147 



Value of certain imports into Great Britain, &c. — Continued. 



18f^8. 



1869. 



Wool 



Sheep and lambs 



Alpaca aud the llama tribe 



Woolen rags torn up to be used as wool 



Woolen manufactures not made up 



Woolen aud worsted yarn 



£14,873,623 



246, 875 



226, 509 



2,261,192 



1, 653, 504 



£14, 299, 336 



397, 509 



243, 010 



2, 445, 229 



1,775,689 



WHERE OUR WHEAT EXPORTS GO. 



A reference to official customs statistics will sliow that Great Britain 

 and her colonies constitute our main reliance for a market of our sur- 

 plus wheat. Few may be aware how small the quantity taken by other 

 countries actually is. The amount of wheat exported in the fiscal year 

 ending June 31, 1868, was 15,94:0,899 bushels ; of this but three per 

 cent. (461,198 bushels) failed to reach British or colonial territory. The 

 paucity of these exportations illustrates the futility of attempting to 

 grow grain to feed the millions of Europe and Asia, as follows : France, 

 260,763 bushels; Portugal, 83,190; Belgium, 34,726; China, 29,882; 

 Venezuela, 23,364 ; Peru, 20,289 ; Holland, 7,000 ; Philippine Islands, 

 1,119; Cuba, 560; Dutch West Indies, 400; Mexico, 5 bushels— total, 

 461,198 bushels. The practical deduction from these figures is, that 

 there is but one country in the world to which we can look for a market 

 for wheat, and to that one only for a small portion of her supply, and 

 that portion at prices competing with the markets of the entire globe. 



The prices of 1869, as compared with those of 1868, represent a reduc- 

 tion in the aggregate sent to Great Britain of eight millions of dollars. 

 If, as is asserted, the prices of exports control domestic prices, the re- 

 duction of the value of the home consumption is equivalent to far more 

 than the amount received from the entire exports of 1869, and the 

 farmers would have received more money if this surplus had been 

 allowed to rot. While low prices are not regarded as an unmixed evil,, 

 the present depression of the wheat market is shown to be a natural 

 result, in part at least, of over-production, for which farmers have only 

 themselves to blame. It is better to have abundance than scarcity, for 

 the present good of consumers and the ultimate advantage of producers 

 themselves ; but when all other farm industries are neglected for one 

 favorite crop, the resultant depression and discontent should be attribu- 

 ted to its proper cause, and not to taxation or other political influences. 



BEET EOOT SUGAE. 



Dr. G. W. Hulse, of Denver, Colorado, in a communication reporting 

 the dispatch of specimens of sugar beets, &c., to the department, writes 

 as follows in reference to beet sugar manufacture : 



To establish successfully the production of beet sugar in this country much will 

 depend upon and much will be expected from the Department of Agriculture ; the mere 

 production of the raw material is a simple part of the business. Extracting or the mak- 

 ing of the sugar is a different business, and one which has deeply engaged the highest 

 scientific minds of other countries for the last half century. They have resolved the 



