Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1859-09-17
Agricultural.
THE FARMER.



From the Philadelphia North American, July 2Sth.
A MORNING AT THE CORN EXCHANGE.
At the corner of Second and Gold streets
stands an edifice of which the second floor is
daily devoted to the transactions of hundred
or two of people. Their business is attended
with little excitement, and not the least dis
play yet upon it depends the price of bread
to every man, woman and child, who go to
make up the six hundred thousand inhabi-
tants Of Philadelphia. Every morning, for
years past, might have been seen many of
the same faces that you see there to-day.
Ten O'Clock brings them to the spot, and
twelve o'clock finds the room wholly deserted.
In those two hours vast sums of money and
ship loads of grain are passed from hand to
hand and the price of bread for the next day
thereupon fixed. Enter the room at the bust
ness hour, and you find long rows of narrow
tables, upon which lie samples of grain, seeds
Of grasses and clover, flour and meal. The
samples are never more than quart in bulk,
vet such are the ethics of trade, that whole
cargoes are Judged alone from this minute re-
preventative OF their weight and quality.
Buyers of seeds and grain, flour dealers,
spectators in cereals generally, and some
times producers themselves, constitute the
parties in attendance. You enter the room
an idle spectator, and almost feel the necessi-
ty of stopping your ears to exclude the buzz
of voices.
For every one of the multitude is talking
simultaneously. Sellers are explaining that
wheat must atirance, while in the language of
the wise man of Israel, at is nought, it is
nought,' saith the buyer "and straightway
he goeth his way and rejoiceth.' The market
quotations for the previous day are produced
as an argument against advance on the part
of the buyer The seller talks of wars, and
.'rumors of wars, short crops, drought in
the great west, and twenty or thirty Other
reasons why his wheat should bring dollar
sixty-two and half instead of dollar sixty.
They failto come to terms, and part each with
an air of Indifference, until finally the buyer
convinces himself that wheat has gone up,
and pays accordingly. Sometimes at the
corn Exchange you find men, with lugubrious
visage, lamenting over n cargo of wheat or
corn heated in transitu. Grain shipped before
being well dried, heats when in bulk, becomes
damp, mildews, and sometimes wholly spoils
before reaching market. The remedy is to
hurry it to market, and the mill. The sam
pies look badly, and by regular dealers are
eschewed. Yet there is no difficulty in effect
ing sale. Damaged wheat has its uses.
Some of the bakers turn it to good advantage,
while dstillers are said to convert it into alco-
hol nearly as plentiful as from sound grain.
Damaged flour is also in good demand Nu-
merous bakers find even an advantage in
ningling two barrels of sour flour with every
five barrels Of sweet AT the Corn Exchange,
providing the discount be ample, it goes off
brslSly. For sizing purposes, enormous guam
titles of it are used in the manufacturing dis
tricts, while petty bakers first correct its acid
ity by means of alum and alkalis generally,
and serve it as superlne bread. There are
tricks in all trades, if a vulgar proverb is to
be credited, and the Corn Exchange is the
theatre of some of them. Not that the arti-
ces are ever misIepresented therefor if they
are not according to sample, the transaction is
at once repudiated; but in that, like every
thing else an intimate knowledge of the bust
ness is necessary to ensure success. 1t is !
singular how du fat in such matters our corn
and flour dealers become. To the outside
world barrel of flour converted by a cents I
worth of red paintinto ''Superiine tennessee, y !
is looked upon a. among the best in the mar
ket. The flour dealer, however, is indepen-
dent of the brand. Place a dozen different /
samples before him, and almost with his eyes
closed, he will tell you--while you yourself .
are unable to distinguish one from the other
the mnutest shades Of difference which dis
tinguish the lots. Practice never resulted in
greater perfection. There are scores of drug
gists who with difficulty can tell epson salts
from oxalic acid, arsenic from pulversed sui
phate Of zine, or morphia from carbonate of
soda, except by taste yet a flour dealer will .
manipulate sample of Hour, and not only
tell you its quality, but the length of time it
has been ground, its specific gravity and de-
gree OF iineness.
The same rule holds good with respect to
wheat and other grains The buyer weighs
the sample in his hands, examines the thick
ness of the husk, the plumpness of the berry,
and makes up his mind just what he will give
for it. A new class OF BUYERS Of late has
sprung up-the lager beer men, who purchase
barley in enormous quantities. Most Of tile
barley used by them is brought from Canada
and Buffalo, but occasionally a load is offered
at the Corn Exchange, and if of good quality
is eagerly snapped up.
In All hour or two the business of the Corn
Exchangeis completed. Tie secretary ascends
his rostrum and calls the assembly to order.
The buzzing ceases, and the transactions of
the day are read, for every seller gives to the
secretary the quantities he has sold, and in
most cases the price also. The sellers then
gather up their unsold samples, give orders
for the transfer of their sales and both dis
per5e to pursue the ayocations of the day.