47 



CHAPTER II. 



TRANSPORT AND TRADE IN CEREALS. 



The whole history of the cereal trade is bound up in 

 that of transport ; the existence, in the modern sense, of 

 a cereal trade is dependent on the existence of trans- 

 portation, in which the sea plays as great a part as land; 

 shipping and railways are intricately mingled. 



Without efficient and cheap transport the growing 

 of articles of food distant from the centres of consump- 

 tion is a commercial impossibility ; from .time imme- 

 morial trade in cereals has existed precisely becaus* 

 among the chief articles of human diet wheat was ont 

 of the easiest handled and least difficult to transport. 



For countries cultivating cereals far in excess" of tht 

 amount needed for their own consumption, such as Rus- 

 sia, Roumania, Argentina, Australia, India, Canada, U. 

 S. A., etc., and which rely on being able to export their 

 super-production, the question of efficient and cheap 

 transport is one of life or death for the prosperity of 

 the greater part of their inhabitants. More than ever is 

 this the case in Argentina and Australia, the two most 

 distant countries cultivating cereals for export to Europe, 

 (the chief centre of consumption). The profitable util- 

 isation of their land depends on the cost of transporta- 

 tion. 



TRANSPORT AND PRICES. 



All that concerns transport, its efficiency, cheapness, 

 and the methods whereby cost can be reduced, are of 

 the greatest interest to farmers of this land, and in fact 

 to every one of its inhabitants. 



The prices which our farmers receive for their pro- 

 ducts, are governed extensively by those ruling for trans- 

 port, as much by land as by water. When these art 

 high the nett remuneration to- the grower is less, whert 

 rates of freight are low, unlimited prospects are opened 

 for extending trade at a profit to the producer and; t 

 the consumer. 



Prices are governed by the actual sums obtained im 

 the centres of consumption, where wheat, for example, 

 from far and near, finds a common level of valu. On. 



