Agricultural.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2209, 4 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

Agricultural.

RE&IEW OF THK BRITISH CORN X 3*» TRAS«p* J f+ft* f ji M — =r-ri ** ''* J bright sunshinj| virtled during the weef^nd nfts* Jorcorti on vegetation a good deal. The full .benefit of tbe improvement hat not. however, been realised, na the nights shfi^ofttjti^iei been chilly, in consequence *of the 'cotftihued easterly wind?. Some progre** iia«, however,, been made,, and farmers may congratulate themselves on the results of the week. The hay crop has been got in in splendid condition, and iBof good quality, but the yield might have been heavier in some districts. American advices speak well of the appearance of the crops, both wheat and corn, and satisfactory results are anticipated. The grain trade has continued to mu in its old groove of dulness and inanimation, There has been an entire absence of any exhibition of life. Hand -to - month operations are Htill persisted in, and this policy will no doubt be maintained whitet the present fine weather continues. Buyers of wheat have again had a alight occasienal advantage, but there in not that inclination to force sales noticed a few weeks ago Considering the small amount of business done, the trade i* in fact comparatively steady, and thia in the face of liberal foreign importations and of full average deliveries of hoiae-grown produce. The inferenco would seem to he that current quotations are accepted as being about the real value of wheat, even allowing for the harvent prospect. Any early variation in the condition of the trade does not seem at, all probable. A continued quiet inquiry seems foreshadowed, with very little fluctuation in values. In America, notwithstanding the excellent crops, values have rather hardened on the week. The shipments kept up, but the visible supply has decreased about 1,400,000 bushels, and is now 8,400,000 bushels less than last year. The farming interest* cannot have improved their position much during the six months. At the close of December the imperial average price of wheat was 30s 2d per qufarter. By the beginning of March it had declined to 29a. This was the rallying point, and a steady improvement set in, lentil by the end of May 32s 5d per ?[iiarter was reached. A reaction in turn ollowed, and the average price for the pist week was 31s Id per quarter. The average quotation for home-grown produce for the four months ending with the close of December was 30s lid, and for the ten months ending June 26th 30s 8d per quarter, so that the season's average has declined during the six mouths 3d per quarter. There is nothing new to notice in the barley trade. Business has been quiet, both in malting and grinding samples, but the smallnesa of the supp'ies od passage and the indifferent crop reports nave steadied the market to a certain extent, thus preventing any decline. As regards oats, fair importations have come to hand. Sales progressed slowly. Fine samples were tolerably firm, but other kinds were dull, and rather weak. The maize market h w not shown any fresh feature. B*aus and peas have been in fair demand, and have realised full pricen. In America a firmer tone has characterised the wheat trade. Flour has been dull, and has declined 10 cents. Maize has been in limited request, and has finished up at a decline of 1£ cent". Business at Mark-lane has been more or lt!-»s in a state of suspense. Fair supplies h ive been offering 1 , import* having been liberal, and the deliveries of home-grown produce moderately good. All descriptions of wheat, both EnalUh and foreign, h-ive been difficult to move, and forced sales have only been concluded by raakiny some concession. Flour has remained equally depressed, and with very few dealings. Barley continues to experience a dragging 1 sale. The -hortness of supplies, the small quantity on paM«Bge — .r).),000,. r ).),000, against 90, U00 quarters last year — and the different crop report* hive, however, continued to strengthen the market, and in the business done full prices have been realised. <\its have come freely to hand. A dull demuid has prevailed, but fine samples have maintained full currencies. Maize has been a flat market. Liberal supplies have come to hand, and further large arrivals are expected. The trade is dull in all positions, and prices have been rather weik. Beans were strong from their scarcity, and peas were steady. The other leading provincial and Scotch and Irish markets have all been quiet for wheat, with fair supplies offering. Buyers have again had the advantage Flour also was dull and weak, but other articles with very little inquiry for them were fairly steady. — The Magnet, July Bth.

Rubinstkix has realised two thousand five hundred dollars from each of his Lon don piano recitals— a sut.i said to be larger than that earned by any pianist in the world. MrCharlfs Pickexs has achieved a brilliant triumph as a public; reader. His recent readings of " Little Dombey " and •• Bob Sawyer's Party " at the Athenaeum, Camden Road, London, evoked the enthusiastic applause of a large audience. He had received two offers horn American managers, but as yet has formed no decided engagement to cross the Atlautic Tiik Greek woman is once more the fashion — that is to say, a modified, modernised human form of her, This is possibly due to the influence of ''Our Mary," but, at all events, society has gradually, unwillingly but successfully worked itself up to the Greek ideal. The languid, languorous, lily-like esthete h;is faded into an unhealthy dream. She is the creature of our morbid past, and she has been pushed briskly aside by the vigorous arms of the modern Venus, who is tall and strong, clean-limbed and — yes ! — and large-waisted. The craze for establishing societies devoted to the cnltus of some particular literary or artistic genius is a curious phenomenon. I suppose vanity is at the bottom of it, Unlike most societies, these bodies do not profess to do anything for the object of their adoration, unless it be to make him ridiculous. They, however, afford to numerous egotistical individuals an opportunity of reading papers and airing their opinions, which they would never get in any other way, and the societies flourish and multiply accordingly. The latest victim of this form of humbug is the unhappy Goethe. He deserved a better fate. An imaginative and complacent Englishwoman says : "I have been perusing with intense delight some American papers in which certain entertainments are described. The conflict of the guests as to which should wear the greatest number of diamonds resulted in a display th'it I fancy you will pronounce to be of the vulgarly lavish order. One individual wore a ffown of white tulle beaded with silver, the bodice of which was •festooned' with a branch of green leaves, on which numerous diamonds of great size were fastened. Several strains of pearls encircled this lady's throat, besides a neck« lace of solitaire diamonds, from which hung a pendant of large stones. There were diamonds in her ears, on her arms and irt her hair. But she was quite equalled in glitter, if not surpassed, by another lady, who, over a toilet of black velvet and tulle, wore two long stiands of solitaire diamonds hung in a festoon across the front of her dress. Several rosettes and other diamond ornaments were fastened on the bodice. Numerous strands of pearls and four large diamond rosettes were on her neck, and other ornaments of large diamonds shone in her hair. Is it not enough almost to make one hate diamonds ?" A paragraph in the same paper, which describes one of the Blood Royal at a reception, where she 'fairly blared with the diamonds in tiara, necklace, bracelets, ear-rings and corsage ornaments,' doth satirically point the moral and adorn this tale.