THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



259 



broad waters of the Atlantic. No ; Chicago— the commercial 

 emporium of the entire Northwest— will, before many years, 

 be placed in as direct communication with Liverpool, Havre, 

 and Glasgow, as New York now is. "When this shall have 

 been accomplished — when our railroads have reached the 

 valleys of the Missouri, the Platte, the Big Sioux, and the 

 Red River of the North— then will the grain trade of Chicago 

 begin to shape itself into a legitimate magnitude and im- 

 portance." 



The following receipts of flour and grain, with the 

 ghipmenls for the four past years, will show the import- 

 ance of this city as a primary grain port : 



1854. 1855. 1856. 1357. 



Wheat, bush.. 3,038,955 7.535,097 8,767,760 10,554,761 



Corn 7,490,753 8,532,377 11,888,398 7,409.130 



Oats 4.193,385 2,947,187 2,219,897 1,707,245 



Eye 85,961 68,C68 45,707 87,911 



Barley .... 201,764 301,805 128,457 127.689 



Total.... 15,011,540 17,284,648 23,050,219 19,886,536 

 Flour into wheat 792,875 1,203,310 1,624,605 1,969,670 



Total .... 15.804,423 20,487,953 24,674,824 21,856,206 



The following is a table showing the shipmenta for the past 

 four years : 



Shipments of all kinds of Grain during the past Four Years. 



1854. 1855. 1856. 1857. 



Wheat.bush.. 2,206,725 6,208,155 8,337,420 9,485.052 



Corn 6,837,899 7,517,625 11,129,668 6,814,615 



Oats 3,229,937 1,899,538 1,014,547 416,778 



Rye 41,157 19,318 509 



Barley .... 148,421 92,082 19,051 17,993 



Total.... 12,364,185 15,816,718 20,501,276 16,734,438 

 Flourinto wheat 538,135 817,095 1,081,945 1,293,240 



Total .... 12,902,320 16,633,813 21,583,221 18,032,678 



One thing only is wanted to crown Chicago as the 

 greatest port of America ; that is, a ship canal. What 

 are its merchants and traders about, that the project is 

 not undertaken ? The St. Lawrence is the natural 

 outlet to the world — a ship canal to the St. Lawrence 

 would complete the fortunes of all interested in the 

 welfare of Chicago. Is there no company to be formed 

 to carry out this work .' By the Georgian Bay and 

 Toronto is the best route. If this were accomplished 

 we could join the reviewer in askings — "What will its 

 future be .'"' and answer — " What Nature by the com- 

 manding position she gives Chicago has destined." To 

 the north-west are the lovely valley of the Saskatchewan 

 and the Red River of the north. Illinois, Iowa, and 

 Wisconsin are but new countries half developed ; while 

 Kansas, Nebraska, and Minesota have but yet com- 

 menced an existence. Ten years ago what were they ? 

 Ten years hence what will they be ? The completion of 

 a ship-canal from Chicago to the St. Lawrence would 

 answer both questions, and open to the old world a 

 greater and cheaper source of supply of human food 

 than we can now even dream of, and that in a direct line 

 of transit from the producer to the consumer. 



ADULTER.\TION OF FLOUR.— At the Castle of Exeter, 

 ou Friday, before a full bench of county magistrates, John 

 Manley, a miller of Erwick, near Exeter, was charged with 

 having mixed alum with his flour for the purposes of sale. A 

 large piece of alum, weighing a hundred pounds, and some 

 sprouted wheat and oats with small bits of alum in them, 

 were produced. Tl»e latter had been seized whilst in process 

 of being ground into flour. The defendant pleaded guilty, 

 but said that he had adopted the practice of mixing only six 



ounces of alum with every sack of flour, in ignorance cf the 

 law. The wheat seized had been imported from America. It 

 was dark and sprouted ; and in order that the baker might 

 make the bread rise and be able to " draw the batch," it was 

 necessary to mix a small quantity of alum with it. He had 

 been in the habit of selling the flour produced from this mix- 

 ture as '•■ seconds," and when it was made into bread his family 

 had been in the habit of eating it. The bench convicted de- 

 fendant in the penalty of £20 and costs. 



ENGLISH & FOREIGN CORN MEASURES, 

 AND IRISH CORN WEIGHTS. 



The English value corn by measure, the Irish by weight. 

 The former uae a measure called a quarter, containing 64 im- 

 perial gallons ; the latter use a weight called a barrel, which for 

 wheat contains 20 stones, for oats 14 stones, and for barley 

 16 stones, each stone I41i3s. It is manifest, therefore, that no 

 exact relation does exist between the English measure and the 

 Irish weight; a practical approximation, however, is obtained, 

 by weighing a quarter of wheat of medium character, which is 

 actually found to be 480 lbs. avoirdupois. In the same man- 

 ner a quarter of medium oats is found to be "28 lbs. avoirdu- 

 pois, and a quarter of medium barley 416 lbs. avoirdnpois. 

 By this means we reduce an English quarter of wheat, oats, 

 or barley, to barrels of wheat of 20 stones to the barrel, 

 to barrels of oats of 14 stones to the barrel, and to barrels of 

 barley of 16 stones to the barrel, respectively, as in the follow- 

 ing table, in which quarters of wheat are turned into barrels of 

 wheat, quarters of oats into barrels of oat?, and quarters of 

 barley into barrels of barley : — 

 Eng. qr. 



of wheat. Wheat. 



Oats. 



Barley. 



oats, or 



barley, brl. st. lb. brl. st. lb. bil. st. lb. 



1 = 1 14 4 or 1 9 6 or 1 13 10 



2=3 8 8=3 4 12= 3 110 



3=5 2 12=5 04=5 9 2 



4= 6 17 2= 6 9 10= 7 6 12 



5=8 116=8 5 2=9 4 8 



6 = 10 5 10 = 10 8=11 2 4 



7 = 12 = 11 10 = 13 



8 = 13 14 4 = 13 5 6 = 14 13 10 



9 = 15 8 8 = 15 12 = 10 11 

 10 = 17 2 12 = 16 10 4 = 18 9 2 



100 = 171 8 8 = 167 4 12=185 11 6 



From aa inspection of this table, it appears 7 quarters of 

 wheat are equal to 12 barrels of wheat, 7 quarters of oats to 11 

 barrels and 10 stone of oats, and 7 quarters of barley to 13 

 barrels of barley. 



The French value corn by tlie hectolitre, which is a measure 

 containing 2 bushels 3 pecks and 1 pint miperial measure. By 

 this hectolitre corn is principally bought and sold on the Con- 

 tinent. Three hectolitres make 1 English quarter of corn, and 

 2 gallons and 3 pints over. According to the principles be- 

 fore euuLciated, a hectolitre of medium wheat is equal to 11 

 stones and 12 lbs. avoirdupois, or to half a barrel 1 stone and 

 12 lbs. of wheat. A hectolitre of oats weighs 8 stone and 1 lb. 

 avoirdupois, and a hectolitre of barley weighs 10 stone and 4 lbs. 

 avoirdupois. By this means we reduce hectolitres of wheat, 

 oats, or barley, to English quarters, into Irish barrels of wheat 

 of 20 stones to the barrel, barrels of oats of 14 stones to the 

 barrel, and barrels of barley of 16 stones to the barrel, as in 

 the following table : — 



Hectc- Wheat. Oats. Barley. 



litre, or. bh. pk. pt. br. st. lb. br. st. lb. br. st. lb. 



1=0 23 1 = 11 12 = 8 1 = 10 4 



5=1 535=8 19 4=2 12 5=336 



10 = 3 3 2 10 = 5 18 9 = 5 10 10 = 6 6 12 



100 = 34 4 2 4 = 59 5 10 = 57 9 2 = 61 4 8 



Note. — A Scotch boll is equal to 6 bushels, therefore 4 

 Scotch bolls are equal to 3 English quarters.— /'Hrc?o»'« Irish 

 Farmers' and Gardeners' Almanac. 



