THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



551 



1858. i8.-.7. 



Flour brls. 512,081 488,371 



Wheat bush. 1,394,004 1,203,788 



Corn „ 42,438 281,077 



Barley „ 10.313 11,745 



Oats „ 109,3G7 5,975 



Peas „ 84,474 7,052 



The exports by sea to the same dates have been as 

 follows :— 



1860. 1859. 



Flour brls. 168,878 58,305 



Wheat .. bushs. 840,881 5,811 



Corn „ 24,387 3,015 



Barley , 90 — 



Oats „ 198,315 — 



Peas „ 610,972 85,230 



1858. 



Flour brls. 169,616 



Wheat .. bushs. 660,939 



Corn „ 14,967 



Barley , 300 



Oats „ 32,160 



Peas „ 165,137 



1857. 



166,424 



559,614 



28,631 



4 



30 



116,163 



The difference between the receipts and the exports by 

 sea is accounted for by the shipments by the Grand Trunk 

 Railway, and the shipments by Lake Champlain. These 

 shipments will not be published until the close of the year, 

 but, together with the exports by sea, tiiey cannot possibly 

 exceed the aggregate receipts. The first three items in the 

 receipts — the flour, wheat, and corn — represent the imported 

 produce of Upper Canada and the Western States; and the 

 last three items — the barley, oats, and peas — represent the 

 produce of Lower Canada, which finds its way to Montreal. 

 Between the receipts of the present year and the receipts of 

 1858 and 1857 there is, it will be perceived, not that in- 

 crease which is 80 marked a feature in the shipments at 

 New York, and other Atlantic ports. During the month 

 of September the increase of shipments at New York to 

 England has been no less than 4,000,000 bushels, and the 

 increase on the year ending 1st October is 13,000,000 

 bushels. 



FROM THE LOOK OUT. 



There appears to exist a great deal of misapprehension 

 with respect to the supplies of wheat to be expected from 

 America. The English farmer need not fear that the 

 excessive supplies from thence will so throw down the 

 price of wheat in the home markets that it will no longer 

 be grown at a profit. There are, if we look at that 

 country, certain influences visibly at work which will 

 prevent the supply being increased beyond its present 

 limit, taking the average of the last five years. Indeed, 

 as time rolls on, we may rather expect less than more 

 wheat from America. The average price at New York 

 is from 358. to 40s. per qr., the cost of exporting to 

 England, embracing all attendant expense, is about lOs. 

 to 12s. per qr. ; and therefore, if our prices do not rise 

 above 458. to 508. per qr., no afflictive inundation will 

 arrive from that quarter. 



Let us consider the matter a little. The course pur- 

 sued by emigrants and others tends somewhat to mislead 

 us concerning the fertility of America. Land that has 

 never known a plough is let at a low rent, it is cropped 

 without mercy, and left to recover its fertility as best it 

 may, while other districts are being flogged in the same 

 way. Thus it is the best land in its best state, which is 

 being made to produce these large harvests we hear of. 

 But Buch a practice cannot last for ever. Population is 

 increasing wonderfully. In many parts of the United 

 States, we are told by Mr. Russell, that it has increased 

 80 much as to render a regular system of farming — ro- 

 tation of crops, manuring, and all the home means of 

 ttimulatioa— quite necessary /and that under ibis system 



the power of the best-farmed lands does not appear by 

 any means surprising. A statement of the average pro- 

 duce per acre jjablished by the American Agricultural 

 Society, compared with the average produce in England, 

 will warrant this observation. 



New York. England. 

 Wheat. . bushels peracre 14 30 to 32 



Barley „ 16 32 



Oats „ 26 40 



These lands, let it remembered, around New York are 

 some of the very best in the Union for the growth of 

 corn. In Ohio, generally supposed to be even better, 

 the figures are the same. 



Now, if the yield upon the fresh-broken-up, or virgin 

 soils was very prodigious, it stands to reason that men 

 farming such lands as those of New York and Ohio in 

 the ordinary way would suffer and fall in the unequal 

 contest long before such an influence would be felt by 

 the English farmers. Even without facts, then, we 

 might at once conclude, as they do not so suffer, that 

 these returns from the virgin soils are not excessive. 

 But facts have reached us. " In Michigan," we are 

 told, "the average produce of wheat is not more than 

 lOj bushels per acre ! deducting seed indeed it is less 

 than 9 !" Fifteen^to sixteen bushels per acre is the ut- 

 most produce of these new States, 



We may therefore modify very considerably our idea 

 of the rich soil of America, and of the vast increasing 

 supplies we are to receive from thence. The supply of 

 Indian corn will certainly be equal to any demand, be- 

 cause the land seems specially suited to bear it ; but 

 with regard to wheat the case is quite otherwise. In the 

 course of 25 years, says one of our economists, the 

 population of the Union will most probably amount 

 to or exceed sixty millions. In view of this increase, 

 and the prodigious demand for corn which it infers, in 

 view also of the future effects of the present abusive 

 treatment of land, the English farmer may cease to fear, 

 and the English consumer may cease to hope. That 

 America may always prove useful to us, as she does this 

 year, is a fact we may all rejoice to feel ; but, hereafter, 

 we cannot but think she will be more useful to us in 

 affording our poor a cheap substitute for wheat when 

 that grain is dear, than she will by sending to us any 

 large quantities of wheat itself. 



What is true of the United States, is true, though in 

 somewhat different degree, of Canada. 



We stand in annual need of some three to four mil- 

 lion quarters of wheat above what we grow upon the 

 soil of Britain. Indeed, to make up for what we our- 

 selves export, we need more than this— generally above 

 five millions. It becomes, then, a great matter of in- 

 terest to discover from whence this supply comes, and 

 whether it is likely to fall short or to increase as years 

 go on. In the year 1858, we received from 



Quarters. 



Russia (North) 160,496 



„ (South) 451,930 



Sweden 10.126 



Denmark and Duchies 301,463 



Prussia 629,000 



Hanse Towns 203,041 



Other parts of Germany 82,710 



France 1,283,465 



Spain , 5,364 



Italian States 43,279 



Wallachia and Moldavia 133,574 



Turkey and Syria 74,928 



Egypt 464,652 



British North America 161,609 



United States and California . . 1,098,871 

 Other countries 99.921 



Total 6,343,469 



The supplies from the North of Russia are not likely 



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