pated that cars will be running in connection with the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad in twelve months, and the entire distance between this city and St. Louis within three years.

The survey, as made, establishes the important fact that this route is nearer to an air line than that of any other in the United States. The intersection lines in Indiana and Illinois, which are built, or will be finished within three years, are a valuable feature in the future productiveness of this road, and the completion of the routes east from this city will offer a choice of roads to the traveler, or shipper, of great value. The Parkersburg route of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad will, when completed, give a continuous line of rails from St. Louis to Baltimore, and this latter road is in a state of vigorous prosecution, with hopes of completion in two years from this time.

We confidently anticipate that funds will not be wanting to complete this important line of communication between our city and St. Louis. Our neighbors of the South are moving with spirit in bringing up the lines from Mobile and New Orleans, which will supply the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad with an incalculable amount of travel.

The Covington and Lexington Railroad is progressing rapidly, and a portion of the road from Covington will be opened early in the spring. This road, as we remarked in our last annual report, will prove of great importance to the trade of Cincinnati, connecting, as it must very soon, with the great system of railways which are being constructed in the Southern States.

During the year a road has been projected from Louisville to Covington, the route of which is now being surveyed, and it will, doubtless, be constructed at no distant period.

The Cincinnati, Hillsborough, and Parkersburg Railroad is now in operation from Hillsborough to Morrow, where it connects with the Little Miami Railroad to Cincinnati. Two hundred thousand dollars in cash was subscribed in this city to this road a few days since to aid in the construction of a line into the coal and iron regions, and in extending the road to Parkersburg. This road will, it is now generally conceded, form the Ohio link of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and as this will insure to it a heavy passenger and freight business, it will greatly enhance the value of the stock. Aside from this consideration, a great interest has been taken in the road in this city in consequence of its penetrating the coal and iron regions. As already remarked, the road at present connects with the Little Miami Railroad at Morrow, but it is the intention of the company to construct an independent road into the city, entering through the proposed Walnut Hills Tunnel, by which route five miles will be saved, and depot accomodations obtained very near the center of business.

The route of the Cincinnati and Dayton Short Line Railroad has been surveyed during the year, and about six months ago the company was organized, since which time vigorous and successful efforts have been made to obtain subscriptions. The company held a meeting a few days since, at which time the subscriptions had reached nearly eight hundred thousand dollars-being more than one-half the estimated cost of the road, exclusive of the rolling machinery. A resolution was passed to put the work under contract immediately. A tunnel is to be constructed through a portion of Walnut Hills, and four tracks are to be laid down from the depot, corner of Court and Broadway to Sharon, thence a single tract to Dayton. The work at the tunnel will be prosecuted vigorously during the ensuing winter.

With reference to the Commerce of our city we have no space for extended remarks, but its extent, as compared with last year, is fully exhibited in the annexed tables. Two hundred and sixty-seven different steamboats arrived at the wharf during the year, the registered tonnage of which was 60,543 tons and their capacity may be set down at 120,000 tons. The total number of arrivals during the year was about 3,700. This shows only a slight increase as compared with 1850-51, but the aggregate tonnage shows a considerable increase in favor of this year, a greater number of large boats having been engaged in the trade. The following is the number and tonnage for each year:36

VOL. XXVII.-NO. V.

The steamboat interests have been comparatively prosperous. During the business portions of the year freights were plenty, and prices, as shown by the average, were higher than in either of the two preceding years.

During the year a very strong effort has been made by our business men to obtain the passage by Congress of a bill making an appropriation for the construction of a canal of enlarged dimensions around the falls of the Ohio River, but so far, without success. The session of Congress which terminated with this month has, as is always the case preceding a Presidential election, been chiefly occupied in advocating, in both the Senate and House, the claims of the various aspirants to the highest office in the gift of the people; and it was not until last month that the friends of this measure, which is of so much importance to the whole West and South-west, were permitted to make a report upon the subject. An amendment to the River and Harbor Appropriation Bill was offered, providing for the canal, but it was defeated. In a word nothing has been done, except to bring the matter before the people, and now that they are awake to its importance, we may hope for favorable action by Congress, at an early day.

We shall now proceed to notice under respective heads the articles which enter most extensively into our Commerce.

HOGS AND CATTLE. The market for hogs opened at a price considerably above the highest rate of the preceding season, and fully fifty cents above the average rate for that year, and, with the exception of about a week in the early part of the season, prices throughout exhibited a buoyant and upward tendency, closing at 45 cts. per 100 lbs. above the opening rate.

The following statement shows the daily extreme and average prices during the packing season, also the weekly average rates for three seasons:

The number of hogs packed in the West, according to the statement published in the Price Current at the close of the season was deficient as compared with the preceding year 182,021 head. In weight however the deficiency was equal to only about 77,000 head. The hogs the past season were better fatted than those of 1850-51, and the increase in weight ranged, as nearly as could be ascertained, from 5 to 10 per cent, and in this way the decrease in number was, in part, made up. Although reliable statistics of the pork trade are obtained with great difficulty, yet the movements of products show our statement to have been sufficiently correct for all practical purposes.

The supply of beef cattle throughout the year has been comparatively light, and prices have ruled considerably above the average currency of ordinary years. The range of prices for the season has been wide, say $3 50 to $6 00. During the packing season $4 to $5 per 100 lbs., net, were the leading rates, but since the close of the winter the retail market has been sparingly supplied, and city butchers were seldom able to purchase below $5, while for prime cattle $5 75 a $6 per 100 lbs. net was paid. The closing rates for the year are $4 75 a 5 75, embracing ordinary and choice. As remarked in another place, the supply in the West is unusually light, and this, with the high price of hog products, will continue to sustain prices above the average of last year's currency, and it is not likely that packers will get any good cattle the ensuing season for less than $5 to $5 50 per 100 lbs. net.

PROVISIONS. At the close of the last commercial year prices of hog products ruled high, as the stocks throughout the country were unusually light and rates then current were pretty well maintained up to the commencement of the new season, when figures receded to a point corresponding with the price at which the hog market opened. Throughout the past season the tone of the market has been generally very firm, and a comparative statement of the average prices for hogs and their products for three years past shows that during the year just closed large advances were realized upon the first cost of the several manufactured articles, and the season upon the whole has proved by far the most profitable that has been experienced for many years. The high prices which prevailed for hogs at the commencement of the season induced packers generally to move cautiously, and there were few operators in the market who were not agreeably disappointed by the result of the business. The healthy tone which the market maintained throughout, and the high prices at which the old stocks are likely to be closed off are attributable fully as much to the deficiency in supplies at the commencement of the year as to the falling off in the number of hogs. As we have remarked in another place, the stocks for three years past have been steadily diminishing, and last fall the surplus was smaller than at any time in several previous seasons, and had the number of hogs proved as large as in 1850-51, the products would have been disposed of at very fair profits. The high prices undoubtedly caused a very material falling off in the consumption, as they did also in the foreign demand; but the supplies were no more than adequate to the requirements of home consumers, and the year closes again with very small stocks, and the aggregate in the whole country on the 1st of November next will be no greater, if so large, than at the corresponding date in 1851. The course of the market for the ensuing year must, therefore, be directed almost entirely by the supply of hogs, and with a crop of fourteen hundred thousand, (at the leading points,) against twelve hundred thousand last year, prices must continue to rule comparatively high. The following statement of the weekly average prices shows the course of the market during the year :

For the receipts and exports at this port for a series of years, as well as the comparative average monthly prices, we refer to the tabular tables annexed. A considerable increase will be noticed in the imports and exports, compared with the number of hogs packed in the West. This is accounted for by the heavy purchases at Louisville, St. Louis, Madison, on the Wabash, and at other points, a large portion of which was brought here, and also to receipts for reshipment via canals and railroads to eastern markets.

BREADSTUFFS. The market for flour during the past year has been almost entirely free from excitement, and, excepting a few weeks early in the fall, when a demand sprung up on European account, the operations were mostly of

a legitimate character. So steady has been the course of the market that it is not necessary to give a statement of the weekly average prices, or to refer particularly to the slight variations which occurred, or causes thereof. The extreme prices of the year were $2 90 and $3 45, and in the tables annexed will be found a statement of the monthly average, which figures also indicate with sufficient accuracy the daily and weekly currency. Supplies have been regulated throughout pretty much by prices, and consequently, although the stocks of wheat in the country are known to have been larger than ever before, we find but a slight increase in the receipts at this port, and this remark applies equally well to New York and other Eastern markets. Should anything occur during the ensuing year whereby flour may be enhanced, the receipts at all the leading ports would be greatly increased over those of the year just closed. Wheat has ranged during the year from 59 to 63 cents. As the value of this article is regulated entirely by that of flour, our remarks relative to the latter are applicable to the former. The receipts show a slight falling off as compared with last season, being 377,037 bushels, against 388,660. Although the number of mills has been reduced by the conversions of two of the Miami Canal Mills into paper manufactories, the receipts of wheat indicate but a slight falling off in the aggregate business of the city mills. For corn prices have ruled, until within the last month, considerably lower than during the season of 1850-51. During September, October, and November prices ranged from 30 to 34 cents, but from December 1st, until July 1st, prices varied from 31 down to 25 cents. The severe drought experienced in July, affecting very seriously the prospects of the growing crops, caused an advance, and in several instances 45 cents was paid by distillers, but since the crops have been improved by recent rains, the market has given way, and 40 a 42 cents are the closing rates. The value of this article, owing to the high price of hogs, is relatively higher than that of wheat, and the probability is that the market will retain this feature during the greater portion of the ensuing season. The receipts this season were 653,788 bushels, against 489,195 last year. Owing to the heavy consumption of corn in this State, by distillers, prices here are generally maintained above a shipping point, and surplus stocks above Dayton, and along the line of the Wabash and Erie Canal are taken through the Northern channels to the Eastern seaboard. The exports during the year comprise 51,231 sacks against 20,137 sacks same time last year.

CHEESE. The trade in this article, which is a staple product of our State, has continued to increase, and the receipts of the past year exceed those of 1850-51, by about 40,000 boxes. It has become very evident that as the population in the Southern and South-western States increases, the cheese trade of this city must advance, this being the only distributing point for those sections of country. We are now in connection by railroad with the cheese-producing counties of this State, and very soon there will be railroad connection with the cheese-consuming States of the South, and this will greatly facilitate the trade in this, as well as in all other perishable articles. The range of prices indicates but a very slight variation from last year's currency, and the season's business has, upon the whole, resulted favorably to manufacturers. Increased attention seems to have been given to the quality of cheese, and although there is still room for improvement in this respect, rapid advances have been made within a few years. As the quality affects the consumption of this article, as well as the price, it is important to the producers that all tastes should be suited. In our last annual report we intimated that too much attention had been given to the production of fancy qualities. We have now to notice a great falling off in this branch of business, and we may add that the interests of manufacturers have been advanced by the change. The great mass of consumers prefer choice Western Reserve Cheese to any fancy brand that can be produced, especially at the extra price always demanded for the latter. For the monthly average prices, and the receipts and exports, we refer to the tables which will be found under "Commercial Statistics" in the present number of the Merchants' Magazine.

GROCERIES. The trade in two of the leading staples comprised in this branch of business, namely, sugar and molasses, shows a very great increase as com