1040 



The Corn Markets in February, [march, 



demand for extra men in these counties, the weather being exceptionally 

 fine. The demand was chiefly on account of carting and spreading 

 manure, threshing, hedging, ditching, and cutting wood. It was more 

 than met by the supply in Oxfordshire, but in the other counties the- 

 supply and demand were generally fairly well balanced. A demand for 

 men for permanent situations was reported from several districts in 

 Worcestershire and Hertfordshire. 



Eastern Counties. — Threshing operations were somewhat hindered at 

 times by wind and rain, but, apart from this, employment generally 

 suffered little interruption from the weather, and farm work was re- 

 ported to be in a fairly forward state at the end of the month. Hedging, 

 ditching, carting manure, besides threshing, provided work for extra 

 men, and the supply of such men was usually taken up by the demand. 

 A scarcity of single men and milkers was reported in the Brigg rural 

 district in Lincolnshire. 



Southern and South-Western Counties. — With the exception of two 

 or three days at the end of the month, outdoor work suffered little 

 or no interruption in these counties, and extra men had a fair amount 

 of employment at such seasonal operations as threshing, carting manure, 

 and hedging. The supply of and demand for these men were generally 

 about equal, an excess being reported only in the Epsom (Surrey) and 

 the Devizes (Wiltshire) rural districts. An excess of men for permanent 

 situations was reported in the Wareham and Purbeck (Dorset) rural 

 district; while there was a scarcity of such men in the Godstone 

 (Surrey) and the Petworth and Uckfield (Sussex) rural districts, in the 

 Aldershot district in Hampshire, and in the Wantage (Berkshire), Stow- 

 on-the-Wold and Thornbury (Gloucestershire), Torrington (Devon), and 

 West Penwith (Cornwall) rural districts. 



THE CORN MARKETS IN FEBRUARY. 

 C. Kains-Jackson. 



Wheat. — A high temperature for the time of year marked the whole 

 course of February, and the last few days being wet as well as mild 

 were against condition no less than demand. Prices ruling at 

 the end of the month were 29s. to 33s. for English red wheat, 315. to 

 355. for fine white, 305. to 325. for Essex Rivetts. The latter, Triticum 

 turgidum, is a coarse, strong red sort, and has latterly been in greater 

 request than supply. 



For imported wheat the inquiry all through the month was best 

 for red; white sorts sometimes fell as much as eighteenpence per 

 quarter for cargoes to arrive in March. The spot fall on the month 

 may be averaged at a shilling on white and sixpence on red. Argentine, 

 Canadian, American, and fine Russian types were held with fair confi- 

 dence, while Californian, Australian, Indian, and inferior Russian were 

 pressed on sale. 



Shipments for February were 390,000 qrs. from North America, 

 1,250,000 qrs. from South America, 1,334,000 qrs. from Russia, 432,000 

 qrs. from Europe S.E., 291,000 qrs. from India, and 980,000 qrs. from 

 Australia. The last-named figure exceeded expectation. Supplies on 

 passage rose from 2,100,000 to 2,900,000 qrs., and from being 

 400,000 qrs. below the average, ended in exceeding it by a like amount. 

 This fact of itself will account for a good deal of depression. Supplies 

 of British wheat and of imported breadstuffs for the first half of the 



