The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-18 00:00:00

RAPESEED OIL.

REVIEW OF THE BRITISH CORN
TRADE.
No particular alteration has taken place in the position
of the Wheat trade during the week ; the demand for
France has not diminished, nor has there been any
falling off in the inquiry for the article on Irish account.
Meanwhile the deliveries from the farmers have become
less liberal than heretofore ; and the consequence has
been a steady and progressive rise in prices. Speculators
having for some time past kept aloof, there has not been
any great excitement ; still the continued shipments to
Ireland, and the more recent exports to France, are
beginning to tell on our stocks, and from present
appearances. we are inclined to think that the eranaries
at the different maritime ports will be pretty well cleared
before the spring shipments from the Baltic can come to
hand. The arrivals from America have for several
weeks been on a much more moderate scale than had
been calculated on, which may, however, have been
partly caused by the prevalence of easterly winds. Even
at Liverpodl the receipts have been moderate of late, and
the quantity of Flour shipped from that port to the sister
isle has exceeded the quantity received. Till within this
week or two the deliveries from the growers have been
liberal, but latterly a falling off has taken place in the
supplies. This has no doubt been partly caused by the
necessity of employing all hands in the preparation of
the soil; but at the same time it is fair to infer that the
previously large supplies have so far thinned the stack-
yards as to render farmers somewhat indifferent about
making further sales, more particularly as the aspect of
the autumn-sown W heat is not very favourably spoken
of. The weather has certainly been very trying ; an
though we do not attach much importance the p
pearance of the plant at this early period, tosttill athe.
severity of the recent and must, to say.cause
a backward spring, and militate against any early
harvest. The most serious matter is, however, the
shortness of stocks, not only in this c_ountry, but over
the greater part of Europe ; and that alone will, in our
opinion, prevent low or even moderate prices until
another harvest shall have been sec
fired.
withou
The Wheat
trade has, as already intimated, been m t being
lively ; and the advance in quotations at the leading
provincial markets held since Monday has not een very
important.
Whilst the trade has remained in a comparatively
quiet state at the leading consuming towns,
a good deal
oftxciteet has prevailed at the shipping ports on the
leas coast, in consequence ot the appearanceof buyersiifi
from France ; and Wheat has brought nearly as
_I k
prices in Lincolnshire as it would have realised at Mar -
lane.
Many of the large steam-millss Flour are still t
ebmerpefoloyre,
ed
grinding meal for Ireland., and les is,
being manufactured than usual.—Afarh-lune Express.
NORFOLK RAILWAY ABATTOIR.—At Trowse sta-
tion, an abattoir, consisting of two sets of slaughter-houses,
has been built and fitted up with every accommodation and
convenience for slaughtering 100 beasts and 300 sheep daily,
The buildings and yards are enclosed within high brick
walls, and the yard has been divided into compartments or
pens for the beasts and sheep. Adjoining the slaughter-
house there is a large tank, above a brick structure, to
supply water. Close to the open end of the houses there is
a siding from and to the railway, on which the trucks run to
be loaded with caresses. The directors intend to let both
sets of slaughter-houses, either separately or together.—
Norfolk Monick.
PLANTING POTATOES.—The planting of potatoes
in the neighbourhood of Newlyn is now becoming very
general, and the plan of first immersing the potato in a liquid
compounded of two ingredients, viz., one quart of coal-tar
with five quarts of water, has been adopted by many ; while
some few have still adhered to the old one of placing them
under a good layer of common manure.—Ealinvuth Packet.

The attention of the Corporation of the Trinity House
had been drawn to rapeseed oil as a substitute for sper-
maceti oil ; and trials of its qualities, with the object of
introducing it into use at their lighthouses and light-
vessels, had been directed to be made prior to the sitting
f the Select Committee on Lighthouses, in 1845. Suit-
able arrangements for the burning of this oil have since
been made, and are continued as opportunities present
themselves ; and its use will probably become general at
the lighthouse and light-vessel stations in England. The
quantity which was contracted fur and supplied in the
spring of 1846 was thirty tons, being so much, or nearly
so, in diminution of the contract quantity of sperm oil;
the respective contract prices being, for rapeseed oil, 3s.
9d. per imperial gallon—spermaceti oil, 6s. 4d. per im-
perial gallon. It must not, however, be supposed, that
the whole difference in the price per imperial gallon is
actually saved, because the (inanity of rapeseed oil
co ismued very considerably exceeds that of spermaceti
oil, if the flame in the lamp be maintained as itshenld
be, at the maximum of its power. The time which has
elapsed since the use of this oil has been extended has
not been sufficient to show conclusively what the excess
of consumption will be in practice ; but the present re-
mits induce the expectation that it will be very consi-
derable, and there do not at this time appear any certain
grounds for supposing that the difference can be mate-
rially reduced.
In the autumn of 1845, the Board referred the in-
vestigation of the power and qualities of the light pro-
duced from the combustion of this description of oil to
Professor Faraday ; and the following valuable and
interesting observations, having reference to the question
of consumption, are extracted from his consequent report,
dated the 91h of October of that year, viz.:—
[Here follows a scientific disquisition of the compara-
tive merits, tested by experience, on the consumption,
within a given time, of rape and sperm oils.)