The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1874-09-22 00:00:00

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THE BRITISH CORN TRADE.

In the middle of September, :874 the price of
Wheat, 475. ad., is 175. sd. less than the 645. 7d.
level it attained in September, 1873. This difference
is very great comparing crop for crop in England in
both years, but is it too much so when the comparison
is made, crop for crop, including the European and
American harvests? That is just now the question, !
and it seems to us the present level is justified. Wc
thus speak out, in the interests of the British farmer,
in the belief that he should not defer his opportunities
of selling at rates that bring him in nett 455. per qr. !
For the next six weeks foreign competition is likely to
be at its weakest, and by November the autumn seed- :
ing will be, it may be hoped, so far performed that
both English and French farmers will have leisure to
bring large supplies to market, whilst the imports will
be increasing up to the end of the year. Those im-
ports, looking the facts squarely in the face, arc likely
to be in excess of the British demand,and such surplus
will go into granaries and mills against the probable
reductions of mid-winter and spring supplies. Should
the season be severe and frosty, the British producers '
will have a second opportunity of a good market ; but
otherwise a damp, mild winter, putting home produce
out of condition, would give the importers their oppor-
tunities of selling to advantage the dry, hard wheat of
which the chief imports will consist. Such being the
position of afThirs, we shall expect farmers to keep up
their present liberal supplies, bringing them to, but
not pressing them on, the markets throughout the
autumn months.

A comparison of the prices of secondary and rivctt
samples of Wheat, with those of Oats, Beans, and
Barley, allowing for relative weight, shows that horses
are outbidding men for food. Possibly this anomaly
may continue, but it is scarcely probable, and with a
natural and material reduction in feeding corn, another
cause of weakness will be developed in the wheat trade
which does not now exist, but on the contrary tends to
support value.
A table of prices contributed by a correspondent in
the Eastern Counties, sufficiently gives point to the
above remarks. Wheat, white, 48s. to 325. per 36
stone, 16d. to 17(1. per stone; wheat, red, 445. to 465.
per 36 stone, 1434(1. to 1334 d. per stone ; wheat,
smutty, and rivetts, 405. to 425. per 36 stone, 13d.
to tad. per stone ; oats, 13(1. to tsd. per stone ;
455. to 495. per 38 stone, 1424 d. to t354d. per stone;
Peas, 456. to 465. per 38 stone, 145. to 1434 d. per
stone; Barley, 40s. to 485. per 32 stone, 13(1. to
per stone. The ultimate relative value of the above
doubtless, rests upon the character of the winter season,
its openness or hardness, in respect to the supply of
green keep.
The crop of oats, from one of the chief sources of
supply, Sweden, is this year reckoned at only two-
thirds of an average, and the French and English crops
are both inferior, but it is doubtful whether the Russian
and German supply may not be good both of oats and
feeding barley. Of the latter a fleet of steamers is
bringing liberal freights, and these at about 325. per
qr., will not be dear stock food.
The Board of Trade Agricultural Statistics just
published, do not, in any particular, disturb the esti•
mates already given in these columns, either in regard
to area, yield, or value.
1111111411111 L

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