extent, 

 should an increased demand for grain arise, andthe 

 soil is what is termed '^virgin land,'''' requiring no 

 manure whatever. The wheat is generally dried 

 in the sun at Odessa, before shipment, vvhich is a 

 far preferable mode of drying, in respect to that 

 grain, to kiln-dryintj; but, as I have before men- 

 tioned, even this will not entirely preserve it from 

 healing, fbr I never knew a cargo to arrive direct 

 from thence without sustaining more or less injury 

 on the voyage, which is the reason why the Medi- 

 terranean ports are made depots fbr Odessa wheat. 

 From the Baltic ports corn is generally shipped 

 fi'om May 15tli to the end of October, and some- 

 times later. 



As respects quality, the finest wheat in the world 

 is grown in Volhynia, and shipped from Danzig, 

 Elbing, or Konigsherg. The peculiarity of this 

 wheat is the little bran it yields, which makes it 

 much sought after by the English (but more espe- 

 cially by the London) millers. It possesses, like- 



