The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-07 00:00:00

THE CORN TRADE.
(From the Mark-lane Express.)
The weather has throughout the week been very cold
and ungenial, and on several occasions sharp night-
frosts have been experienced : vegetation has, conse-
quently, been kept back, and from present appearances d
there is not much prospect of an early season. We o
not, however, regard this as an evil, a premature luxuri-
ance being generally attended with danger. It is, of
course, at present impossible to ascertain whether the
young wheat has been injuriously affected by the
low range of temperature., but from the hardy charac-
ter of the plant, we feel little apprehension on that
hand, and the only circumstance which can be viewed as
unfavourable is the probability of the next harvest being
late, which might, in the position of the country in regard
to stocks, prove very inconvenient. The sowing of spring
oorn having reeeived but little interruption, nearly the
whole of the month of March having been highly
aus-
picious for field work, most of the barley. and oats have
been got in, and great progress has likewise beer_r.inondes
with bean and pea planting. These important lab
having been nearly brought to a close, farm earesdhitavies
again directed their attention to tlaraske pl ing,
ace in the
probable that an increase will shortly ta
The time has now
deliveries of grain from the
arrived for testing whethergtThewserl-rkts,
hands of the producers be really h ciannthbee
for wthheearet
the very first opportunity
no question that if they are hofoldesrs to any great extent,
they will avail themselves
sh.
The inducements to
of turning their wheat into value of the article and the
realise are the still g
ill as to the future ; if, there-
state of uncertainty.
fore, the markets inerin
felt
agrricultural districts be not
•
the month, we shall no
plentifully supplied doubts on the question of stocks,
it as
longer entertainthe strongest possible evi-
but look uphon
quantity remaining in the country
deuce that
t
is actually as
has
alt as represented. The regular course
of the trade
e
been more or less interrupted this week
sm
in consequence of several of the markets having been
held off the accustomed day (owing to Good Friday),
and the amount of business done has not been important.
The value of wheat has, as might have been expected,
felt the effect of the recent fall at Mark-lane, and prices
have tended downwards in all parts of the kingdom. At
Liverpool further arrivals of flour and Indian corn have
come to hand from America, bat the receipts of foreign
wheat have not been large either there or elsewhere ;
whilst the demand for export, though on a somewhat de-
creased scale, has nevertheless continued.
The advices from the port just named are not quite so
dull as last week, the important reduction which has
lately occurred there having attracted buyers from the
interior. In wheat a fair amount of business appears to
have been done on Tuesday, at rates 3d. to 6d. per 70Ib.
below those current on that day se'nnight ; and subse-
quently a portion of that abatement was recovered,
several sales having been made on Thursday on terms
not obtainable earlier in the week. United States flour,
which was, it will be recollected, at one period of last
week sold at Liverpool at 36 s., has since been in request
at 375. per barrel, and many holders have even refused
to accept the latter price. Indian corn seems also to
have met with attention at improving rates, 50s. to 525.
per 4801 b. having been paid fur fine, and 483. to 50s. for
mixed American.
At the leading towns in Yorkshire stocks of wheat
are unusually small ; and the supplies having barely
kept pace with the demand (tardy as has been the latter),
sellers have declined submitting to a greater reduction
than Is. to 2s. per quarter. The business done at Hull
and Leeds on Tuesday was, however, very circumscribed.
At Wakefield, on Thursday, the operations were also
on a restricted scale, and the few sales of wheat effected
were at prices Is. to 2s. per quarter below these current
the preceding week.
The accounts from Bristol, Birmingham, Gloucester,
and other towns in the vicinity of these places, are of a
similar character to the reports above referred to; but
whilst there has been no speculation, and the buyers for
consumption have confined their purchases to as narrow
limits as has been permitted by their pressing wants,
there has, on the other hand, in most cases been a degree
of firmness on the part of holders, which has prevented
prices giving way more than 2s. per quarter.
In the north the weather has been even more severe
than with us, and the letters from Scotland speak of
rather sharp frosts ; this, however, had produced no in-
fluence on the corn markets, and quotations of wheat,
as well as prices of spring corn, were lower at Edin-
burgh and Glasgow on Wednesday than on that day
week.
From Ireland we learn that Indian corn, which has
become the staple article of consumption with the poorer
classes of that country, had been freely offered at about
505. per quarter at several of the principal ports, and that
a corresponding abatement had occurred in the interior.
This great fill has tended to alleviate the distress; and
as further supplies of this useful article of food are likely
to be sent from Liverpool and other English ports to the
sister isle, besides what may still be on passage from
America, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean, prices
of Indian corn will probably remain at about their pre-
sent level.

The arrivals of wheat coastwise into London have
been moderate ; and the show of samples at Mark-lane
on Wednesday by land carriage from Essex, Kent, and
Suffolk was small. The greater portion of the wheat
exhibited consisted of white, and as the French buyers
have all along directed their attention more to red, there
was not much done for export ; the town millers
were, however, pretty free purchasers at Monday's
decline, and a fair clearance was made. Good qua-
lities of foreign red wheat were inquired for on French
account, but the high pretensions of holders pre-
vented extensive transactions. We stated last Monday
that sellers of foreign had refused on that occasion to
submit to a reduction corresponding to the decline on
English, and on Wednesday they showed less inclination
to concede than previously, or bargains to some extent
might have been concluded. The arrivals from abroad
have during the week ending this (Saturday) evening
consisted of 10,719 quarters, whilst the exports have,
according to the bills of entry, amounted to 6,111 quar-
ters.

English flour was on Wednesday to the full as difficult
of disposal as earlier in the week; and, in the absence of
business of importance, quotations remained nominally
unaltered. United States flour met with a moderate
share of attention, the relatively low value of the article
as compared with that of wheat having at length brought
forward a few buyers. Good brands of Western Canal,
which had previously been freely offered at 365., were
not obtainable below 375. per barrel ; and unless the
supplies should he very large, a further improvement is
not improbable.
The barley trade was wretchedly dull ; the seed de-
mand appears to be nearly over, and the principal mal-
aters having left off work, the finer sorts were almost as
difficult to place on Wednesday as the ordinary kinds.
The quantity of English on sale being, however, small,
Monday's currency was about supported for the best,
but secondary sorts and foreign barley might easily have
been bought at a reduction of ls. per quarter.
Malt was totally neglected, and to have succeeded in
effecting sales ls. to 2.3. per quarter less must have been
taken.

The arrivals of oats coastwise and from Ireland were
scanty; having, however, a good supply from abroad, the
display of samples was rather large. The quality of the
foreign oats of last year is much inferior to the usual
growth, which circumstance has unquestionably assisted
to produce the existing depression in the market.
Some of the Dutch feed do not weigh more than 281 b.
to 301 b. per bushel, and the sales having been pressed
from on board ship to avoid incurring landinz expenses,
the dealers have had it all their own way. R ally good
corn was not cheaper on Wednesday than in the com-
mencement of the week, but to place the inferior sorts
less money had to be taken.
The quantity of beans exhibited proved more than
equal to the demand, and the turn was again in favour
of the buyer.
White peas, suitable for seed, brought 60s. to 635. per
quarter, being fully their previous value ; but gray and
maple peas were rather easier to buy.
The continued du 1 accounts from Ireland relative to
Indian corn, caused that article to be pressed on the
market, and it has become difficult to give correct
quotations.
The decline which occurred in the value of wheat
about the middle of the month of March
in all those
hi
caused by the
fine France,te
and in Belgium, was, in the instance,first
fine weather which was experienced
coun-
tries about that time ; and though the fall whien i
early
since taken place in the temperature renders a
harvest, to say the least, improbable, still prices have
continued to tend downwards as well abroad as at home.e
The most recent advices from Dantzic (28th of March)
state that the dull accounts from this side had caused
prices of wheat to recede 3s. per quarter from the ex-
treme point, and even at that abatement there had, it
appears, been little disposition to buy. Fine high-mixed
parcels were then held at 675. to 695. per quarter, and
other sorts at corresponding terms. The ice had mostly
disappeared, and a few vessels had arrived out in search
of cargoes. The Vistula was still partly frozen, and
would not, it was thought, be open much before the
first week in April.
At Stettin, on the 29th of March, the navigation was
entirely free from ice; still business was then, and had
for some days previously been, very dull. Holders of
wheat had, nevertheless, remained very firm, and for
red, weighing only 591bg. per bushel, 60s. to 675. per
quarter, free on board, had been demanded. Barley had
met a moderate degree of attention, for local consump-
tion, at a price equal to 38s. per quarter, free on board.
By the accounts from Rostock and the neighbouring
places, it appears that, though stocks of wheat wore'
generally short, and the deliveries from the growers had
not been large, the prices had, nevertheless, rather
tended downwards, in consequence of the dull English,
French, and Dutch accounts.
At Hamburgh, on Tuesday, there was, however, again
some inquiry for wheat on French account, but to effect
sales it was necessary to accept lower terms than those
current the preceding week, and 70s. per quarter had
become the current value for good 601 b. red.
In the Dutch markets prices of both wheat and rye
appear to have under one a considerable fall. At Am-
sterdam, on the 29th of March, Polish Odessa wheat
was quoted 785., and Norder 803. 10d. per quarter; these
rates, though high, were from 4s. to 6s. per quarter
below the quotations of that day week. Oats were very
scarce there, and not cheaper, feed being then still held
at equal to 385., and thick at 395. to 40s. per quarter.
The advices from the southern and south-eastern parts
of Europe are generally of a firm character, and the
value of wheat appears rather to have risen than fallen
at the principal ports in the Mediterranean.
Letters from Marseilles, of the 27th of March, inform
us that, notwithstanding the enormous arrivals of wheat
which had taken place there durinc, the winter months,
I from the interior had been so extensive as
the deman( ck on band. The small quantity
to leave but little sto
rem iinine,o• had, consequ. entuliyry, been hroaltdhewritfahllmenueohrf,fiarmnd-
ness; and though the icing
several vessels grain-la en had. again entered the port,
prices of wheat had not receded.
At Leghorn, on the 26th ult., the article was also held