Variation in the Price and Supply of Wheat. 
223 
and were not imrlev any obligation to unite themselves either politically or 
commercially with Prussia, or even to renew the ZoUvereiu wliich the war had 
dissolved. 
Hanse Towns remain Free Ports. — The Federal Constitution became law 
in the Han.se Towns on the 1st of July, 1867. In consideration, however, of 
the peculiar position of the Hanscatic cities, they have been permitted, by a 
clause of the Federal Constitution (Article 34), to remain as free ports outside 
of the Customs frontier, until they shall sititiit'y their own desire to be admitted 
within it. But for this privilesie they are obliged to pay an annual sum, called 
an Aoersum., equivalent to the amount of Customs duties which would other- 
wise have been levied within their respective territories. The A.versa for the 
year 1868 have been fixed as follows ; — For Ijiibeck 85,950 dollars (12,900^.) ; 
for Bremen 248,600 dollars (37,290?.); and for Hamburgh 710,160 dollars 
(106,530/.). It is understood that Lubcck will speedily put an end to her 
Aversum by procuring the admittance of her territory into the Customs Union ; 
but the circumstances of the two larger cities of Bremen and Hamburgh are 
different, and they conceive it to be their interest to maintain the i'reedom of 
their ports, at least until by the construction of proper bonded warehouses and 
quays, they shall be in a situation to submit to the Customs Tariff, combined 
with the advantages of a good entrepot system. The harvest of last year was 
below the average in Germany as well as in a large portion of the rest of Europe. 
The high price of bread and of the other necessaries of life has pressed hardly 
upon the working-classes, and greatly limited their consumption. Indeed, 
towards the close of the year the distress in the eastern provinces of Prussia 
was known to be so severe and widely spread that the government was obliged 
to come to the relief of a starving population, and likewise to appeal to the aid 
of private benevolence. 
Hamburgh and its neighbourhood have not indeed been afflicted by famine, 
but the prices of necessaries have been gradually rising, and the prospect of 
increased taxation is not a favourable one either for the wages of labour or the 
profits of trade. 
Soil and Crops. — The harvest of last year was deficient in the Hamburgh 
territory, as it was likewise in the surrounding districts belonging to Prussia 
and Mecklenburg. In fact, when the com came to be threshed out it was 
found that the yield was even less than bad been expected in the autumn, 
and in some of the most fertile parts of the country the rye (on which the 
population chiefly subsists) did not return more, on an average, than the fifth 
grain of corn. The consequence was that manj' farmers were left without 
seed-corn, having entirely exhausted their winter stock. 
The actual prices, especially of -rye, are so high as to show that great scarcity 
still prevails in Germany. Much has been done by the Prussian Government 
and by individuals to relieve the severe distress which has aflected the eastern 
provinces of Prussia ; but such efforts cannot cheapen the necessaries of life. 
And throughout Northern Germany the people have been more in want of 
bread during the past winter than at any since the scarcity of 1847. 
Netherlands. 
AMSTERDAM, I860.— The breeding of cattle and the making of butter and 
cheese have been more profitable than the tilling of land partly from the high 
prices that could be obtained for them ; and this accounts for the fact that 
pasture ground is continually rising in price while the arable is almost at a 
standstill, and even in some parts diminishing in value, tliough upon the 
whole no very important variations have arisen. The manure generally used 
is stiible dung and mud from ditches ; guano and artificial manure are seldom 
employed. 
