The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-12 00:00:00

THE CORN TRADE.

• (From the Mark-lane Express.)
The weather having for some days past been very
fine, 'and having at present a settled appearance, the
little grain which is still abroad is likely to be secured
in good order. It may be safely said that the harvest
in the northern and backward parts of the kingdom
has not been so well got in for some years past, and
all the accounts agree in describing the quality of
the produce as excellent. This is certainly a re-
markable contrast when compared with the crops in
the south, where, both in point of quantity and
quality, the result of the harvest is very far from
satisfactory ; and, as Wheat is more extensively grown
in the southern than in the northern parts of the
kingdom, there is reason to believe, that, notwith-
standing the auspicious termination of the harvest in
Scotland and some of the more backward districts
in England, the yield, as a whole, will fall materially
short of what is usually grown in good average sea-
sons. To pretend to say what the extent of the defi-
ciency is, in the absence of statistics, would at best be
mere conjecture. Only a very small portion of the crop
has yet been subjected to the test of thrashing,
which is the only means we have of really knowing
what has been produced per acre ; as far, however,
as the test has been tried, the result is said
to be decidedly unfavourable; the complaints made
by farmers as to quantity are almost universal, and,
from the character of the weather during August,
we may safely conclude that nearly all carted
that month must have suffered greatly in quality;
we are, therefore, convinced that there cannot
be a good crop of Wheat, and we believe
that most other sorts of corn will be found to
be short ; but it does not follow that prices are to
rule high. We have on several previous occasions
stated it to be our belief that the value of Wheat
would vary but little, and our opinion has, on the
whole, proved tolerably correct. We then affirmed,
and now repeat, that farmers held large stocks of old
wheat, at harvest time ; in addition to which we
have lately been plentifully supplied with foreign,
hence we do not expect anything like scarcity or
high prices. At this moment there is more offering
for sale than can be immediately placed, and there
is some chance of quotations receding ; if, however,
any decline should take place, it would, we think,
be only temporary, as the consumption of bread will
unquestionably be very great during the winter
months.

At most of the leading provincial markets held
during the week business has been quiet. Liverpool
is nearly the only place at which any fall in prices
has occurred, and the reduction of Tuesday (Id. on
old and 3d. per 701bs. on new) was partially re-
covered on Friday. Rather heavy arrivals of Flour
and Indian Corn have taken place at that port, to
which the downward movement referred to may be
attributed.
_. _

At llull and Leeds, on Tuesday, quotations of
Wheat remained about the same as on that day
se'nnight; and the reports from Birmingham and
Bristol, dated Thursday, do not note any particular
change in the value of the article.
The deliveries from the growers have rather fallen
off of late, and the markets in the agricultural dis-
tricts having been indifferently supplied, prices have
been more firmly supported than at chief consuming
towns, were stocks of foreign are held.
We have, in the commencement of this article,
alluded to the satisfactory character of the reports
from Scotland as regards the harvest in that country ;
we may, however, add that our northern neighbours
appear to have been equally fortunate with respect to
potatoes, and there is reason to expect that they will
have a considerable surplus to ship to the south,

At Edinburgh, on Wednesday, the grain trade was
dull, and previous prices were scarcely supported.
At Glasgow there was not much doing, but full]
former terms were demanded for Wheat.
The advices from Ireland are precisely the same as
last week; the transactions in grain appear to have
been on a retail scale there, and scarcely any change
is reported in quotations. Potatoes are said to be
quite as badly diseased all over the south and west of
the island as in 1846.
At Mark-lane business has been very quiet through-
out the week, and we have no new feature to notice.
The arrivals of Wheat coastwise into London have
been small, only 2,614 qrs. having come forward up
Ito this (Saturday) evening. Meanwhile, hardly any-
thing has been brought forward by land-carriage
samples from the home counties, and the show on
the Essex and Kent stand, consisted both on Wednes-
day and Friday, ofinferior ill-conditioned parcels left
over from previous receipts. The millers are, we
believe, in want of good dry qualities, and if any such
had appeared full terms would probably have been
realised ; but to have succeeded in disposing of the
coarse Wheat exhibited on Friday, it would have
been necessary to have made some concession, which
factors being unwilling to do, few bargains were made.
We have again to report a large arrival from
abroad, 23,671 qrs. having come to hand, making the
total arrival within the fortnight 66,000 qrs. That
this enormous supply should have caused some de-
pression is not surprising ; indeed, we are rather as-
tonished that the effect has been so trifling as it has.
Importers have hitherto displayed very great firmness,
and no anxiety has been manifested to press business.
A good deal of the Wheat lately received is being
landed; but as the deliveries from granary are large,
there is no great accumulation of stocks. On Wednes-
day there was a fair attendance of country buyers at.
Mark-lane, and having some demand for shipment to
Ireland, the operations were tolerably extensive, and
the rates paid on that occasion were fully equal to
those realised in the commencement of the week. On
Friday there was less doing, the country. demand
having fallen off, and our own millers acting with
extreme caution ; prices, however, did not give way.
From the present position of the averages we are in-
clined to think that the duty on Wheat 'will remain at
the minimum point till the 18th or perhaps the 25th
instant, which will allow ample time for what may
now be on passage from the near ports to this country
to arrive.

The nominal price of town-made Flour has not
varied since our last, and other sorts have been in
slightly improved request at the full currency of
Monday. A good deal of French Flour continues to
come to hand, and one lot of American has been re-
ceived during the week, but the supply of foreign has
not been so large as to interfere with the sale of that
of home manufacture.

The display of Barley of home growth has been
small, but the maltsters and distillers hare manifested
little inclination to buy, and they appear to consider
present rates still too high. The arrivals from abroad
have not been so large as of late, but on the whole the
supply has proved more than sufficient to satisfy the
demand, and the turn has been rather in favour of the
purchaser. Some of the receipts from Holland are of
good malting quality, though rather thin, and a fair
proportion of the Baltic supply is also suitable for
making malt.
There has been very little doing in Malt, and its
value has undergone no quotable alteration.

As yet no increase has taken place in the receipt
of Oats of British growth. During the week the ar•
rivals from our own coast have amounted to only 92
qrs., from Scotland to 192 qrs., and from Ireland to
770 qrs., having, however, still a large quantity of
foreign in the market, and 10,701 qrs. having again
come to hand from abroad, factors have experienced
considerable difficulty in effecting sale at previous
rates. Really good and sweet Corn has certainly not
been sold lower, but the common sorts were, in
some cases (where the lying days of the vessels had
expired), offered a trifle cheaper on Friday.
English beans have been taken in retail at much
the same terms as before. Egyptian and French
Beans have been held pretty firmly, but the demand
has been far from active.

The inquiry for Peas, which was active inithe be-
ginning of the week, became slow towards the close,
bnt no change occurred in prices.
There has been very little doing in Indian Corn,
the Irish demand appears for the present to have
ceased, but there are few offers of floating cargoes,
and parties having any to dispose of are not inclined
to take less money.

A VALUABLE DISCOVERY.
Mr. William Blake, of Akron, Ohio, has exhibited
to us specimens of a singular metallic substance,
discovered by him about four years since in a
stratum of rock, in the township of Sharon,
not far from his residence. When taken from

the mine it had all the appearance of the finest
indigo, and no harder than cold tallow, but
upon a few days' exposure it became a hard stone
or slate. Its peculiar appearance suggested the ex-
pediency of testing it by proper experiments. He ac-
cordingly laid a specimen before an eminent chemist
of this city, who, upon its analysis, found it to con-
sist of about one half of filicia, one-fourth lumnia,
with less proportions of magnesia, black oxide
of iron, sulphate of iron, lime and car-
bon. After a long course of experiments,
engrossing his whole time and attention for
two years, he ascertained that by reduc-
ing it to a fine powder, mixing the powder with
linseed oil to the consistency of thick paint, and ap-
plying with a brush to wood, iron, tin, zinc, or brick,
it became after a few months' exposure perfectly hard
and indestructible. The transition from a liquid to
solid state was simply in accordance with natural laws;
it being clear that, in proportion as the liquid pro-
perties of the oil disappeared, the cohesive attrac-
tion of the oxide of iron not only united and con-
solidated the particles, but also cemented them firmly
to whatever applied, causing the substance to become
harder and harder the longer exposed, until it equalled
in density the hardest slate. The utility of the article
since its discovery has been tested in various ways ;
as a protection against fire it is invaluable ; being
impervious to air or water, it prevents com-
bustion, the fire actually charring the wood, in-
stead of igniting it. At the West it is in large
demand for covering roofs of buildings, for decks of
steam-boats and railroad cars, for bridges and fences,
carriage work, fire proof safes, cement for air-tight
stoves, for indeed any structure it may be necessary
to protect from fire or weather. It can be applied to
shingled roofs, matched boards, or any of the
metals with equal success. School slates are manu-
factured by applying it to thin wood or pasteboard,
forming an admirable substitute for the heavy ar-
ticle now in use. Bearing a very high polish when
applied to wooden mantel fronts, centre and pier
tables, its appearance is not inferior to the finest
Egyptian marble. Mr. Blake has procured a patent
for his discovery, and is now in this city for the pur-
pose of exhibiting specimens, and introducing. it to
the notice of the public. He would especially invite
the attention of those interested in railroads and the
construction of buildings, or all who have buildings
not fireproof, believing that an article so cheap and
permanently preservative requires only to be known
to be very generally used.— Nem York Paper.

PREVENTION Or CONTAGIOUS AND EPIDEMIC DIS-
EASES, &c.—By an Order in Council, dated Whitehall,
Sept. 28, 1848, and published in the Gazette of Tues-
day, it is enacted, in pursuance of an Act passed in the
last session of Parliament, intituled an "Act to renew
and amend an Act of the 10th year of her present
Majesty for the more speedy removal of certain
nuisances and the prevention of contagious and epidemics
diseases," that the provisions contained in the said first-
mentioned Act shall be put in force throughout the
whole of Great Britain immediately from and after the
date of the said order, and that the order shall continue
in force for six calendar months from and after the date
thereof.

SINGULAR HAIL STORM IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.—
The Pet gland Guardian of April 16 describes the storm
of the 6th and 7th instant as having occasioned more
disasters amongst the shipping in neighbouring ports
than had ever been previously known. One of the most
remarkable features of the storm of the 7th was, that
about twelve o'clock at night the hail descended in
showers, in the shape of jagged pieces of ice, some of
which measured one inch and one-eighth in length, and
two and a quarter in circumference. Most of them re-
sembled a combination of small icicles, diverging from a
common centre; so that on every side the hailstone pre-
sented a similar appearance.
CURIOUS PAROCHIAL FACTS.—ST. MART, NEW-.
INGTON.—The annual statement of accounts for the year
ending March 31, 1848, has just been distributed
amongst the rate-payers of this extensive parish, and a
most astounding document it is, and an instructive one
withal. St. Mary's, Newington, has its own local
Act, and is as yet untouched by the Poor-law Com-
mission. During the year the rates were on the rental
4s. 3d. in the pound, that is, 211- per cent. ; and it is,
we hear, at a rate higher still since that period, namely,
14d. on the quarter, that is to say, an annual average
of 23 1.3 d per cent., which means that the rate-
payers are assessed at very nearly, for such payment,
one-fourth of their rent, as supposed to be laid down in
the assessment book. These are great facts, no doubt ;
but let us examine the amount of pauperism supported
at this extraordinary expense. The total average
number of paupers maintained appears, as nearly
as we can get at the number from the mys-
tifying account furnished, to be 597, and their
cost is 29,174/. 15s. 9d. ; annual average per
pauper, 431. 16s. 100., giving for the support of
each, per day, two shillings and fourpence three
farthings. Why, for less than this a man with
a small family can contrive to keep himself out of the
workhouse, and be a producing independent head of a
family. The wages to paid officials of all descriptions
to effect this costly support of the poor amounts to
2,5241. ss. 7d., showing, on the parochial expenditure
(including police-rates and other matters, not exactly
for the poor), the sum of 36,165/. 10s. 5d., ♦ery nearly
7i per cent. for collection and servants of the parish,
divided mainly amongst a few individuals, the collectors'
powadage alone amounting to the sum of Tool, 141.4 d,