212 Variation in the Price and Sujiply of Wheat. 
ground and have already taken advances they will not Lc able to meet, conse- 
quently a great deal of land will chancre hands. Besides the drought there an^ 
other more sei-ious grievances resulting to the crops, locusts and field-rats 
destroy in part that which has escaped being scorched. The former of these 
much-dreaded enemies made their appearance in this district in 1856, and 
continued their visits annually, but, in 1862, they settled down to breed. This 
important fact was discovered by the inhabitants of the adjacent villages in thf' 
Avinter of the same j'ear, but, from fear that they would be employed in 
exterminating them, they kept their fatal secret until it was too late. When 
they at last became fully aware of their danger, apjihcation was made for 
assistance ; hundreds of carts and beasts were sent with crushers, but to little 
avail ; the evil had already spread itself seventeen miles. Attempts weie made 
to rake them into heaps and burn them, but without success. Tlie rats at 
times also commit great havoc amongst the wheat, especially when they leave in 
droves for another part of the country, everything is levelled with the ground. 
Report ry Mr. Acting-Consul Wagstaff for 18G1. — There has been a 
successive failure of ciops in this part of Russia for the past few years. 
Exports of wheat, 162,000 quarters ; pjricc in s]iring, t33s. per quarter on 
board. A fall of 2s. in England before the arrival of the cargoes discouraged 
our merchants, but the rise in foreign exchanges assisted them. 
Several large parcels of wheat have been brought up in the Ekaterinoslaw 
and Pottawa governments, where the crops were abundant, for winter and 
spring delivery, at the low ja-ice of 12s. to 15s. per quarter ; the cost of trans- 
port of which to Berdiansk will be 10s. to 12s. a quarter. The present stock of 
grain (72,500 quarters) is the smallest remaining in store after navigation has 
ceased for some years. Crops in the whole of the Tauride government a com- 
plete failure, owing to the drought in May and June. The Government 
distributed 1:'.0,000 quarters of corn to supply the wants of tlie farmers and 
furnisli them with the means of sowing next .';i)ring. The Bulgarians are an 
industrious class of people. In the interior the crops have not suffered from 
the attacks of locusts, though in some pjlaces the rats have been very destructive ; 
the quality of the grain was injured by extreme heat liefore cutting. Cattle 
have greatly decreased iu the last five years through dearth of food. 
BERDIANSK. Report by Mr. Consul Zohrai! on the Trade and 
Navigation of the Port of Berdiansk for the Yf.ar 1860. — A year of 
commercial and agricultural success, such as is seldom experienced in this 
country, has just closed upon Berdiansk. An abundant harvest met a brisk 
demand, and grain realised very high prices. 
Wheat is the chief article of export; compared with it, all other exports 
fall into insignificance. There are two kinds of wheat grown — hard wheat and 
soft wheat. The former is shipped jirincipally for the Mediterranean ports. 
It costs here between 2s. Qd. and 3s. (kl. per quarter more than the soft v^'heat. 
458,300 quarters of wheat were sent to foreign countries from this during 
the season, of which 115,252 quarters w'ere shipped for the United Kingdom. 
The export trade in other articles is very small. For linseed the climate 
does not appear to be favourable, and the I'eturnsare so uncertain that farmers 
do not pay much attention to tiie cultivation of the plant, and it is probable 
that its growth for seed will in a few years be abandoned. 
Of oats four or five cargoes are annually exported. I'his cereal is generally 
grown lor local consumption and not for exportation. The other exports are 
.so insigriificant that they can hardly be said to form articles of foreign trade. 
It is not that some of them cannot be found within the district in larger 
quantities ; but as better prices are offered in other Russian towns, they are 
^ent to them instead of being brought to this market. 
Atjriculture. — Sseveral years of bad crops here and low prices abroad had 
brought poverty on the town. Exporters could with difficulty get small 
