The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-20 00:00:00

bread has been greater still, and in the whole of these
six regions, the excellent quality of the grain
qomperisatas almost wholly for the deficiency. In
the three regions of the south, the reports state a much
more decided inferiority in the harvest, and the grain seen II
.of an inferior quality, except in the departments of the
Dordogne, of the Landes, of La Corrine, of Lot, of the .
Upper Loire, of Vancluse, of tie higher Rips, and of the
Rhone. Thus, as it happened last year, the districts which
have least slatted in the production of corn have been pre-
cisely those which produce the greatest quantity, par-
ticularly the second region, which forms part of the circle
that supplies Paris, and the harvest of which may be con-
sidered equal to that of a good ordinary year. Indian
corn, buck wheat, and cheaauts, which form a tenth-part
of the general consumption, in a great part of France—
the basis of the food of the rural districts—have this year pre-
sented quite different results. Everywhere these products
are abundant and of good quality, but they are principally
remarked in the regions of the south-west, of the youth, and
of the south-east, where the wheat harvest has been the
most moderate. Out of thirty-three departments in which
the cultivation of buck wheat possesses same importance,
tweoty-six announce a superior year. With respect to Indian
corn all the reports describe the harvest of 1846 as being
signally good ; in several departments the excess amounts to
i more than one-half, and reaches even twice the quantity of a
common year. The same may be said of the chesnut gather-
ing in the departments of the Limousin, of Auvergne, of
Poitou, and of Brittany. A marked decrease of price is
already apparent in these three different articles of
produce. The ordinary price of buck wheat which in
August last was 12 fr. 21 c., fell in September to 11 fr. 66 c.
and in October, to 11 fr. 32 c. The price of Indian corn fell
successively, in three months, from 17 fr. 56 c. to 14 fr. 13 e.,
and in October last to 13 fr. 40 c. It is at present below
10 fr. in the departments of the Upper Garonne, of the
Arriige, of the Aude, of the Eastern Pyrenees, &c. As to
chesnuta, they have reached tbo lowest price they can fall
to. The potato harvest is generally better this year than
last ; the easy mode of transport of this provision to the
markets, and the maintenance of its usual price within
tolerably moderate bounds, sufficiently prove the exaggera-
tion of the first complaint that was made on the subject.
At this moment, the price at Paris and Rouen is 6 fr. the
hectolitre, and at Lille 5 fr. 50 c. ; at Strasbourg it is 4 fr.
50 c., and in the south from 2 fr. 50 c. to 3 fr. 50 c. However,
it must be observed that there are only fifteen departments
in which this vegetable has not suffered in a great de-
gree, either from drought or from the disease of 1845. But,
notwithstanding, the total loss does not exceed a quarter or
a third of that of an ordinary year. The departments which
have suffered most are those of Brittany, Lorraine, and
Champagne; those of the south, on the contrary, have gene-
rally enjoyed a good harvest. The results which I have
indicated cannot, under any point of view, cause or explain
the rise in price which has taken place within the last four
months. In fact, you perceive that the inferiority of the
wheat harvest has been greatly attenuated by the good qua-
lity of the produce, and almost compensated for, in a
great number of departments, by the abundance of the
inferior crops ; and yet the general price of the hectolitre of
wheat, which, at the end of July, was 2'2ft. 95c. has risen
in August to 23fr. 95c., in September to 24fr. 89c.,
and in October to 25fr. 71e. We must, therefore,
seek elsewhere for the causes of this advance. Amongst
those which are pointed out to me, all the reports
dwell upon the short supply in the market+, and
the exaggerated pretensions of the holders, inconsequence of
a false appreciation of resources in comparison with wants.
Every year, at this period, the labours of the harvest, the
sowing, and other causes, limit the supply to the markets ;
the rise in the price of food is the natural consequence of
this fact. R e then see, therefore, produced different
prices analogous to those which we at present observe, either
between the different regions, or between the departments of
the same region.
But every year the period of the payment of rent, which
compels the farmer to thrash his crops, places a term to the
rise of price ; the increase of the supplies suffices in ordinary
yearn to establish the usual level of prices. It in these latter
times, therefore, the markets have been not well supplied,
that is only an habitual fact at this period of the year. But
the influence which the uncertainty of the harvest this year
may exercise on the public mind may be easily conceived.
The exaggeration of the first opinion, the reduction of the
stock of old grain, the superior quality of the new wheat,
which caused it to be particularly sought for ; the erroneous
information from abroad as to foreign countries, which came st
the first moment, all contributed to lead the public mind astray.
Hence the farmer's desire to wait for higher prices and the
continued firmness of the markets ; but as I have stated
already, the deficiencies of the late harvest were not of such
importance as was at first believed. On the other hand we
are now able to appreciate better the wants of foreign coun•
tries, and it is now certain that those wants can be easily sup-
plied without interfering with our usual sources of supply.
In fact the supplies in the great markets are at this moment
very considerable. The harvest has been magnificent in the
ancient Polish provinces and in New Russia, which supply
Odessa, in the Black Sea, Taganrog, Rostow, and the other
ports of the Sea of Asof. The enormous exportations in
the years 1844 and 1845 gave, in those countries, a great
impulse to the cultivation of white crops; and the extraordi-
nary temperature of the present year has been favourable to
their development. The wheat of Poland weighs this year
from 82 to 84 kilogrammes, and that of Bessarabia and the
Sea of Asof is not inferior. As to the quantity, the people of
Poland and Russia living on rye, and the people of Bessarabia
on maize, nearly the Whole of the wheat may be considered
as surplus, and for exportation. In 1845, nearly 4,000,000
hectolitres of grain were exported from Odessa; end the
quantity disposable in 1846 and 1847 will not he less than
6,000,000, independent of the produce of Poland. The
countries on the Sea of Asof may supply above 1,500,000
hectolitres. On Oc:ober 13th the prices were, of yellow
Polish wheat, 14f. to 16f. the hectolitre ; red wheat, 13f. to
15f.; red wheat of Bessarabia, 12f. to 14f.; dried wheat,
10f. 50e. to 13f. The export duty is 20c. the hectolitre;
freight, 4f. ; assurance, 21 to 5 per cent. ; and the charge for
commission, 34 per cent.
The harvest in Egypt is more abundant than in ordinary
years, and very much exceeds the wants of the inhabitants.
The annual exports amount to about 900,000 hectolitres.
This year Alexandria may easily give us 1,700,000 or
1,800,000 hectolitres. At present the price is from 12f. to
to 12f. 50e. the hectolitre. The export duty is 12 per cent. ;
freight 2f. 75e. the hectolitre : assurance I to 1 per cent. ;
the expenae of putting it on board ship from 25c. to 30c.
In the United States the two abundant harvests of 1845
and 1846 have accumulated important quantities of grain dis-
posable for exportation, and an official report of the 30th
September last estimates it at no less than .500 millions
of bushels of maize, that is to say, 176 millions of hecto-
litres, and at 140 millions of bushels of wheat, being 49,280.000
hectolitres, equal to 28 millions of barrels of flour, representing
24,610,000 quintals. Already considerable exportations have
been made for Europe ; others are preparing, and all
advices concur in saying that the New York market
is in a state to furnish all demands. American
flour is already beginning to appear in the Paris
markets, and much groin is waiting at Ilavre. By the last
advice!, wheat was quoted at 121, 9c. per hectolitre. Ex-
portations free, and freights were from 3f. 60c. to 4L per
hectolitre.

The principal entrep6ta of Europe presented, moreover, on
the 15th October lest the following resources :—Nice, 69,311
hectolitres; Genos, 73,6t6; Leghorn, 84,329; Amsterdam,
1,436,770: Rottertlam, 154.080; Hamburg, 61,000; Dant-
tie, 300,000; London, 499;000; Liverpool, 436,800 ; Glas-
gow, 179,092; Leith, 133,590: total, 3,327,58.5 hectolitres.
There existed in the French entrepOts, on 31st October last,
26.778 quintals of wheat; 17,846 of other grains; and 16,669
of flour, independentlitif 630,000 quintals of foreign flour
and grains which have been admitted for consumption from
the let of August to the 31st of October, and more than a mil-
lion of hictolitres of wheat have arrived since the Ist of the
present month in the ports of France.
While I have ascertained the disposable resources, I have
also endeavoured to compute the wants of the neighbouring
states; the competition of which we shall have to fear on the
foreign markets.
Here, also, I have met with every ground for security. Eng-
land, which draws annually from foreign countries 3 millions
of hectolitres of frains and flour for her home consumption,
for the sugentatton of her naval establishments, and for the
support of her commerce, has experienced this year a harvest
average in quantity and superior in quality. The potato
has yielded, it is true, an unusually inferior produce this
year ; but already it has been discovered that this evil has
Men excessively exaggerated, and public opinion begins to
be reassured. The mean official price of corn, which had
risen to 26 francs =8 centime*, has this month exhibited a
very marked tendency to decline.
Although the other states of Europe, Germany, Belgium,
Holland, Spain, Italy, Denmark, have had generally not
very favourable harvests, their demands on consumption
are not very great, and they will find in their habitual re-
sources, and the ordinary commercial movements, a facility
of supplying the partial deficits of the petato crop. A com-
parative statement of the price of wheat in the principal
markets will enable us to appreciate the real situation of
different foreign countries.
Mame.
Antwerp ..
Ant -ecm

Price of the
French heetohtre.
fr. e.
28 71
24 78
Rcessdasa. O.
Mande Nev.
Berlin 0K.—.....- .......... 24 18
Hamburg ' 23 73
Stettin
Trieste ........„.......»

New.

Mayen'.
Bremen ...... ...-.. ...... Orr;
Genoa ., Hat.
Moe ........-.-:- ..- .... ..Sem ... . . -.- ....... -- llBl
Ammo .... .....«....OR ».........MlB 78
Rome -
MON ter.l9 71
Legters»...-....-. OIL
Comm. -
13 43
Malaga - l9 88
Bilbao
Cadiz -
Barcelona -
London leri.
Oopenbagen .... ......... 4111. .....-...- 11 99
Christiana • -
tel
corn fromaTo6ol4 to 18 00
lel do. 00. 13 to 15 00
°DWA ..... ..". tad do. Hamatubia 12 to 14 00
Hard do. do. 10 to 13 00
Mg*
St. Petenharg Oct. ..-.,.- .............. 18 88
Alexandria. - ...,.«...«............ 13 50
New York
TAMA of the Stow of Grain in the Principal En:repent
of EUROPE in the lest fortnight of October :-
Gra Ora.
Moe ..........«..........«..: 03.793 Loodge 149,700
Genoa
Leghorn • .........«....:t.... SMOG (dampow
Armterdam ...a............. 431,024 Leith ..:. t 40,077
Rotterdam ......1. ..... 48,224
Ilandengh ..
Dentine 30,000 -