206 
Variation in the Price and Supphj of Wheat. 
Locusts have lately established themselves in these localities, and are likely 
to be very destructive. 
Cro[) of linseed deficient, sellers not willing to take 42s. 6d per quarter free 
on board. 
Harvest of 1860 deficient. An anticipated demand for United Kingdom 
kept jiriccs, till June, at 43s. to 45s. per quarter for hard, and 40s. to 43s. for 
soft, or Gliirka wheat, free on board ; and then came a decline of 3s. or 4s. per 
quarter, and the ruin of merchants would have followed, but in July a deficient 
crop in France found them a market. 
Stock of wheat here and at Bostoff about 200,000 quarters. 
Purchases of 250,000 quarters, made inland for delivery next summer, calcu- 
lated to cost 35s. free on board. 
1862. — Trade in exports sto]iped by ice in the Azoff at the end of November. 
Autumnal easterly gales common. The port unprotected for shipping. Crops 
for 1861 abundant, but injured by rain. Export of wheat in 1862 over a 
million quartei's. Prices for soft wheat during the year, 30s. to 36s. ; and for 
hard wheat, 34s. to 40s. per quarter, free on board. " Prices are now (January 
20th, 1863) maintained above the proportionate level of foreign markets, and 
there is likely to be a considerable falling off in next season's exportation, 
owing to the deficient harvest of 1862." Stocks at all the Azoff ports not over 
300,000 quarters. " The main difficulty which agriculture will have to contend 
with will be the droughts to which this country is subject." 
Hard wheat is grown on the virgin land, and on that which has laid in 
fallow for several years; it is sown in spring, and is liable to injury from 
moisture at harvest. 
Turkey and the Archipelago are the best customers for second qualities. 
January 20th, 1863. — Freights of wheat in spring, 1862, 9s. to 10s. per 
quarter to England, falling to 7s. by autumn. The export trade exhibits no 
elasticity, and no extension can be expected except with greater freedom from 
tariffs and forms. Soil fertile in South Russia, but Tinder the present dislocated 
social state no improvement in agriculture can be expected, and the droughts 
■will always be an evil. 
Linseed less in favour, from its exhausting the land. Some steam-power 
implements on wealthy estates, but they require skill and costly fuel, and 
rej^airs are not easily effected. 
Prices now maintained at 33s. to 37s. for soft, and 35s, to 42s. for hard 
wheat. 
Crop of 1862 bad, and the exports for 1863 will be small. 
Eeport by Mr. Consul Caeeuthers for 1863. — The substitution of free 
for serf labour in liussia, when in full action, will call forth the energies of 
the labouring classes, and oblige the landowners to resort to an improved 
method of cultivation; but as the population of Southern Russia is small 
and scattered, it is improbable that the employment of manure, or other 
appliances for the speedy recovery of an exhausted soil, will be soon brought 
into practice. The necessity of providing mechanical power for the large 
estates is, however, fully acknowledged, and thrashing-machines, driven by 
steam, have become of common use in the vicinity. A variety of implements 
have likewise been introduced for carrying out more speedily, and with better 
effect, the ordinary works of husbandry. 
January, 1864. — Since 1857, Azoff has not been able to compete with other 
corn-growing countries, and losses of 5s. to 10s. per quarter have often been 
made on shi]iments. Large supplies from America in 1862 paralysed the 
market, and though these were more moderate last year Ihey were sufficient 
(with the prospective crop of 1863) to cause a collapse of prices in all coimtries. 
Inland purchases of soft wheat were made last winter (1862-3) on the basis of 
45s. iicr quarter delivered in England, and prices at Taganrog were maintained 
