The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-03-21 00:00:00

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OUR AGRICULTURAL FAIRS AND

MARKETS.

FROM FIFE ON
__AGRICULTURAL FATAH AND

MARKETS."
Journal of the Bath and West of England Society.

DORCHESTER AND OTHER CORN MARKETS.
Whilst alluting to the example of Dorcheger it may
be noted that the foregoing points have just in en
brought forward as furnishing an analogy for enlarging
the corn•inarket accommodation at that town. Formerly
the farmers, as in most other market-towns of the
district, were content to assemble at a central point in
the streets fur the sale of corn by sample. The result
necessarily was that a great deal of the 'Letitisi business
was transacted within doors in the spacious but dear-tied
market-rooms pertaining to the different inns. The
markets and market accommodations of the County of
Dorset generally are itouhtli as very indifferent in com-
parison a irh those of Warminster, Sidisletry, Devie"ss
Taunton, Yeovil (as about to ho eitended). Iloniton,
Chard, and Barnstaple lone of the hest we have seen) ;
hut Dorchester. Illandford, and Shafteshu,y ore the
best in Dorset, although all the maaketa therein have
been established for many years. As regards the Dor-
chester °ern-market it was, we have no doubt, viewed AR
a greaa improvement when, a few years ago, a really
handsome edifice, open in the under part, was erected
as a town•liall and corn-exchange, and the market
removed from the epee street. The favourite idea.
when this new curn-exchenge wan opened, wan that it
was to become a pitched market; that whil-t the bulk
should be housed in stores provided without, a sample
sack of each kind of graia on sale .thould he pitchi-d
within—• purpo-e for which it is certainly much too
smallaiessing that there is really agooil business dorie,and
an attendance of farmers from withiii a fifteen miles'
radius, with dealers from a much farther distance
(Shepton Mallet, for instance), itigniring chiefly for
the bright, 'dump Limiter's' barleys grown noon the
chalk. Many old farmers wedded to the idea of sale by
sample, actually remained outside, averse to the new
arrangement ; and, whilst the stores are altogether
unused, the proposition of pitching now remains only a
tradition for the present in Dorchester market, sup-
ported, however, by the steadfast practice of two well-
known agriculturists who keep up the original intention
of the exchange by duly pitching a sack of each sort of
strain. Long before this, however, a very commendable
pt had been made by a corn-factor in this market
to introduce the use of • frame at his stand with
eample compartments in wbich sellers could deposit
their samples side by side, and having a ticket stuck
into each sample marked with the name of the grocer
and the description, or perhaps, weight of the grain.
At Devises, Warminster, and Salisbniy, where
abundant accommodation has been provided,the pitched
market is found to succeed without difficulty. Indeed
at Salisbury a considerable quantity of corn is said to
be stored, in order, we presume, to effect the object not
merely of a pitehed sample market, but of a stock
market pitched in bulk. It is not, however, probable
that on the mere °lianas of sale, or with the conscious-
ness that they had better sell at a reduction than un-
dergo the repeated trouble and expense of transit and
storing, corn-growers generally will be induced to con-
form to this practice, as a pitched sample Peck oan be
brought forward as a rule with comparative facility
wherever the market accommodation is such as to
permit and encourage it. Thus at Derchester there is
now • proposition for the erection of an entirely new
corn-market of ample size, glass-roofed, and removed
from the din and traffic of the public street, to which
the present exchange stands open on one side; whilst
being neither roof-lighted, nor having any lights but
the front apertures, it is no completely darkened at the
back that the dealers have to crowd towards the front
to Suspect their samples. At Yeovil, also, where a 'rep'
few years ago a glean roofed aorn-market was opened in
the rear of the other public markets and buildings, an
increase of the market business already demands a new
extension ; all the stalls are let at the nasal charge of
.C 2 2s. per annum ; and there is literally nothing like
the necessary accommodation for the trade. In such a
situation nothing beyond Balsa by sample can, however,
be attained. Now to this anode of dealing by sample
the grower seems strongly attached because of its
ostensible convenience. He can go to market, as it
were, carrying his wealth or its representative in his
pocket. But it is of this that the dealers principally
complain. They say that it is impossible to judge of
the state of a sample of corn after it has been, so to
speak, kiln-dried by being carried about the person in
a ride or drive of from six to a dozen miles. The farmer,
no doubt, maintains that it is all fair ; and we believe
that the conscientious make a point before going to
Market of sacking up a quantity of from 20 to 100 sacks,
or whatever they intend to offer for sale, as the case
may be; and thereupon taking a sample from the bulk.
A common teacupful is regarded as a fair sample; come
take two handfuls. The samples are put into paper
sample-bags muds for the purpose; but are frequently
put before the buyer " just rubbed out"—and the
quantity impossible to he stated until thrashing. In
fact, this mode of dealing is too loose and unbusiness-like
to bear investigation. The complaint of samples being
managed" is more prevalent than could be wished;
and if a farmer is asked for the criterion of value,
weight, or measure, he will franley avow
that it is all measure. The weight is generally
asked, but the fernier " doesn't know." If,
however, the corn-market accommodation generally

attemi

were such that even half-bushel sample sacks, weighed
by the clerk of the market at entrance, and ticketed
with their weights, could be ranged up and simul-
taneouely exposed for sale in the open exchange by the
mouths of the sacks being untied and rolled down at
the ringing of the bell—then every buyer would have
an equal chance of claiming the choicest samples—and
every sample of obtaining a good price. Whereas by
the present sample system a man's right hand is not
allowed to know what his left hand does. A dea'er,
only the other day, complained to us that being in want
of a wimple of white wheat, be could find none but red
in the market, until just at its close, when he alighted
on the very thing he required ; the holder of which
informed him that, no one having wired for it, he in his
turn had concluded that he should be unable to
deal that day. In short, how is it to be known what
characters and descriptions of grain are on sale in any
market as long as the dealings take plane so compere-
tively in secret, as by one person showing another
privately his sample of produce? The object and inten-
tion of an open market ought, therefore, by all means
to be universally promoted by affording space and
establishing market rules and regulations for the
" exposition," as the French call it, of our sale-corn.
To finish off with the mode of dealing, it Ilea only to be
mentioned that, in this district, sales take place by the
load of five quarters of wheat, or ten querteni of barley.
Some farmers in sacking up ATC so sensible of the justice
involved in the consideration of weight, that, having
sacked and weighed one load, they will then direct that
every suoceeding load that is sacked be made up to that
identical weight, and gold Accordingly at a guaranteed
weight. This is all very fair; for it so happens that
one of the greatest existing grievances connected with
the purchase end sale of corn is that relating to weight
per bushel. Farmers throughout this district hold that
a greater general average weight per bushel than 60Ibs.
cannot be expected in our wheat crops. Corn-factors,
millers, and dealers any that the guaranteed weight
ought to be from 62 to 64, and argue that even then
they would be taken at a disadvantage by having the
weights made up to the standard, because a grain of
62Iba. natural weight is neoesaerily of more value than
would be an inferior grain of 601bs. even although made
up to 62Ibs. The value, in fact, would not be in the
one case within 15s, a load of what it would be in the
other. Of quality the skilled buyer can judge in every ,
res,.ect save one, and that is, specific gravity or density
—the most essential element of value in grain pro-
duce; and without et all entering into the difficult
question of weights and measures, it may be said that
this consideration alone must go far to determine in
favor of weight, at least as the criterion of value. It
is well known that by the mere mode of filling up the
bushel measure, as much As 21bs. in difference in
weight can be produced per bushel; as the bushel when
filled gently from its side will not contain within 21bs.
weight of the grain it will hold if the same grain be
poured into it from a height. There is in Dorset, i
Somerset, Wilts, and others of our counties, a very
considerable class of consumers who take up from the
farmers not indeed their best, but their seconds eorn
at a steady invariable price. This is the laborer, who,
as part of his peculiar arrangements, receives one
bushel of wheat per fortnight at the uniform rate of
fit. a bushel, be the price high or low.
How the local country-markets operate may best be
gathered from the results of a rapid inquiry into the
state of those immediately around Dorchester. The
farmer, when he disposes of his grain to a distant pm,
chaser, makes delivery of it within a few days at the
nearest mai: way station. But more commonly he may
dispose of limited and frequently of stated parcels to •
regular customer—a miller; and then he will carry the
corn to the mills if within nix miles. The rule with
the farmer is to require everything purchased by him
to be sent free to the next railway station ; but not on hi,
part to undertake the carriage of produce sold beyond
that point. The farmer provides the sacks; they are
returned tchimwmally within • week ortwo ; there being
no charge for " returned empties." The farmer allows a
trine for "sack money," generally Is. • load at settle-
ment; and this settlement, which is understood to
take place within a fortnight, seldom occurs with us
practically within less than a month. In the more
correct practice of Wiltshire the sale of corn is, how-
ever, almost as much a cash transaction as that of
cattle, which is " cash on delivery." In point of fact,
if the bulk shall have been delivered within a week
after the sale, the money is payable at the Wilts
market.' the next msrket.day ; but only in case of
delivery having occurred in the meantime. To return
to the Dorset markets, accommodating alterations have
taken place in the market-days to the advantage of some
of these markets, though at the undoubted expense of
others, yet always conformably to the wants and wishes
of the district, to the charge or improvement in the
railway and other facilities; and we suspect that very
many similar alterations either have taken effect or are
now required from the Hants boundary to the verge of
Cornwall. Thin the market-day has been altered in
Bridport from Saturday to Wednesday, and in Ware-
ham (in 1847) from Saturday to Tuesday. At that
time there thus existed four Saturday market*
within fifteen miles' range from one to the other.
The alterations made no improvement in Bridport or
Wareham markets; bat enabled farmers and dealers
to attend Dorchester or Blandford market on the
Saturday, instead of Bridport or Wareham. With
exception of the experimental attempt which, although
but a few months old, has certainly, as yet, been so far
successful at Blandfurd, not one market within the
county of Dorset can be termed a pitched market.
Some years ago the attempt was made at Bridport, as
at Dorchester, to get up a pitohed-market, but it was a
'complete failure. The attempt was made by some few
farmers to pitch a sample sack. A very suitable place
was provided sea " Corn-exchange ;" but, after a few
weeks' " pitching," the old plan of offering samples is
front of the Greyhound Inn was again resorted to.
Bridport market is, however, very small, although as
respects the butchers' market there are few tqwns of ita
' sise that possess • better. There is not a cattle-market
as at Dorchester, Blandford, Wimborne, &a, but a sale
of stock by an auctioneer at stipulated periods. "This,"
says a _ lead a very good plar
than is'
would

Ay --Ai correspondent, _
although there are some objeotioas
nairkets these objections are f^—
t ones. In the letter, one --
do all the • he

very.

grown in the neighbourhood, and the disposal of this
special product constitutes a peculiarity of the market.
At Blandford, where a corn exchange Las been built,
great impnor ments have been made, and th y are
aiming at more.
Shafteehury market, which is held on the s 'me day
(Saturday) as liandford te,d wolie.ter, hen been
reahlished from a very early date ; but within the last
few jeers there have been great improver.-tits. The
cattle-market held is a very commodious situation, on the
right aide of the road le-ding from S 'afte-hury to
Gillingham, is provided with stands for hone a, eons,
bulls, kn. This large sprier° or enclosure forms,
assuredly, a striking improvement on the incone ardent
system of filling the ',ebbe streete h groups of
cat-de. As might be expected, since Ws yard has been
provided for the asttle-market, considerably mere
business has been done at Shaftesbury. With regard,
ho-serer, to the mode of dealing, there is no rob dement
of the established system of chaffering. "Of course,"
wiles a correspoudent, "all people are not yet
auffieiently enliehtened to deal on the principle, ' My
price is—say—£2o ; you must gi‘e that or not purchase.'
There is the usual banter between seller and b 'yet
The first a-ks £2O for wh 'the means ti take £lB, and
the bat er bide £l6 ; no that they gradually some to
terms, ' splitting the difference,' and agreeing for so
much as "luck niooey." Front inquiries which we
have made elsewhere, we find that the " lock-money"
here alluded to heat fairs and in .rkets usually regular,. d
SO that the " la, k money." howev, r, on a lot of cattle
or sheep seldom °tree Is Is., unless the aggregate value
reach £2OO or £3OO, and then it would be a half-a•
crown. All stock is paid for at once, whether it be
lice sea, rattle, or sheep. Shaftesbury lies also a capita'
corn-exchange in a central position. It is capable of
being brilliantly lighted up with gas. The various
dealers have their desks, but Shaftesbury is strbtly a
sample-market. Good wheats, beans' and oats are
shown here, and sometimes very good barleys; but of
the latter, the qua:ity is rather inferior to the splend'd
samples grown on the chalk soils, and so plentifully
supplied to the Blan4forl and Dorchester markets.
Prices at Shaftesbury neverthelea range high, being
about the Faille as at Salirbury and Warminster. There
does not appear to be a desire for a pitched market The
practise is to deliver to the buyer, if residing near; or
if at a distance, at the nearest railway station. Very
goo] pigs are shown there, the mode of dealing Ix ing
the same as in all the Dorset markets. There are also
very good cheese and poultry markets, the cheer's being
exhibited in piles,and offered at so much per eat, cosh
down. Butter is ueually sold ti dealers, and a large
quantity of it is weekly taken from the farms or dairies,
rolled in 11b. or 21b. lumps for the London market.
Being nigh to the good cheese dairies of Somerset there
is much good cheese in thin Vale of Donet,both new milk
and hal-skimmed ; but as by far the greater portion both
of butter and cheese is sold at the residences of the
makers, the matter re olves itself altogether into one of
private bargain.
Sherborne market, hell on Thursdays, is a small
sainploonarket, where, however, there are sacks
occasionally pitched. And here a feature common to
many of these markets, thoegh chiefly applicable to
those for cattle, may be noticed—every alternate Thurs-
day the market is much larger, sod is therefore known
as the Great Market, to distinguish it from the smaller
int,rvening market-d9r, an attendant on which would
meet with but very few people; although it is certain
that on the great days a large quantity of stock is
sometimes offered under rules of marketing much the
same as those described as obtaining at Shaftesbury.
Strangely enough the market of Sturininster Newton
is likewise held on Thursday. Prime stock is to be met
with there. The splendid dairy-farms of the Vale of
Blackmoor supply it with excellent cattle; and from
the busy aspect of the market the business done must
be considerable, as may indeed be surmised from the
fact of a little plaee like Sturminster being
able to support two Branch-banks. The
cattle and pigs are shown in the street. All the
corn trade is done by' sample, generally opposite the
Crown Inn, or in the public-houses, there being no
corn-exchange or other convenience for the transaction
of business. Again, as at Sherborne, each alternate
hursday is the large market, and it is thus they can
accommodate one another—making at each a fortnightly
market—the business transacted on the other days
being but trifling. Winrborne Minster attracts a
tolerably good attendance of farmers every Friday. A
telegraphic despatch from that day's Mark-lane corn-
exchange arrives previously to the commencement of
business, and prices are regulated very much in accord-
ance therewith. By far the larger portion of the
business at tips market is transacted in the square, or at
the two principal hint!. It is a sample-market for corn;
very little, if any, business being done in cattle, but
there is a pig-market near the George Inn—a very old'
established institution. The method of delivery of
corn sold is at the-nearest railway station. Some good
corn of every description is sold here ' • although there
are probably fewer beans, the growth of the immediate
neighbourhood, than are got from the stiffer soils.
Ringwood, in flants, which is quite adjacent, has also a
very good market for corn. Within the last few years,
a fortnightly market established for fat stock seemed
likely to prove successful ; but we learn that it has
latterly declined. The foun ler's idea appear,' to have
been to take advantage of the railway facilities for
bringing stock suitable for the London market down
the Vale of Blackmoor, and making Ringwood the
centre for-its disposal. Independently, however, of the
fat-stock sales, there is here a good fortnightly sale of
lean-stock; and dealers and graziers from the fertile
districts of Dorset, the Isle of Wight, fee., attend to
purchase stock which thrives amazingly whentransferred
to the richer lands of the Dorset vales and " the garden
of England." At all the markets latterly alluded to,
the corn-dealers settle with the farmers monthly ; but
et Ringwood the rule is that of fortnightly payment's.
Christchurch market, which is the fattinst point to
which we shall seek to penetrate eastwards is held on
Mondays ; but cannot boast of the transaction of touch
business.

Were we to take any other districts, east or west,
and go over them in a manner similar to that we have
done in reference to those on which we have now drawn
as most familiar to us, in illustration of the mode of
dealing in our provincial markets, it would be but a
repetition of the same salient features, varied by special
and local information. We shall therefore conclude
with one word of advice to those concerned in the pro-
motion of country market gatherings.
It is certain that in regard to markets, instead of the ,
extent of accommodation being strictly regulated by '
the necessity or the demand (as no doubt might be
expected) there is found to arise an important reaction
on ttm hairless transacted, which, the more the market
accommodation is improved, causes it to become the
more and more clamorous for improvement.
This is easily understaod, for it is to he universally
perceived. The natural rule is that enterprize, spirit,
and extension, enlarged accommodation for business,
and the display of goods, invariably lead to increased
mercantile activity, and provide a more certain market
for the disposal of any kind of produce.
If we look at the state of our markets and resorts for
the diapered of farming-stock and produce twenty year r
ago—prior to the general opening-up of railways and
remark their vent increase,individually and collectively,
at the present day—we shall scarcely, save in man& to
a very few blundering endeavours to force into
existence markets that were not required, be able to lay
the finger on a single instanoe in which our farmers and
dealers have not heartily availed themselves of the
corn-exchange stallage and other accommodation pro-
, vided for them by local exertion even although this very
accommodation may not always have been suggested or
at first approved of by agriculturists.
To us it seems clear that extended accommodation,
no matter how varied, is all that is required to stimu-
late the corn-markets. The cattle-ruarketa, as we have
already intimated, appear to be imbued with the faculty
of taking care of themselves.

COLONEL WMURDo.—Captain J. It. Macdonnell
informs volunteers that the testimonial to Colonel
M'Murdo is going on satisfactorily. The amounts
received and pron•ised are sufficient to ensure that the
testimonial shall be worthy of the man to whom it in to
be offered.
TEACHING TO WRITE IN SUNDAY SCHOOLS.—At the
recent annual meeting of the Glasgow Sabbath-school
Association the Rev. Dr. Macleod advocated the
teaching of reading and writing in Sunday schools,
seeing there was a large class in our great cities who
were ignorant of both these elementary branches of
education, and who were therefore unable to read the
Word of God, or write to their friends regarding the
truths of the Gospel.

A WORKMAN'S CHURCH. —An anonymous donation of
£l,OOO, which futs been given to the Bishop of London's
Fund, has been applied, at the donor's wish. to the
building of a permanent church in the district of St.
Andrew, flaverstock-hill. The population of the
district is between 8,000 and 9,000, of whom five-sixths
are poor, and it is increasing very rapidly. The working
classes have shown their interest in the scheme for
building the church, lind have formed a committee
with a view to help in carrying it on. They have
themselves contributed largely in proportion to their
means; but the sun, required to complete the work,
after all local efforts had been exhausted, was £4,500,
the whole of which has been supplied by the donor in
question, and the work will thus be carried out without
further delay.

IMPORTANT TO TRADERMEM.—A case of some import.
ance to tradesmen was dfcided by the Master of the
Rolls on Wednesday. A ribbon manufacturer advertised
his businees for sale, and found a purchaser. The
amount of profits which the seller guaranteed, and the
fact that he was in possession of certain trade seerete
which he engaged to communicate to the buyer, were
all set forth in the deed of purchase. It turned out
that the profits were only about one-third of the amount
guaranteed, and that there were no trade secrets.
Under these circumstances the purchaser applied to be
set free from his bargain, and the Master of the Rolls
granted his application.
INCIDENT OF CIVIL WAR.--A oorrespondent on his
way to Wilmington writes: "An incident, illustrating
, the peculiarity of our struggle, occurred on our march
I yesterday. Pasting a house by the roadside, a corporal
of one of the regiments asked permission to enter it,
Alleging as the reason of his request that it was the
residence of his parents and the home of his youth.
His request Was ranted. He entered the hou.e, and
was soon clasped an the arms of his overjoyed mother.
'John,' said she, 'your brother was here yesterday he
donned as the Confederates marched past here.' That
mother has a eon in each army."
CURIOUS ILLUSTRATION OF THE SCOTCH MARRIAGE
LAWS.— A most extraordinary case was tried at Maidstone
last week. A Miss Acford sued Lord Fluntingtower
for £l5, one quarter's allowance to her under a deed by
which she was promised an annuity by the defendant
in consideration of past cohabitation. To the action I
Lord Huntingtower plehded that the plaintiff was his
wife, and further that, contrary to the stipulations of
the deed, she Lad molested him. To prove her case the
plaintiff was put into the box, and swore she bad lived
for many years in Scotland with Lord Huntingtower,
and had passed for his wife, and believed herself to be
his wife. In 1848, however, the deed of separation was
executed, and Lord Hnntingtower married another lady.
The plaintiff said she had five children by the defendant,
the list being born in 1863. The Lord Chief Baron
expressed great surprise at this evidence and thought
the plaintiff had proved • marriage according to the law
of Scotland. If it Was true, the defendant was liable
to be indicted for bigamy. After some argument, it
was arranged that the verdict should be for the
defendant, on the plea that the plaintiff was his wife,
' the point being reserved for the consideration of the
court,

fewer than in lar
_ _ suetioneer would be unible
_ the business ought to bare; an 4 if a pen&
wanted stock at two place', he could not divide himso
to attend two auctions." At Bridport market, no
held on Wedneeda,y, the attendance is smaller than
formerly wee when held on Saturday. Much flax