THE FOREIGN MARKETS FOR AMERICAN BREADSTUFFS ; THE AMOUNT 

 OF THE PRINCIPAL SUMMER AND FALL BREADSTUFF CROPS OF THE 

 LOYAL STATES FOR THE YEARS 1862 AND 1863; THE AMOUNT OF THEIR 

 EXPORT AND HOME CONSUMPTION; THE ENGLISH CROPS FOR 1863; 

 THE PROBABLE FOREIGN AND HOME DEMAND FOR 1864. 



In this article will be found estimates of the amount of the crops of our bread- 

 stuffs for the years 1862 and 1863. In laying them before the public, the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture deems it proper to give, in connexion with them, 

 the nature of the foreign and home markets for them, that the American farmer 

 may know the character and value of those markets in which are consumed the 

 great crops produced by him. For with such knowledge he may the better 

 estimate the value of the crops, and give a more intelligent direction to his in- 

 dustry. Hence the following topics are considered in this article : 



1. The foreign production of breadstuffs. 



2. The English market for breadstuffs; its average annual demand, and that 

 for 1860, 1861, 1862, and 1863. 



3. The export of breadstuffs from the United States for the same years, and 

 its general annual average, both in value and amount. 



4. Summary of the tables of these. 



5. Estimates of the summer and fall crops of breadstuffs produced by the 

 loyal States in the years 1862 and 1863. 



6. Deductions from the tables of these. 



7. The English harvest for 1863. 



THE FOREIGN PKODUCTION OF BREADSTUFFS. 



Although the exports of our breadstuffs are very small when their amount is 

 compared with the entire production of them in the United States, yet, when 

 that export is a surplus, it relieves the home market from a pressure that would 

 otherwise bear heavily upon it. To illustrate the effect of a surplus on home 

 prices, let us suppose a hundred houses are built for rent, at -$100 each per 

 annum, and that there are but ninety families to occupy them. The owners of 

 the ten unoccupied ones, to induce ten of the ninety families to rent them, Avould 

 offer them at $90, and as soon as that would be known, the owners of the ninety 

 occupied houses woidd offer them at the same rate to induce the renters to re- 

 main. Then the ten unoccupied would be offered at $80, and so the process of 

 reduction would go on until the cheapness of rent would cause ten additional 

 families to emigrate to the town in which these houses are built. 



So with our breadstuffs and meats. A tenth of production beyond the home 

 consumption would have a like depressing influence on the home market, until 

 the cheapness of prices would lead to a greater consumption, and thus the home 

 market be relieved. Hence an export trade is of far greater importance than its 

 mere amount would indicate, when compared with the amount of production. 



That farmers may understand the character of the foreign markets for their 

 breadstuffs, we place before them in this number of our monthly report many 

 interesting statistics relative to the English market, for it is our principal pur- 

 chaser of breadstuffs, and its trade in them discloses the trade of the European 

 countries. 



The table below shows the countries from which Great Britain obtains its 

 supplies of breadstuffs, and the per cent, obtained from each. The amount of 

 grain is given in quarters, being a quarter of a ton of 2,240 pounds. The 

 English quarter is, therefore, 560 pounds, equal to 8 English bushels of 70 

 pounds each, or 9^ American bushels of 60 pounds each. 



